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Klein AM, Van Niekerk RE, Allart Van Dam E, Rinck M, Verbraak MJPM, Hutschemaekers GJM, Becker ES. Fear-related associations in children of parents with an anxiety disorder. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2024; 84:101953. [PMID: 38593495 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2024.101953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Children of parents with an anxiety disorder are at elevated risk for developing an anxiety disorder themselves. According to cognitive theories, a possible risk factor is the development of schema-related associations. This study is the first to investigate whether children of anxious parents display fear-related associations and whether these associations relate to parental anxiety. METHODS 44 children of parents with panic disorder, 27 children of parents with social anxiety disorder, and 84 children of parents without an anxiety disorder filled out the SCARED-71, and the children performed an Affective Priming Task. RESULTS We found partial evidence for disorder-specificity: When the primes were related to their parent's disorder and the targets were negative, the children of parents with panic disorder and children of parents with social anxiety disorder showed the lowest error rates related to their parents' disorder, but they did not have faster responses. We did not find any evidence for the expected specificity in the relationship between the parents' or the children's self-reported anxiety and the children's fear-related associations, as measured with the APT. LIMITATIONS Reliability of the Affective Priming Task was moderate, and power was low for finding small interaction effects. CONCLUSIONS Whereas clearly more research is needed, our results suggest that negative associations may qualify as a possible vulnerability factor for children of parents with an anxiety disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anke M Klein
- Developmental and Educational Psychology, Leiden University, the Netherlands; Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Rianne E Van Niekerk
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Centre for Anxiety Disorders Overwaal, Pro Persona, the Netherlands
| | | | - Mike Rinck
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | | | | | - Eni S Becker
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands
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2
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Michalek JE, Qtaishat L, von Stumm S, El Kharouf A, Dajani R, Hadfield K, Mareschal I. Maternal Trauma and Psychopathology Symptoms Affect Refugee Children's Mental Health But Not Their Emotion Processing. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol 2024:10.1007/s10802-024-01182-0. [PMID: 38430294 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-024-01182-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024]
Abstract
Refugee children's development may be affected by their parents' war-related trauma exposure and psychopathology symptoms across a range of cognitive and affective domains, but the processes involved in this transmission are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the impact of refugee mothers' trauma exposure and mental health on their children's mental health and attention biases to emotional expressions. In our sample of 324 Syrian refugee mother-child dyads living in Jordan (children's Mage=6.32, SD = 1.18; 50% female), mothers reported on their symptoms of anxiety and depression, and on their children's internalising, externalising, and attention problems. A subset of mothers reported their trauma exposure (n = 133) and PTSD symptoms (n = 124). We examined emotion processing in the dyads using a standard dot-probe task measuring their attention allocation to facial expressions of anger and sadness. Maternal trauma and PTSD symptoms were linked to child internalising and attention problems, while maternal anxiety and depression symptoms were associated with child internalising, externalising, and attention problems. Mothers and children were hypervigilant towards expressions of anger, but surprisingly, mother and child biases were not correlated with each other. The attentional biases to emotional faces were also not linked to psychopathology risk in the dyads. Our findings highlight the importance of refugee mothers' trauma exposure and psychopathology on their children's wellbeing. The results also suggest a dissociation between the mechanisms underlying mental health and those involved in attention to emotional faces, and that intergenerational transmission of mental health problems might involve mechanisms other than attentional processes relating to emotional expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia E Michalek
- Youth Resilience Unit, Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
| | | | | | - Amal El Kharouf
- Centre for Women Studies, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
| | - Rana Dajani
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan
| | - Kristin Hadfield
- Trinity Centre for Global Health, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Isabelle Mareschal
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Department of Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
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3
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Hertz-Palmor N, Rozenblit D, Lavi S, Zeltser J, Kviatek Y, Lazarov A. Aberrant reward learning, but not negative reinforcement learning, is related to depressive symptoms: an attentional perspective. Psychol Med 2024; 54:794-807. [PMID: 37642177 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291723002519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Aberrant reward functioning is implicated in depression. While attention precedes behavior and guides higher-order cognitive processes, reward learning from an attentional perspective - the effects of prior reward-learning on subsequent attention allocation - has been mainly overlooked. METHODS The present study explored the effects of reward-based attentional learning in depression using two separate, yet complimentary, studies. In study 1, participants with high (HD) and low (LD) levels of depression symptoms were trained to divert their gaze toward one type of stimuli over another using a novel gaze-contingent music reward paradigm - music played when fixating the desired stimulus type and stopped when gazing the alternate one. Attention allocation was assessed before, during, and following training. In study 2, using negative reinforcement, the same attention allocation pattern was trained while substituting the appetitive music reward for gazing the desired stimulus type with the removal of an aversive sound (i.e. white noise). RESULTS In study 1 both groups showed the intended shift in attention allocation during training (online reward learning), while generalization of learning at post-training was only evident among LD participants. Conversely, in study 2 both groups showed post-training generalization. Results were maintained when introducing anxiety as a covariate, and when using a more powerful sensitivity analysis. Finally, HD participants showed higher learning speed than LD participants during initial online learning, but only when using negative, not positive, reinforcement. CONCLUSIONS Deficient generalization of learning characterizes the attentional system of HD individuals, but only when using reward-based positive reinforcement, not negative reinforcement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nimrod Hertz-Palmor
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Shani Lavi
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Jonathan Zeltser
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Yonatan Kviatek
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Amit Lazarov
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
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4
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Zainal NH, Jacobson NC. Reliability (or lack thereof) of smartphone ecological momentary assessment of visual dot probe attention bias toward threat indices. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2024; 82:101918. [PMID: 37907019 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Cognitive bias theories posit that generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) are entwined with attention bias toward threats, commonly indexed by faster response time (RT) on threat-congruent (vs. threat-incongruent) trials on the visual dot probe. Moreover, although smartphone ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of the visual dot probe has been developed, their psychometric properties are understudied. This study thus aimed to assess the reliability of 8 smartphone-delivered visual dot probe attention bias and related indices in persons with and without GAD and SAD. METHODS Community-dwelling adults (n = 819; GAD: 64%; SAD: 49%; Mixed GAD and SAD: 37%; Non-GAD/SAD Controls: 24%) completed a five-trial smartphone-delivered visual dot probe for a median of 60 trials (12 sessions x 5 trials/session) and an average of 100 trials (20 sessions x 5 trials/session). RESULTS As hypothesized, Global Attention Bias Index, Disengagement Effect, and Facilitation Bias had low-reliability estimates. However, retest-reliability and internal reliability were good for Trial-Level Bias Scores (TLBS) (Bias Toward Treat: intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) = 0.626-0.644; split-half r = 0.640-0.670; Attention Bias Variability: ICCs = 0.507-0.567; split-half r = 0.520-0.580) and (In)congruent RTs. Poor retest-reliability and internal reliability estimates were consistently observed for all traditional attention bias and related indices but not TLBS. LIMITATIONS Our visual dot probe EMA should have administered ≥320 trials to match best-practice guidelines based on similar laboratory studies. CONCLUSIONS Future research should strive to examine attention bias paradigms beyond the dot-probe task that evidenced meaningful test-retest reliability properties in laboratory and real-world naturalistic settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nur Hani Zainal
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Health Care Policy, USA; National University of Singapore, Department of Psychology, Singapore.
| | - Nicholas C Jacobson
- Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, USA
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5
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Wittekind CE, Schiebel T, Kühn S. Reliability of and associations between cognitive bias measures and response inhibition in smoking. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2023; 81:101853. [PMID: 36947971 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2022] [Revised: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/24/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Theoretical models propose that different cognitive biases are caused by a common underlying mechanism (incentive salience/"wanting") and should, therefore, be interrelated. Additionally, stronger impulsive processes should be related to weaker inhibitory abilities. However, these assumptions have hardly been empirically tested and key psychometric information have hardly been reported in samples of smokers. To extent previous research, the present study aimed (1) to estimate the reliability (split-half) of different cognitive bias measures and (2) to investigate associations between attention, approach and associative biases, response inhibition, and smoking-related variables. METHODS Eighty current, non-deprived smokers completed the following tasks in random order: Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT), Stimulus-Response Compatibility Task (SRCT), Implicit-Association Tests (IAT, approach-avoid, valence), Dotprobe Task, Go-/NoGo Task (GNGT). Additionally, different smoking-related variables were assessed. Split-half reliabilities of the different cognitive (bias) measures and correlations between them were calculated. RESULTS Split-half reliabilities of the AAT, the SRCT, and the Dotprobe Task were unacceptable whereas both IATs and the GNGT showed good to excellent reliability. Smoking-approach associations were significantly related to nicotine dependence; however, none of the cognitive bias measures correlated with response inhibition or smoking-related variables. LIMITATIONS Pictorial stimuli were the same across paradigms and might not have been relevant to all participants. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study to investigate the association between different cognitive biases, response inhibition, and smoking-related variables. Although findings are at odds with theoretical assumptions, their interpretation is clearly restricted by the low reliability of the cognitive bias measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte E Wittekind
- LMU Munich, Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Germany; University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Germany.
