Dissociated deficits in attentional networks in social anxiety and depression

Abstract

A critical cognitive symptom that is commonly involved in social anxiety and depression is attentional deficit. However, the functional relationship between attentional deficit and these two disorders remains poorly understood. Here, we behaviorally disentangled the three key attentional components (alerting, orienting, and executive control) using the established attentional network task (ANT) to investigate how social anxiety and depression are related to deficits in these attention components. We identified a double dissociation between the symptoms of social anxiety and depression and the attentional component deficits when processing non-emotional stimuli. While individuals vulnerable to social anxiety exhibited deficits in the orienting component, individuals vulnerable to depression were impaired in the executive control component. Our findings showed that social anxiety and depression were associated with deficits in different attentional components, which are not specific to emotional information.

The impact of anodal tDCS on attentional networks as a function of trait anxiety and depressive symptoms: A preregistered double-blind sham-controlled experiment

“…Regarding our study, the transient tDCS neural boost within the left dlPFC may only benefit those who do require such a neural boost. Prior research indeed reported that individuals with depression or elevated trait anxiety exhibited impairments in the executive conflict network of attention (e.g., DeJong et al, 2019;Hammar et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020) as well as reduced activation of the dlPFC when performing tasks involving such a network (e.g., Bishop et al, 2009;De Raedt & Koster, 2010;Hu et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2008). Thus, it is not surprising that we should consider the severity of depressive symptoms and trait anxiety for our effects to appear.…”

“…Moreover, given that prior studies indicated that social anxiety was associated with tDCS AND ATTENTIONAL NETWORKS 15 impairments in the orienting network of attention but not with the executive conflict network (e.g., Heeren & McNally, 2016;Moriya & Tanno, 2009;Wang et al, 2020), the absence of an association between the former and the improvement of the latter during anodal tDCS should not come as a surprise. In contrast, it echoes research suggesting that interventions aiming at targeting a specific cognitive process should only be delivered in case of exhibited alterations of the incriminated process (e.g., Grafton et al, 2017;Kuckertz et al, 2014;Mogoaşe et al, 2014; but see .…”

Attentional Networks in Co-occurring Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Major Depression Disorder: Towards a Staging Approach to the Executive Control Deficits

“…Given the theoretical and metric foundations of the ANT, many scholars have relied on this framework to delineate specific attentional impairments in clinical populations with psychiatric (Gooding et al, 2006;Lannoy et al, 2017;Maurage et al, 2014;Mullane et al, 2011;Urbanek et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2020) and neurological disorders (e.g., Heeren et al, 2014;Maurage et al, 2017;Togo et al, 2015). Moreover, concerning MDD and GAD, the ANT has already been adopted to examine the distinct components of the attentional networks involved in anxiety disorders, with studies pointing to impairment in the orienting network in social anxiety disorder (Heeren and McNally, 2016;Wang et al, 2020) and an impaired executive control network in patients with various other anxiety disorders (Pacheco-Unguetti et al, 2011)-i.e., either GAD, panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, or obsessivecompulsive disorder. Likewise, the ANT has also been implemented in mood disorder research, with several studies relating impaired executive control network in patients with MDD (e.g., Wang et al, 2020) and bipolar disorders (e.g., Gruber et al, 2007;Ossola et al, 2018).…”

“…Moreover, concerning MDD and GAD, the ANT has already been adopted to examine the distinct components of the attentional networks involved in anxiety disorders, with studies pointing to impairment in the orienting network in social anxiety disorder (Heeren and McNally, 2016;Wang et al, 2020) and an impaired executive control network in patients with various other anxiety disorders (Pacheco-Unguetti et al, 2011)-i.e., either GAD, panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, or obsessivecompulsive disorder. Likewise, the ANT has also been implemented in mood disorder research, with several studies relating impaired executive control network in patients with MDD (e.g., Wang et al, 2020) and bipolar disorders (e.g., Gruber et al, 2007;Ossola et al, 2018).…”

Does Internal Preoccupation with Obsessive-Compulsive Themes Affect Externally Oriented Functioning in OCD?: Behavioral Results and Clinical Cases

“…Both are common comorbidities of OCD (Pallanti et al, 2011) that may contribute to neuropsychological deficits (Brem et al, 2014; Moritz et al, 2001). For instance, studies that used ANT-R reported that ADHD affects alerting and executive attention (Arora et al, 2020; Berger & Posner, 2000) and that depression affects executive attention (Wang et al, 2020).…”