Selective Attention to Threat in Childhood Anxiety: Evidence from Visual Probe Paradigms

Abstract

The efficiency of the attention system mediates individual differences in intelligence and emotional processing (Posner and Fan, 2004). An attentional system that preferentially filters and selects negative, threatening, anxiogenic information is more likely to potentiate perceptions of threat and danger; activate a range of dysfunctional thoughts, feelings and beliefs about the present and future; and, ultimately, increase an individual's vulnerability to anxiety. Furthermore, the frequent capturing of attention by threat-related stimuli is likely to frustrate ongoing goal-directed behaviour (Eysenck, 1992).In recent years, there has been considerable research into attentional processes thought to characterize anxiety. Much of this has focused on developing a range of experimental paradigms that clarify biases in specific components/aspects of attention, that is, preferential selection of certain stimuli (over others) due to combinations of low-level perceptual, semantic, motivational or higher level (task relevant) attributes that render some stimuli more salient than others. This chapter discusses recent conceptual advances in our understanding of attention and its component processes, with specific reference to the application of visual probe tasks (and variants) to examine biases in selective attention in anxious children and adolescents. Attentional Bias in Anxiety: Predictions from Cognitive ModelsCognitive (information processing) models of anxiety emphasize the role of attention in the aetiology and maintenance of anxiety, but differ with respect Information Processing Biases and Anxiety: A Developmental Perspective Edited by J. A. Hadwin and A. P. Field

Processing Biases for Emotional Faces in 4- to 12-Year-Old Non-Clinical Children: An Exploratory Study of Developmental Patterns and Relationships with Social Anxiety and Behavioral Inhibition

“…Furthermore, in the youngest class, girls responded quicker to angry faces compared to happy faces, a finding which could be interpreted as girls being more vigilant towards angry or threatening facial expressions than boys. This finding is in line with a posteriori evidence from previous research (see Garner, 2010) suggesting that girls are more likely to be vigilant (Ehrenreich & Gross, 2002;Waters et al, 2004, Experiment 1), whereas boys are more likely to show avoidance towards threat-related stimuli (Ehrenreich & Gross, 2002;Vasey, El-Hag, & Daleiden, 1996). In line with this evidence, in the oldest class, socially anxious girls were in general more vigilant towards emotional facial expressions, negative as well as positive ones, whereas socially anxious boys were more likely to avoid such emotional expressions.…”

“…In line with this evidence, in the oldest class, socially anxious girls were in general more vigilant towards emotional facial expressions, negative as well as positive ones, whereas socially anxious boys were more likely to avoid such emotional expressions. These gender differences in vigilance-avoidance might contribute to the higher prevalence of anxiety in girls as compared to boys (Garner, 2010). However, clearly more research is needed to support this hypothesis.…”

Emotion processing in infancy: Specificity in risk for social anxiety and associations with two-year outcomes

“…Socially anxious adults and children show biases in their looking responses to emotional faces (e.g. Bögels & Mansell, 2004;Garner, 2010), and consistent patterns have been found among infants at hereditary risk of social phobia (Creswell et al, 2008). This study set out to evaluate whether these patterns are specific to infants at risk of social phobia, in comparison to infants at more general risk of anxiety problems (i.e.…”

“…Adults and children with high levels of social anxiety have been shown to evidence distinctive patterns of responding to negative emotional faces (e.g. Bögels & Mansell, 2004;Garner, 2010). It remains unclear, however, whether responses to social emotional information have a specific role in the aetiology of social anxiety.…”

Attentional Biases to Emotional Faces in Adolescents with Conduct Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, and Comorbid Conduct and Anxiety Disorders

“…For example, Beck suggests that individuals with ADs have dysfunctional cognitive schemata that disproportionately facilitate the processing of threat-related information (Beck & Clark, 1997;Beck et al, 1985). Evidence to support these theories has largely emerged from studies of selective attention in adults and children with ADs or high levels of trait anxiety, and have largely shown biases towards threat-related stimuli in these groups (e.g., Bar-Haim, Lamy, Pergamin, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 2007;Garner, 2010;Hadwin & Field, 2010;Lau et al, 2012;Muris & Field, 2008). However, the majority of these studies have used words or affectively-laden images -few studies have examined selective attention to emotional faces in children or adolescents with ADs, and results have been mixed (see Garner, 2010).…”