| | - Tanja Schiebel
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Germany
| | - Simone Kühn
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany; Max Planck-UCL Center for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany
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6
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Shamai-Leshem D, Abend R, Arad G, Azriel O, Chong L, de Jong P, Dykan CDG, Hajcak G, Klawohn J, Meyer A, Neophytou K, Neria Y, Panayiotou G, Schneier F, Soleymani A, Yair N, Pine DS, Bar-Haim Y, Lazarov A. The free-viewing matrix task: A reliable measure of attention allocation in psychopathology. J Anxiety Disord 2023; 100:102789. [PMID: 37949029 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2023.102789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Revised: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/12/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
Aberrant attention allocation has been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of a range of psychopathologies. However, three decades of research, relying primarily on manual response-time tasks, have been challenged on the grounds of poor reliability of its attention bias indices. Here, in a large, multisite, international study we provide reliability information for a new eye-tracking-based measure of attention allocation and its relation to psychopathology and age. Data from 1567 participants, across a wide range of psychiatric diagnoses and ages, were aggregated from nine sites around the world. Of these, 213 participants also provided retest data. Acceptable overall internal consistency and test-retest reliability were observed among adult participants (Cronbach's alpha = 0.86 and r(213) = 0.89, respectively), as well as across all examined psychopathologies. Youth demonstrated lower internal consistency scores (Cronbach's alpha = 0.65). Finally, the percent dwell time index derived from the task statistically differentiated between healthy participants and participants diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. These results potentially address a long-standing reliability crisis in this research field. Aberrant attention allocation patterns in a variety of psychiatric disorders may be targeted with the hope of affecting symptoms. The attention allocation index derived from the matrix task offers reliable means to measure such cognitive target engagement in clinical contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana Shamai-Leshem
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
| | - Rany Abend
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, USA
| | - Gal Arad
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Omer Azriel
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Lyndsey Chong
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - Peter de Jong
- Department of Clinical Psychology & Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | | | - Greg Hajcak
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - Julia Klawohn
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA; Department of Medicine, MSB Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Alexandria Meyer
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | | | - Yuval Neria
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Franklin Schneier
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ali Soleymani
- Department of Clinical Psychology & Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; Centre of Education and Learning, Technical University of Delft, Delft, the Netherlands
| | - Noga Yair
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Daniel S Pine
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, USA
| | - Yair Bar-Haim
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Amit Lazarov
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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7
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Zech HG, Gable P, van Dijk WW, van Dillen LF. Test-retest reliability of a smartphone-based approach-avoidance task: Effects of retest period, stimulus type, and demographics. Behav Res Methods 2023; 55:2652-2668. [PMID: 35915356 PMCID: PMC9342838 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-01920-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The approach-avoidance task (AAT) is an implicit task that measures people's behavioral tendencies to approach or avoid stimuli in the environment. In recent years, it has been used successfully to help explain a variety of health problems (e.g., addictions and phobias). Unfortunately, more recent AAT studies have failed to replicate earlier promising findings. One explanation for these replication failures could be that the AAT does not reliably measure approach-avoidance tendencies. Here, we first review existing literature on the reliability of various versions of the AAT. Next, we examine the AAT's reliability in a large and diverse sample (N = 1077; 248 of whom completed all sessions). Using a smartphone-based, mobile AAT, we measured participants' approach-avoidance tendencies eight times over a period of seven months (one measurement per month) in two distinct stimulus sets (happy/sad expressions and disgusting/neutral stimuli). The mobile AAT's split-half reliability was adequate for face stimuli (r = .85), but low for disgust stimuli (r = .72). Its test-retest reliability based on a single measurement was poor for either stimulus set (all ICC1s < .3). Its test-retest reliability based on the average of all eight measurements was moderately good for face stimuli (ICCk = .73), but low for disgust stimuli (ICCk = .5). Results suggest that single-measurement AATs could be influenced by unexplained temporal fluctuations of approach-avoidance tendencies. These fluctuations could be examined in future studies. Until then, this work suggests that future research using the AAT should rely on multiple rather than single measurements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hilmar G Zech
- Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
- Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
| | | | - Wilco W van Dijk
- Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Knowledge Centre Psychology and Economic Behaviour, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Lotte F van Dillen
- Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Knowledge Centre Psychology and Economic Behaviour, Leiden, The Netherlands
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8
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Muhajarine N, Pisolkar V, Hinz T, Adeyinka DA, McCutcheon J, Alaverdashvili M, Damodharan S, Dena I, Jurgens C, Taras V, Green K, Kallio N, Palmer-Clarke Y. Mental Health and Health-Related Quality of Life of Children and Youth during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from a Cross-Sectional Survey in Saskatchewan, Canada. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 10:1009. [PMID: 37371243 DOI: 10.3390/children10061009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023]
Abstract
For children and youth, the COVID-19 pandemic surfaced at a critical time in their development. Children have experienced extended disruptions to routines including in-person schooling, physical activities, and social interactions-things that bring meaning and structure to their daily lives. We estimated the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms of children and youth and their experiences of health-related quality of life (HRQoL), during the first year of the pandemic, and identified factors related to these outcomes. Further, we examined these effects among ethnocultural minority families. We conducted an online survey (March-July 2021) with 510 children and youth aged 8-18 years and their parents/caregivers. The sample was representative of the targeted population. We modelled the relationship between anxiety, depression (measured using the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale), HRQoL (measured using KIDSCREEN-10), and sociodemographic, behavioural, and COVID-19-contributing factors using binary logistic regression. A priori-selected moderating effects of sociodemographic characteristics and self-identified ethnocultural minority groups on the outcomes were tested. The point-in-time prevalence of medium-to-high anxiety symptoms and depression symptoms was 10.19% and 9.26%, respectively. Almost half (49.15%) reported low-to-moderate HRQoL. Children reporting medium-to-high anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and low-to-moderate HRQoL were more likely to be aged 8-11 years, 16-18 years, ethnocultural minority participants, living in rural/urban areas, having good/fair MH before COVID-19, experiencing household conflicts, having less physical activity, and having ≥3 h of recreational screen time. Those who had more people living at home and ≥8 h of sleep reported low anxiety and depression symptoms. Ethnocultural minority 16-18-year-olds were more likely to report low-to-moderate HRQoL, compared to 12-15-year-olds. Additionally, 8-11-year-olds, 16-18-year-olds with immigrant parents, and 16-18-year-olds with Canadian-born parents were more likely to report low-moderate HRQoL, compared to 12-15-year-olds. Children and youth MH and HRQoL were impacted during the pandemic. Adverse MH outcomes were evident among ethnocultural minority families. Our results reveal the need to prioritize children's MH and to build equity-driven, targeted interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nazeem Muhajarine
- Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU), University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2Z4, Canada
- Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Rd, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - Vaidehi Pisolkar
- Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU), University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2Z4, Canada
- Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Rd, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - Tamara Hinz
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 103 Hospital Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W8, Canada
- Saskatchewan Health Authority, 701 Queen Street, Saskatoon, SK S7K 0M7, Canada
| | - Daniel A Adeyinka
- Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU), University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2Z4, Canada
- Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Rd, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - Jessica McCutcheon
- Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research (CHASR), University of Saskatchewan, 9 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A5, Canada
| | - Mariam Alaverdashvili
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 103 Hospital Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W8, Canada
| | - Senthil Damodharan
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 103 Hospital Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W8, Canada
| | - Isabelle Dena
- Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU), University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2Z4, Canada
- Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Rd, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - Christa Jurgens
- EGADZ Saskatoon Downtown Youth Centre Inc., 1st Avenue North, Saskatoon, SK S7K 1X5, Canada
| | - Victoria Taras
- Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation, 2317 Arlington Avenue, Saskatoon, SK S7J 2H8, Canada
| | - Kathryn Green
- Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Rd, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - Natalie Kallio
- Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU), University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2Z4, Canada
- Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Rd, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada
| | - Yolanda Palmer-Clarke
- Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU), University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2Z4, Canada
- Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Rd, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada
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9
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Zhang Q. Patterns of attentional biases in children and emotional symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: a two-wave longitudinal study. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 2023; 17:61. [PMID: 37198650 DOI: 10.1186/s13034-023-00594-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND It is unknown how the patterns of negative and positive attentional biases in children predict fear of COVID-19, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study identified profiles of negative and positive attentional biases in children and examined their association with emotional symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD 264 children (girls: 53.8% and boys: 46.2%) of 9-10 years born in Hong Kong or mainland China from a primary school in Shenzhen, People's Republic of China were involved in a two-wave longitudinal study. Children completed the COVID-19 Fear Scale, the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Attention to Positive and Negative Information Scale to measure fear of COVID-19, anxiety and depression symptoms, and negative and positive attentional biases in classrooms. After six months, they completed the second assessment of fear of COVID-19, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms in classrooms. Latent profile analysis was conducted to reveal distinct profiles of attentional biases in children. A series of repeated MANOVA was performed to examine the association of profiles of attentional biases to fear of COVID-19, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms across 6 months. RESULTS Three profiles of negative and positive attentional biases were revealed in children. Children with a "moderate positive and high negative attentional biases" profile had significantly higher fear of the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms than children with a "high positive and moderate negative attentional biases" profile. Children with a "low positive and negative attentional biases" profile were not significantly different in fear of COVID-19, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms than those with the other two profiles. CONCLUSIONS Patterns of negative and positive attentional biases were related to emotional symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. It might be important to consider children's overall patterns of negative and positive attentional biases to identify children at risk of higher emotional symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiaochu Zhang
- Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Floor 7, AC1Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
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10
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Machulska A, Kleinke K, Klucken T. Same same, but different: A psychometric examination of three frequently used experimental tasks for cognitive bias assessment in a sample of healthy young adults. Behav Res Methods 2023; 55:1332-1351. [PMID: 35650382 PMCID: PMC10126031 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-01804-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive bias research draws upon the notion that altered information processing is key for understanding psychological functioning and well-being. However, little attention has been paid to the question of whether the frequently used experimental paradigms hold adequate psychometric properties. The present study examined the psychometric properties of three widely used cognitive bias tasks: the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT), the visual dot-probe-task, and the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Approach, attentional, and association biases towards valenced stimuli were repeatedly measured at five different time points in a sample of 79 healthy young adults. Two different devices were used for assessment: a personal computer (PC) and a touchscreen-based tablet. Reliability estimates included internal consistency and temporal stability. Validity was inferred from convergence across different behavioral tasks and correlations between bias scores and self-reported psychological traits. Reliability ranged widely amongst tasks, assessment devices, and measurement time points. While the dot-probe-task appeared to be completely unreliable, bias scores obtained from the PC-based version of the AAT and both (PC and touchscreen) versions of the IAT showed moderate reliability. Almost no associations were found across information processing tasks or between implicit and explicit measures. Cognitive bias research should adopt a standard practice to routinely estimate and report psychometric properties of experimental paradigms, investigate feasible ways to develop more reliable tools, and use tasks that are suitable to answer the precise research question asked.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alla Machulska
- Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany.
| | - Kristian Kleinke
- Department of Psychology, Adolf-Reichwein-Str. 2a, D-57068 Siegen, Siegen, Germany
| | - Tim Klucken
- Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany
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11
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Basel D, Hallel H, Dar R, Lazarov A. Attention allocation in OCD: A systematic review and meta-analysis of eye-tracking-based research. J Affect Disord 2023; 324:539-550. [PMID: 36610593 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2022] [Revised: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Cognitive models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) implicate heightened attention allocation to stimuli related to one's obsessions in the disorder. Recently, to overcome several limitations of reaction time-based measures, eye-tracking methodology has been increasingly used in attentional research. METHODS A meta-analysis of studies examining attention allocation towards OCD-related vs. neutral stimuli, using eye-tracking methodology and a group-comparison design, was conducted conforming to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Separate meta-analyses were performed for attentional vigilance (both latency and location of first fixations) and maintenance (total dwell time and total fixation count, conjointly). Each meta-analysis was conducted twice - once including all studies (main analysis) and once only including studies using the free-viewing paradigm (secondary analysis). RESULTS The systematic search yielded a total of nine studies. Of those, eight provided the needed data to be included in the meta-analysis. No evidence emerged for vigilance via latency to first fixation. Vigilance reflected via first fixation location emerged in the main analysis, but not in the secondary one. Evidence for attentional maintenance was found only when analyzing free-viewing studies exclusively (the secondary analysis). LIMITATIONS To increase the accuracy of the research question, correlational studies were excluded, resulting in a small number of available studies. CONCLUSIONS OCD may be characterized by vigilance, but mainly in tasks entailing specific demands and/or goals. Conversely, attentional maintenance may be evident only when using tasks that pose no requirements or demands for participants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana Basel
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
| | - Hadar Hallel
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
| | - Reuven Dar
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
| | - Amit Lazarov
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
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12
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Rayson H, Ryan ZJ, Dodd HF. Behavioural inhibition and early neural processing of happy and angry faces interact to predict anxiety: a longitudinal ERP study. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2023; 60:101207. [PMID: 36764038 PMCID: PMC9929676 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Revised: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Limited prospective research has examined whether attention biases to emotion moderate associations between Behavioural Inhibition (BI) and anxiety in preschool-aged children. Furthermore, there has been an over-reliance on behavioral measures in previous studies. Accordingly, we assessed anxiety in a sample of preschool-aged children (3-4 years) at baseline, and again approximately 6 and 11 months later, after they started school. At baseline, children completed an assessment of BI and an EEG task where they were presented with angry, happy, and neutral faces. EEG analyses focused on ERPs (P1, P2, N2) associated with specific stages of attention allocation. Interactions between BI and emotion bias (ERP amplitude for emotional versus neutral faces) were found for N2 and P1. For N2, BI was significantly associated with higher overall anxiety when an angry bias was present. Interestingly for P1, BI was associated with higher overall anxiety when a happy bias was absent. Finally, interactions were found between linear time and happy and angry bias for P1, with a greater linear decrease in anxiety over time when biases were high. These results suggest that attention to emotional stimuli moderates the BI-anxiety relationship across early development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Holly Rayson
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS / Université Claude Bernard Lyon, France.
| | - Zoe J Ryan
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, UK
| | - Helen F Dodd
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, UK; Children and Young People's Mental Health Research Collaboration (ChYMe), Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, UK
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13
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Gibb BE, Owens M, Brick LAD. Attentional biases for sad faces in offspring of mothers with a history of major depression: trajectories of change from childhood to adolescence. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2022; 64:859-867. [PMID: 36549842 PMCID: PMC10182244 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Theorists have proposed that the way children process social-emotional information may serve as a mechanism of risk for the intergenerational transmission of depression. There is growing evidence that infants and children of mothers with a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) during the child's life exhibit attentional avoidance of sad faces, which has been proposed as an early emerging emotion regulation strategy. In contrast, there is clear evidence that at-risk and depressed adolescents and adults exhibit difficulty disengaging attention from sad faces. METHODS Seeking to link these two literatures, the current U.S.-based study used eye tracking within the context of an accelerated longitudinal design to assess attentional biases in 8-14-year-old offspring of mothers with a history MDD during the child's life (n = 123) or no history of MDD (n = 119) every six months for two years, allowing us to map trajectories of attention from age 8 to 16. RESULTS Mother MDD history moderated age-based changes in children's gaze duration to sad (t[240] = 2.44, p = .02), but not happy (t[240] = 0.11, p = .91) or angry (t[240] = 0.67, p = .50), faces. Consistent our hypotheses, offspring of mothers with MDD exhibited significantly less attention to sad faces than offspring of never depressed mothers before age 8.5 but significantly more attention to sad faces after age 14.5, which was due to an increase in gaze duration to sad faces from childhood to adolescence among offspring of mothers with MDD (t[122] = 5.44, p < .001) but not among offspring of never depressed mothers (t[118] = 1.49, p = .14). CONCLUSIONS It appears that the form, and perhaps function, of attentional bias may shift across development in at-risk youth. To the extent that this is true, it has significant implications not only for theories of the intergenerational transmission of depression risk but also for prevention and early intervention efforts designed to reduce this risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon E Gibb
- Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY, USA
| | - Max Owens
- Department of Psychology, University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus, St. Petersburg, FL, USA
| | - Leslie A D Brick
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
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14
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Mobach L, Rinck M, Becker ES, Carl T, Klein AM, Rapee RM, Hudson JL. Facing Uncertainty: Interpretation of Ambiguous Emotional Faces in Childhood Social Anxiety Disorder. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL FOR THE SOCIETY OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY, AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, DIVISION 53 2022; 51:955-969. [PMID: 35617097 DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2022.2070850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The current study examined whether children with a social anxiety disorder (SAD) demonstrate divergent facial emotion processing and a disorder-specific negative interpretation bias in the processing of facial emotional expressions. This study aimed to overcome previous study limitations by including both a nonsocially anxious control group and a healthy control group to examine whether childhood SAD is characterized by a general emotion labeling deficit, and/or by a negative interpretation bias, indicated by systematic misclassifications, or a lower threshold for recognizing threatening emotions. METHOD Participants were 132 children aged 7-12 years (Mage = 9.15; 45.5% female). Children with SAD (n = 42) were compared to children with other, nonsocial, anxiety disorders (n = 40) and healthy control children (n = 50) on a novel facial emotion recognition task. Children judged ambiguous happy/neutral, angry/neutral and fear/neutral faces that were morphed at different intensities (10%, 30%, 50%, 70%). RESULTS Children with SAD did not differ from other groups in their accuracy of identifying emotions. They did not show systematic misclassifications or a heightened sensitivity to negative, threatening faces either. Rather, children with nonsocial anxiety disorders showed a generally heightened sensitivity to emotional faces. CONCLUSIONS The current study does not provide evidence for a general deficit in labeling of emotional faces in childhood SAD. Childhood SAD was not characterized by an interpretation bias in processing emotional faces. Children with nonsocial anxiety disorders may benefit from assistance in accurately interpreting the degree of emotionality in interpersonal situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lynn Mobach
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
- Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
| | - Mike Rinck
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
| | - Eni S Becker
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
| | - Talia Carl
- Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
| | - Anke M Klein
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
- Developmental and Educational Psychology of the Institute of Psychology, Leiden University
| | - Ronald M Rapee
- Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
| | - Jennifer L Hudson
- Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
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15
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The Longitudinal Interplay Between Attention Bias and Interpretation Bias in Social Anxiety in Adolescents. COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10608-022-10304-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Cognitive biases are found to play a role in the onset and maintenance of social anxiety. However, particularly in adolescence, the link between different biases and their role in predicting social anxiety is far from clear. This study therefore investigated the interplay between attention bias and interpretation bias in relation to social anxiety in adolescence across three years.
Methods
816 adolescents in grade 7 to 9 participated at three yearly waves (52.8% boys, Mage grade7 = 12.60). Social anxiety was measured with a self-report questionnaire. Attention bias was measured with a visual search task with emotional faces. Textual vignettes assessed interpretation bias.
Results
Cross-lagged models showed that negative interpretation bias at grade 7 predicted an increase in social anxiety at grade 8. This effect was not found from grade 8 to 9. Attention bias did not predict social anxiety. Attention bias and interpretation bias were not longitudinally related to each other, nor did they interact with each other in predicting social anxiety.
Conclusions
Thus, no evidence was found for the Combined Cognitive Bias Hypothesis in social anxiety in adolescents. Instead, our results suggest that interpretation bias rather than attention bias contributes to the increase of social anxiety over time.
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16
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Oar EL, Johnco CJ, Waters AM, Fardouly J, Forbes MK, Magson NR, Richardson CE, Rapee RM. Eye-tracking to assess anxiety-related attentional biases among a large sample of preadolescent children. Behav Res Ther 2022; 153:104079. [PMID: 35395478 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2022.104079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2020] [Revised: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 03/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
A considerable body of research in adults has demonstrated that anxiety disorders are characterised by attentional biases to threat. Findings in children have been inconsistent. The present study examined anxiety-related attention biases using eye tracking methodology in 463 preadolescents between 10 and 12 years of age, of whom 92 met criteria for a DSM-5 anxiety disorder and 371 did not. Preadolescent's gaze was recorded while they viewed adolescent face pairs depicting angry-neutral and happy-neutral expressions with each face pair presented for 5000 ms. No group differences were observed across any eye tracking indices including probability of first fixation direction, latency to first fixation, first fixation duration and dwell time. The sample overall showed faster initial attention towards threat cues, followed by a later broadening of attention away from threat. There is a need to identify the types of threats and the developmental period during which visual attention patterns of anxious and non-anxious youth diverge to inform more developmentally sensitive treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ella L Oar
- Centre for Emotional Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia.
| | - Carly J Johnco
- Centre for Emotional Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia
| | - Allison M Waters
- School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Mount Gravatt Campus, Mount Gravatt, QLD, 4122, Australia
| | - Jasmine Fardouly
- Centre for Emotional Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia; School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Miriam K Forbes
- Centre for Emotional Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia
| | - Natasha R Magson
- Centre for Emotional Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia
| | - Cele E Richardson
- Centre for Emotional Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia; School of Psychological Science, Centre for Sleep Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Ronald M Rapee
- Centre for Emotional Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia
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17
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Anokhin AP, Luciana M, Banich M, Barch D, Bjork JM, Gonzalez MR, Gonzalez R, Haist F, Jacobus J, Lisdahl K, McGlade E, McCandliss B, Nagel B, Nixon SJ, Tapert S, Kennedy JT, Thompson W. Age-related changes and longitudinal stability of individual differences in ABCD Neurocognition measures. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2022; 54:101078. [PMID: 35123342 PMCID: PMC9019835 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Revised: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Temporal stability of individual differences is an important prerequisite for accurate tracking of prospective relationships between neurocognition and real-world behavioral outcomes such as substance abuse and psychopathology. Here we report age-related changes and longitudinal test-retest stability (TRS) for the Neurocognition battery of the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which included the NIH Toolbox (TB) Cognitive Domain and additional memory and visuospatial processing tests administered at baseline (ages 9-11) and two-year follow-up. As expected, performance improved significantly with age, but the effect size varied broadly, with Pattern Comparison and the Crystallized Cognition Composite showing the largest age-related gain (Cohen's d:.99 and.97, respectively). TRS ranged from fair (Flanker test: r = 0.44) to excellent (Crystallized Cognition Composite: r = 0.82). A comparison of longitudinal changes and cross-sectional age-related differences within baseline and follow-up assessments suggested that, for some measures, longitudinal changes may be confounded by practice effects and differences in task stimuli or procedure between baseline and follow-up. In conclusion, a subset of measures showed good stability of individual differences despite significant age-related changes, warranting their use as prospective predictors. However, caution is needed in the interpretation of observed longitudinal changes as indicators of neurocognitive development.
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18
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Platt B, Sfärlea A, Buhl C, Loechner J, Neumüller J, Asperud Thomsen L, Starman-Wöhrle K, Salemink E, Schulte-Körne G. An Eye-Tracking Study of Attention Biases in Children at High Familial Risk for Depression and Their Parents with Depression. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2022; 53:89-108. [PMID: 33398688 PMCID: PMC8813682 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-020-01105-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Attention biases (AB) are a core component of cognitive models of depression yet it is unclear what role they play in the transgenerational transmission of depression. 44 children (9-14 years) with a high familial risk of depression (HR) were compared on multiple measures of AB with 36 children with a low familial risk of depression (LR). Their parents: 44 adults with a history of depression (HD) and 36 adults with no history of psychiatric disorder (ND) were also compared. There was no evidence of group differences in AB; neither between the HR and LR children, nor between HD and ND parents. There was no evidence of a correlation between parent and child AB. The internal consistency of the tasks varied greatly. The Dot-Probe Task showed unacceptable reliability whereas the behavioral index of the Visual-Search Task and an eye-tracking index of the Passive-Viewing Task showed better reliability. There was little correlation between the AB tasks and the tasks showed minimal convergence with symptoms of depression or anxiety. The null-findings of the current study contradict our expectations and much of the previous literature. They may be due to the poor psychometric properties associated with some of the AB indices, the unreliability of AB in general, or the relatively modest sample size. The poor reliability of the tasks in our sample suggest caution should be taken when interpreting the positive findings of previous studies which have used similar methods and populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- B. Platt
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital, Nußbaumstr. 5a, 80336 Munich, Germany
| | - A. Sfärlea
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital, Nußbaumstr. 5a, 80336 Munich, Germany
| | - C. Buhl
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital, Nußbaumstr. 5a, 80336 Munich, Germany
| | - J. Loechner
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital, Nußbaumstr. 5a, 80336 Munich, Germany ,Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, LMU, Munich, Germany
| | - J. Neumüller
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital, Nußbaumstr. 5a, 80336 Munich, Germany
| | - L. Asperud Thomsen
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital, Nußbaumstr. 5a, 80336 Munich, Germany
| | - K. Starman-Wöhrle
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital, Nußbaumstr. 5a, 80336 Munich, Germany
| | - E. Salemink
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - G. Schulte-Körne
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital, Nußbaumstr. 5a, 80336 Munich, Germany
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19
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Marshall TE, Thomas KS, Weinstein N, Vanderwert RE. Disordered eating behaviours and basic psychological need satisfaction: the mediating role of anxiety symptoms in preadolescents. J Child Adolesc Ment Health 2022; 34:42-52. [PMID: 38504657 DOI: 10.2989/17280583.2023.2277763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/21/2024]
Abstract
Objective: According to self-determination theory, satisfied basic psychological needs can be a protective factor for psychopathology, including eating disorders and anxiety symptomatology. However, most research has focused on adolescent and adult populations, with less work examining perceived basic psychological need satisfaction from parents in younger samples who report anxiety and disordered eating. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate whether basic psychological need satisfaction from parents was associated with disordered eating in preadolescents and whether anxiety mediated this relation.Method: A total of 211 preadolescents were recruited from primary schools across south Wales (mean age = 10.27 years, age range = 9-11 years; 49.3% female). Children completed self-report questionnaires on their basic psychological need satisfaction when with parents, as well as disordered eating and anxiety symptoms.Results: It was found that higher needs satisfaction was associated with lower disordered eating and anxiety, with stronger relations found in girls compared with boys. Furthermore, anxiety was found to mediate this relationship.Conclusions: Results suggest that basic psychological needs satisfaction may play an important role in the early emergence of co-occurring disordered eating and anxiety symptoms in boys and girls. The importance of considering anxiety symptoms in future work investigating needs satisfaction in the context of disordered eating and eating disorders is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kai S Thomas
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, UK
- Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science, Cardiff University, UK
| | - Netta Weinstein
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, UK
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, UK
| | - Ross E Vanderwert
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, UK
- Cardiff University Centre for Human Developmental Science, Cardiff University, UK
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20
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The predictive value of evaluative bias, attentional bias, approach bias, and self-regulatory control in soft drink consumption. Appetite 2021; 168:105771. [PMID: 34688729 DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2021] [Revised: 10/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Global consumption of soft drinks has increased rapidly over the past 50 years, making this a major public health problem. Guided by dual-process models, the present study aimed to provide a comprehensive investigation of the roles of cognitive biases (evaluative, attentional, and approach biases) and self-regulatory control in soft drink consumption and choice. Participants were 128 undergraduate students (17-25 years). They completed computer-based measures of the three biases (Implicit Association Task, Dot Probe Task, and Approach Avoidance Task) and self-regulatory control (Go/no-go Task). Soft drink consumption and choice were measured using a taste test and a take home beverage choice task, respectively. Evaluative bias for soft drink cues was positively associated with the amount of soft drink consumed. Self-regulatory control was negatively correlated with amount of soft drink consumed, but only for men. There was no interaction between cognitive biases and self-regulatory control in predicting soft drink consumption or choice. Nonetheless, the results support the application of dual-process models to soft drink consumption in that automatic (evaluative bias) and controlled processes (self-regulatory control) each predicted amount of soft drink consumed, albeit independently and only for certain individuals. Future research should extend these findings to habitual soft drink consumers and to individuals who actively wish to limit their soft drink intake.
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21
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Van Bockstaele B, Aktar E, Majdandžić M, Pérez-Edgar K, Bögels SM. The relation between early behavioural inhibition and later social anxiety, independent of attentional biases to threat. Cogn Emot 2021; 35:1431-1439. [PMID: 34382502 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2021.1963682] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Early behavioural inhibition, a temperamental characteristic defined by fearful, overly-sensitive, avoidant, or withdrawn reactions to the unknown, is a predictor of later social anxiety. However, not all behaviourally inhibited children develop anxiety problems, and attentional bias to threat has been proposed to moderate the relation between behavioural inhibition and anxiety. The current study aimed to further specify the relation between early behavioural inhibition and later social anxiety by testing this potentially moderating role of childhood attentional bias to threat. Behavioural inhibition was assessed during toddlerhood (age 2.5 years) using laboratory observations of children's behaviours in response to unknown objects and situations. When children were 7.5 years old, attentional bias was measured in 86 children (46 girls) using both a visual probe task and a visual search task with angry and happy faces. Child social anxiety was measured using questionnaires completed by the child and both parents, and clinical interviews conducted with both parents. Our results showed that while early behavioural inhibition was related to later social anxiety, there was no evidence for a moderation of this relation by attentional bias, suggesting that the relation between early fearful temperament and later social anxiety holds across children, independent of their attentional biases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bram Van Bockstaele
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.,Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Evin Aktar
- Clinical Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Mirjana Majdandžić
- Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Koraly Pérez-Edgar
- Department of Psychology, Child Study Center, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, USA
| | - Susan M Bögels
- Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Psychology Research Institute, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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22
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Increased attention allocation to socially threatening faces in social anxiety disorder: A replication study. J Affect Disord 2021; 290:169-177. [PMID: 34000570 PMCID: PMC8217243 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.04.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2020] [Revised: 02/16/2021] [Accepted: 04/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Threat-related attention bias has been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of social anxiety disorder (SAD), with attentional research increasingly using eye-tracking methodology to overcome the poor psychometric properties of response-time-based tasks and measures. Yet, extant eye-tracking research in social anxiety has mostly failed to report on psychometrics and attempts to replicate past results are rare. Therefore, we attempted to replicate a previously published eye-tracking study of gaze patterns in socially anxious and nonanxious participants as they viewed social threatening and neutral faces, while also exploring the psychometric properties of the attentional measures used. METHODS Gaze was monitored as participants freely viewed 60 different matrices comprised of eight socially-threatening and eight neutral faces, presented for 6000 ms each. Gaze patterns directed at threat and neutral areas of interest (AOIs) were compared by group. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were also evaluated. RESULTS Relative to healthy controls, socially anxious patients dwelled significantly longer on threat faces, replicating prior findings with the same task. Internal consistency of total dwell time on threat and neutral AOIs was high, and two-week test-retest reliability was acceptable. LIMITATIONS Test-retest reliability was only examined for the control group, which had a small sample size. CONCLUSION Increased dwell time on socially threatening stimuli is a reliable, stable, and generalizable measure of attentional bias in adults with social anxiety.
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23
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Gladwin TE, Halls M, Vink M. Experimental control of conflict in a predictive visual probe task: Highly reliable bias scores related to anxiety. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2021; 218:103357. [PMID: 34175671 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Revised: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Concerns have been raised about the low reliability of measurements of spatial attentional bias via RT differences in dot-probe tasks. The anticipatory form of the bias, directed towards predicted future stimuli, appears to have relatively good reliability, reaching around 0.70. However, studies thus far have not attempted to experimentally control task-related influence on bias, which could further improve reliability. Evoking top-down versus bottom-up conflict may furthermore reveal associations with individual differences related to mental health. In the current study, a sample of 143 participants performed a predictive Visual Probe Task (predVPT) with angry and neutral face stimuli online. In this task, an automatic bias is induced via visually neutral cues that predict the location of an upcoming angry face. A task-relevant bias was induced via blockwise shifts in the likely location of target stimuli. The bias score resulting from these factors was calculated as RTs to target stimuli at locations of predicted but not actually presented angry versus neutral faces. Correlations were tested with anxiety, depression, self-esteem and aggression scales. An overall bias towards threat was found with a split-half reliability of 0.90, and 0.89 after outlier removal. Avoidance of threat in blocks with a task-relevant bias away from threat was correlated with anxiety, with correction for multiple testing. The same relationship was nominally significant for depression and low self-esteem. In conclusion, we showed high reliability of spatial attentional bias that was related to anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Edward Gladwin
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Institute of Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom; University of Chichester, Chichester, United Kingdom.
| | - Monika Halls
- University of Chichester, Chichester, United Kingdom
| | - Matthijs Vink
- Departments of Developmental and Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
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Fearful Temperament and the Risk for Child and Adolescent Anxiety: The Role of Attention Biases and Effortful Control. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 2021; 23:205-228. [PMID: 31728796 DOI: 10.1007/s10567-019-00306-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Fearful temperament represents one of the most robust predictors of child and adolescent anxiety; however, not all children with fearful temperament unvaryingly develop anxiety. Diverse processes resulting from the interplay between automatic processing (i.e., attention bias) and controlled processing (i.e., effortful control) drive the trajectories toward more adaptive or maladaptive directions. In this review, we examine the associations between fearful temperament, attention bias, and anxiety, as well as the moderating effect of effortful control. Based on the reviewed literature, we propose a two-mechanism developmental model of attention bias that underlies the association between fearful temperament and anxiety. We propose that the sub-components of effortful control (i.e., attentional control and inhibitory control) play different roles depending on individuals' temperaments, initial automatic biases, and goal priorities. Our model may help resolve some of the mixed findings and conflicts in the current literature. It may also advance our knowledge regarding the cognitive mechanisms linking fearful temperament and anxiety, as well as facilitate the continuing efforts in identifying and intervening with children who are at risk. Finally, we conclude the review with a discussion on the existing limitations and then propose questions for future research.
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25
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Vervoort L, Braun M, De Schryver M, Naets T, Koster EHW, Braet C. A Pictorial Dot Probe Task to Assess Food-Related Attentional Bias in Youth With and Without Obesity: Overview of Indices and Evaluation of Their Reliability. Front Psychol 2021; 12:644512. [PMID: 33746859 PMCID: PMC7965983 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.644512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Several versions of the dot probe detection task are frequently used to assess maladaptive attentional processes associated with a broad range of psychopathology and health behavior, including eating behavior and weight. However, there are serious concerns about the reliability of the indices derived from the paradigm as measurement of attentional bias toward or away from salient stimuli. The present paper gives an overview of different attentional bias indices used in psychopathology research and scrutinizes three types of indices (the traditional attentional bias score, the dynamic trial-level base scores, and the probability index) calculated from a pictorial version of the dot probe task to assess food-related attentional biases in children and youngsters with and without obesity. Correlational analyses reveal that dynamic scores (but not the traditional and probability indices) are dependent on general response speed. Reliability estimates are low for the traditional and probability indices. The higher reliability for the dynamic indices is at least partially explained by general response speed. No significant group differences between youth with and without obesity are found, and correlations with weight are also non-significant. Taken together, results cast doubt on the applicability of this specific task for both experimental and individual differences research on food-related attentional biases in youth. However, researchers are encouraged to make and test adaptations to the procedure or computational algorithm in an effort to increase psychometric quality of the task and to report psychometric characteristics of their version of the task for their specific sample.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leentje Vervoort
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Maya Braun
- Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.,Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Maarten De Schryver
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Faculty Research Support Office, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Tiffany Naets
- Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.,Department Health Care (Dietetics), Odisee University College, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Ernst H W Koster
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Caroline Braet
- Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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26
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Two probes and better than one: Development of a psychometrically reliable variant of the attentional probe task. Behav Res Ther 2021; 138:103805. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2021.103805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Revised: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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27
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Shapero BG, Gibb BE, Archibald A, Wilens TE, Fava M, Hirshfeld-Becker DR. Risk Factors for Depression in Adolescents With ADHD: The Impact of Cognitive Biases and Stress. J Atten Disord 2021; 25:340-354. [PMID: 30198368 DOI: 10.1177/1087054718797447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Objective: Youth diagnosed with ADHD are at heightened risk of depression. However, many do not develop depression. Individuals with specific cognitive biases are more likely to develop depression yet it remains untested whether these vulnerability-stress models apply to depression risk in youth with ADHD. Method: We examined whether interpretation and attention biases moderated the relation between stressful life events and depressive symptoms in a sample of adolescents (Mage = 14.42) with ADHD (n = 59) and without ADHD (n = 36). Results: Youth with ADHD experienced more stressful life events compared with those without ADHD. Interpretation biases moderated the association between stress and depressive symptoms in youth with and without ADHD. Attention biases moderated the association between stress and depressive symptoms in the non-ADHD youth only. Conclusion: These results enhance our understanding of vulnerability for depression in adolescence with ADHD and inform targeted prevention and treatment models during this critical developmental juncture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin G Shapero
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | | | - Timothy E Wilens
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Maurizio Fava
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.,Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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28
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Vallorani A, Fu X, Morales S, LoBue V, Buss KA, Pérez-Edgar K. Variable- and person-centered approaches to affect-biased attention in infancy reveal unique relations with infant negative affect and maternal anxiety. Sci Rep 2021; 11:1719. [PMID: 33462275 PMCID: PMC7814017 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-81119-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 12/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Affect-biased attention is an automatic process that prioritizes emotionally or motivationally salient stimuli. Several models of affect-biased attention and its development suggest that it comprises an individual's ability to both engage with and disengage from emotional stimuli. Researchers typically rely on singular tasks to measure affect-biased attention, which may lead to inconsistent results across studies. Here we examined affect-biased attention across three tasks in a unique sample of 193 infants, using both variable-centered (factor analysis; FA) and person-centered (latent profile analysis; LPA) approaches. Using exploratory FA, we found evidence for two factors of affect-biased attention: an Engagement factor and a Disengagement factor, where greater maternal anxiety was related to less engagement with faces. Using LPA, we found two groups of infants with different patterns of affect-biased attention: a Vigilant group and an Avoidant group. A significant interaction noted that infants higher in negative affect who also had more anxious mothers were most likely to be in the Vigilant group. Overall, these results suggest that both FA and LPA are viable approaches for studying distinct questions related to the development of affect-biased attention, and set the stage for future longitudinal work examining the role of infant negative affect and maternal anxiety in the emergence of affect-biased attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alicia Vallorani
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
| | - Xiaoxue Fu
- University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | | | | | - Kristin A Buss
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Koraly Pérez-Edgar
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
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29
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Stuijfzand S, Stuijfzand B, Reynolds S, Dodd H. Anxiety-Related Attention Bias in Four- to Eight-Year-Olds: An Eye-Tracking Study. Behav Sci (Basel) 2020; 10:bs10120194. [PMID: 33348888 PMCID: PMC7766356 DOI: 10.3390/bs10120194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Revised: 12/11/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
(1) Background: There is evidence of an attention bias–anxiety relationship in children, but lack of appropriate methods has limited the number of studies with children younger than eight years old. This study used eye tracking as a measure of overt attention in young children. The aim of this study was to assess anxiety-related attention bias in children aged four to eight years. Age was considered a moderator, and the influence of effortful control was investigated. (2) Method: A community sample of 104 children was shown pairs of happy–neutral and angry–neutral faces. Growth curve analyses were used to examine patterns of gaze over time. (3) Results: Analyses revealed moderation by age and anxiety, with distinct patterns of anxiety-related biases seen in different age groups in the angry–neutral face trials. Effortful control did not account for age-related effects. (4) Conclusions: The results support a moderation model of the development of anxiety in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suzannah Stuijfzand
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AH, UK; (S.S.); (S.R.)
| | | | - Shirley Reynolds
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AH, UK; (S.S.); (S.R.)
| | - Helen Dodd
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AH, UK; (S.S.); (S.R.)
- Correspondence:
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30
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Ao X, Mo L, Wei Z, Yu W, Zhou F, Zhang D. Negative Bias During Early Attentional Engagement in Major Depressive Disorder as Examined Using a Two-Stage Model: High Sensitivity to Sad but Bluntness to Happy Cues. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:593010. [PMID: 33328939 PMCID: PMC7717997 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.593010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2020] [Accepted: 10/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Negative attentional bias has been well established in depression. However, there is very limited knowledge about whether this depression-relevant negative bias exits during initial attentional allocation, as compared with the converging evidence for the negative bias during sustained attention engagement. This study used both behavioral and electrophysiological measures to examine the initial attention engagement in depressed patients influenced by mood-congruent and mood-incongruent emotions. The dot-probe task was performed with a 100-ms exposure time of the emotional cues (emotional and neutral face pairs). The behavioral results showed that the patients responded faster following valid compared with invalid sad facial cues. Electrophysiological indexes in the frame of the two-stage model of attentional modulation by emotions provided cognitive mechanisms in distinct attention engagement stages: (1) the patients exhibited reduced P1 amplitudes following validly than invalidly happy cues than did the healthy controls, indicating a positive attenuation at an early stage of automatic attention orientation; and (2) the patients exhibited enhanced whereas the controls showed reduced P3 amplitudes following validly than invalidly sad cues, suggesting a mood-congruent negative potentiation in depression at the later stage of top-down voluntary control of attention. Depressed patients show a negative bias in early attentional allocation, reflected by preferred engagement with mood-congruent and diminished engagement with positive emotional cues/stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Ao
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China.,School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Licheng Mo
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Zhaoguo Wei
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Wenwen Yu
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Fang Zhou
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Dandan Zhang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China.,School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science, Shenzhen, China
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31
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Chong LJ, Meyer A. Psychometric properties of threat-related attentional bias in young children using eye-tracking. Dev Psychobiol 2020; 63:1120-1131. [PMID: 33146915 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2020] [Revised: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 10/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety is one of the most common forms of child psychopathology associated with persistent impairment across the lifespan. Therefore, investigating mechanisms that underlie anxiety in early childhood may improve prevention and intervention efforts. Researchers have linked selective attention toward threat (i.e., attentional bias to threat) with the development of anxiety. However, previous work on attentional bias has used less reliable, reaction time (RT)-based measures of attention. Additionally, few studies have used eye-tracking to measure attentional bias in young children. In the present study, we investigated the psychometric properties of an eye-tracking measure of attentional bias in a sample of young children between 6- and 9-years-old and explored if trait and clinical anxiety were related to attentional biases to threat. Results showed good psychometric properties for threat and neutral attentional biases, comparable to those found in adult eye-tracking studies. Temperamental and clinical anxiety did not significantly relate to threat/neutral dwell time and attentional biases. The significance of these null findings was discussed in relation to existing developmental theories of attentional biases. Future studies should explore if temperamental or clinical anxiety prospectively predict threat attentional bias and the onset of anxiety in older children using a longitudinal design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lyndsey J Chong
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - Alexandria Meyer
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
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32
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Liu Y, Wang Y, Gozli DG, Xiang YT, Jackson T. Current status of the anger superiority hypothesis: A meta-analytic review of N2pc studies. Psychophysiology 2020; 58:e13700. [PMID: 33040366 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2020] [Revised: 09/04/2020] [Accepted: 09/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Numerous investigators have tested contentions that angry faces capture early attention more completely than happy faces do in the context of other faces. However, syntheses of studies on early event-related potentials related to the anger superiority hypothesis have yet to be conducted, particularly in relation to the N200 posterior-contralateral (N2pc) component which provides a reliable electrophysiological index related to orienting of attention suitable for testing this hypothesis. Fifteen samples (N = 534) from 13 studies featuring the assessment of N2pc amplitudes during exposure to angry-neutral and/or happy-neutral facial expression arrays were included for meta-analysis. Moderating effects of study design features and sample characteristics on effect size variability were also assessed. N2pc amplitudes elicited by affectively valenced expressions (angry and happy) were significantly more pronounced than those elicited by neutral expressions. However, the mean effect size difference between angry and happy expressions was ns. N2pc effect sizes were moderated by sample age, number of trials, and nature of facial images used (schematic vs. real) with larger effect sizes observed when samples were comparatively younger, more task trials were presented and schematic face arrays were used. N2pc results did not support anger superiority hypothesis. Instead, attentional resources allocated to angry versus happy facial expressions were similar in early stages of processing. As such, possible adaptive advantages of biases in orienting toward both anger and happy expressions warrant consideration in revisions of related theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanci Liu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition & Personality Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Yang Wang
- Department of Pain and Translational Symptom Science, School of Nursing, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Davood G Gozli
- Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau S.A.R
| | - Yu-Tao Xiang
- Unit of Psychiatry, Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau S.A.R
| | - Todd Jackson
- Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau S.A.R
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33
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Gladwin TE, Jewiss M, Vink M. Attentional bias for negative expressions depends on previous target location: replicable effect but unreliable measures. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2020.1805453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas E. Gladwin
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychology & Counselling, University of Chichester, Chichester, UK
- Institute for Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, London, UK
| | - Matt Jewiss
- School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, UK
| | - Matthijs Vink
- Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Utrecht University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Departments of Developmental and Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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34
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Anxiety and Attentional Bias in Children with Specific Learning Disorders. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 47:487-497. [PMID: 30043123 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-018-0458-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Children with specific learning disorders (SLDs) face a unique set of socio-emotional challenges as a result of their academic difficulties. Although a higher prevalence of anxiety in children with SLD is often reported, there is currently no research on cognitive mechanisms underlying this anxiety. One way to elucidate these mechanisms is to investigate attentional bias to threatening stimuli using a dot-probe paradigm. Our study compared children ages 9-16 with SLD (n = 48) to typically-developing (TD) controls (n = 33) on their attentional biases to stimuli related to general threats, reading, and stereotypes of SLD. We found a significant threat bias away from reading-related stimuli in the SLD, but not TD group. This attentional bias was not observed with the general threat and stereotype stimuli. Further, children with SLD reported greater anxiety compared to TD children. These results suggest that children with SLD experience greater anxiety, which may partially stem from reading specifically. The finding of avoidance rather than vigilance to reading stimuli indicates the use of more top-down attentional control. This work has important implications for therapeutic approaches to anxiety in children with SLD and highlights the need for attention to socio-emotional difficulties in this population. Future research is needed to further investigate the cognitive aspects of socio-emotional difficulties in children with SLD, as well as how this may impact academic outcomes.
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35
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Spatial anticipatory attentional bias for threat: Reliable individual differences with RT-based online measurement. Conscious Cogn 2020; 81:102930. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.102930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2020] [Revised: 03/22/2020] [Accepted: 04/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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36
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Lakshman M, Murphy L, Mekawi Y, Carter S, Briscione M, Bradley B, Tone EB, Norrholm SD, Jovanovic T, Powers A. Attention bias towards threat in African American children exposed to early life trauma. Behav Brain Res 2020; 383:112513. [PMID: 31991179 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2019] [Revised: 01/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/24/2020] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Attentional bias is linked to a range of mood disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present study examined attention bias patterns in African American children exposed to trauma, in order to better understand potential risk factors for PTSD. METHODS 31 children (ages 8-14) completed an eye-tracking task to assess gaze bias patterns while viewing pairs of emotional and neutral faces. Trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms were assessed in a subsample of children (n = 24). RESULTS Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) results examining attention bias indices and gender showed greater attention bias toward angry faces than happy faces (p < 0.01) and toward emotional faces in males than females (p < 0.05). Correlational analyses showed attention bias toward angry faces was associated with greater levels of child trauma exposure (p < 0.05). Based on linear regression analysis, child trauma exposure accounted for 17 % of variance in attention bias toward angry versus neutral faces independent of gender or posttraumatic stress symptoms (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Trauma exposure in children is related to altered attention bias, via enhanced attention towards threatening cues. Results contribute to evidence that males and females may exhibit different attentional patterns. This study highlights the importance of additional research on attention bias patterns and prospective mental health outcomes across gender and through development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya Lakshman
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, United States
| | - Lauren Murphy
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, United States
| | - Yara Mekawi
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, United States
| | - Sierra Carter
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, United States
| | - Maria Briscione
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, United States
| | - Bekh Bradley
- Atlanta VA Medical Center, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, United States
| | - Erin B Tone
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, United States
| | - Seth D Norrholm
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, United States
| | - Tanja Jovanovic
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Wayne State University, United States
| | - Abigail Powers
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, United States.
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37
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Pettit JW, Bechor M, Rey Y, Vasey MW, Abend R, Pine DS, Bar-Haim Y, Jaccard J, Silverman WK. A Randomized Controlled Trial of Attention Bias Modification Treatment in Youth With Treatment-Resistant Anxiety Disorders. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2020; 59:157-165. [PMID: 30877049 PMCID: PMC6744353 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2019.02.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2018] [Revised: 02/20/2019] [Accepted: 03/01/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Randomized clinical trials of augmentation strategies for youth with treatment-resistant anxiety disorders do not exist. This report presents findings from an efficacy trial of attention bias modification treatment (ABMT) as an augment for this population compared with attention control training (ACT). METHOD Sixty-four youths (34 boys; mean age 11.7 years) who continued to meet for anxiety diagnoses after completing cognitive-behavioral therapy were randomized to ABMT or ACT. ABMT and ACT consisted of dot-probe attention training trials presenting angry and neutral faces; probes appeared in the location of neutral faces on 100% of trials in ABMT and 50% of trials in ACT. Independent evaluators, youths, and parents completed ratings of youth anxiety severity, and youths completed measures of attention bias to threat and attention control at pretreatment, post-treatment, and 2-month follow-up. RESULTS The 2 arms showed significant decreases in anxiety severity, with no differences between arms. Specifically, across informants, anxiety severity was significantly decreased at post-treatment and decreases were maintained at follow-up. Primary anxiety disorder diagnostic recovery combined across arms was 50% at post-treatment and 58% at follow-up. Attention control, but not attention bias to threat, was significantly improved at post-treatment in the 2 arms. CONCLUSION This is the first study to show anxiety can be decreased in youth who did not respond to cognitive-behaviorial therapy, and that the anxiety-decreasing effect is found using these 2 attention training contingency schedules. These findings and increases in attention control in the 2 arms raise intriguing questions about mechanisms of decreasing anxiety in treatment-resistant youth with attention training that require further research. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION INFORMATION Attention Bias Modification Training for Child Anxiety CBT Nonresponders; https://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT01819311.
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38
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Validating a mobile eye tracking measure of integrated attention bias and interpretation bias in youth. COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH 2019; 44:668-677. [PMID: 33518843 DOI: 10.1007/s10608-019-10071-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Introduction This study sought to validate a real-world speech task designed to assess attention and interpretation bias in an integrated and ecologically valid manner. Methods Thirty adolescent girls gave a speech in front of an emotionally ambiguous judge and a positive judge while wearing mobile eye tracking glasses to assess how long they looked at each judge (i.e., attention bias). They also reported their interpretations of the ambiguous judge and distress associated with the task (i.e., interpretation bias). Results These task-based measures correlated with self-report of interpretation bias and mother-report of attentional control, demonstrating convergent validity. They did not correlate with frustration or high intensity pleasure, indicating discriminant validity. Task-based measures of interpretation bias also showed predictive and incremental validity in relation to child distress during the speech. Discussion This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the initial validity of a novel task designed to assess attention and interpretation bias as they manifest in real-world social interactions.
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39
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Parsons S, Kruijt AW, Fox E. Psychological Science Needs a Standard Practice of Reporting the Reliability of Cognitive-Behavioral Measurements. ADVANCES IN METHODS AND PRACTICES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2019. [DOI: 10.1177/2515245919879695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Psychological science relies on behavioral measures to assess cognitive processing; however, the field has not yet developed a tradition of routinely examining the reliability of these behavioral measures. Reliable measures are essential to draw robust inferences from statistical analyses, and subpar reliability has severe implications for measures’ validity and interpretation. Without examining and reporting the reliability of measurements used in an analysis, it is nearly impossible to ascertain whether results are robust or have arisen largely from measurement error. In this article, we propose that researchers adopt a standard practice of estimating and reporting the reliability of behavioral assessments of cognitive processing. We illustrate the need for this practice using an example from experimental psychopathology, the dot-probe task, although we argue that reporting reliability is relevant across fields (e.g., social cognition and cognitive psychology). We explore several implications of low measurement reliability and the detrimental impact that failure to assess measurement reliability has on interpretability and comparison of results and therefore research quality. We argue that researchers in the field of cognition need to report measurement reliability as routine practice so that more reliable assessment tools can be developed. To provide some guidance on estimating and reporting reliability, we describe the use of bootstrapped split-half estimation and intraclass correlation coefficients to estimate internal consistency and test-retest reliability, respectively. For future researchers to build upon current results, it is imperative that all researchers provide psychometric information sufficient for estimating the accuracy of inferences and informing further development of cognitive-behavioral assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sam Parsons
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
| | | | - Elaine Fox
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
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40
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Gladwin TE, Figner B, Vink M. Anticipation-specific reliability and trial-to-trial carryover of anticipatory attentional bias for threat. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2019.1659801] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas E. Gladwin
- Department of Psychology & Counselling, University of Chichester. College Lane, Chichester, UK
| | - Bernd Figner
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Matthijs Vink
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Utrecht University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Departments of Developmental and Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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41
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Weissman DG, Bitran D, Miller AB, Schaefer JD, Sheridan MA, McLaughlin KA. Difficulties with emotion regulation as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking child maltreatment with the emergence of psychopathology. Dev Psychopathol 2019; 31:899-915. [PMID: 30957738 PMCID: PMC6620140 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579419000348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 152] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Childhood maltreatment is associated with increased risk for most forms of psychopathology. We examine emotion dysregulation as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking maltreatment with general psychopathology. A sample of 262 children and adolescents participated; 162 (61.8%) experienced abuse or exposure to domestic violence. We assessed four emotion regulation processes (cognitive reappraisal, attention bias to threat, expressive suppression, and rumination) and emotional reactivity. Psychopathology symptoms were assessed concurrently and at a 2-year longitudinal follow-up. A general psychopathology factor (p factor), representing co-occurrence of psychopathology symptoms across multiple internalizing and externalizing domains, was estimated using confirmatory factor analysis. Maltreatment was associated with heightened emotional reactivity and greater use of expressive suppression and rumination. The association of maltreatment with attention bias varied across development, with maltreated children exhibiting a bias toward threat and adolescents a bias away from threat. Greater emotional reactivity and engagement in rumination mediated the longitudinal association between maltreatment and increased general psychopathology over time. Emotion dysregulation following childhood maltreatment occurs at multiple stages of the emotion generation process, in some cases varies across development, and serves as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking child maltreatment with general psychopathology.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Debbie Bitran
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Adam Bryant Miller
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | | | - Margaret A. Sheridan
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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42
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Fu X, Nelson EE, Borge M, Buss KA, Pérez-Edgar K. Stationary and ambulatory attention patterns are differentially associated with early temperamental risk for socioemotional problems: Preliminary evidence from a multimodal eye-tracking investigation. Dev Psychopathol 2019; 31:971-988. [PMID: 31097053 PMCID: PMC6935016 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579419000427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Behavioral Inhibition (BI) is a temperament type that predicts social withdrawal in childhood and anxiety disorders later in life. However, not all BI children develop anxiety. Attention bias (AB) may enhance the vulnerability for anxiety in BI children, and interfere with their development of effective emotion regulation. In order to fully probe attention patterns, we used traditional measures of reaction time (RT), stationary eye-tracking, and recently emerging mobile eye-tracking measures of attention in a sample of 5- to 7-year-olds characterized as BI (N = 23) or non-BI (N = 58) using parent reports. There were no BI-related differences in RT or stationary eye-tracking indices of AB in a dot-probe task. However, findings in a subsample from whom eye-tracking data were collected during a live social interaction indicated that BI children (N = 12) directed fewer gaze shifts to the stranger than non-BI children (N = 25). Moreover, the frequency of gazes toward the stranger was positively associated with stationary AB only in BI, but not in non-BI, children. Hence, BI was characterized by a consistent pattern of attention across stationary and ambulatory measures. We demonstrate the utility of mobile eye-tracking as an effective tool to extend the assessment of attention and regulation to social interactive contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxue Fu
- Center for Biobehavioral Health, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Eric E. Nelson
- Center for Biobehavioral Health, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Marcela Borge
- Department of Learning and Performance Systems, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Kristin A. Buss
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Koraly Pérez-Edgar
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
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43
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Wilson KM, Millner AJ, Auerbach RP, Glenn CR, Kearns JC, Kirtley OJ, Najmi S, O’Connor RC, Stewart JG, Cha CB. Investigating the psychometric properties of the Suicide Stroop Task. Psychol Assess 2019; 31:1052-1061. [PMID: 31070448 PMCID: PMC7011179 DOI: 10.1037/pas0000723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral measures are increasingly used to assess suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Some measures, such as the Suicide Stroop Task, have yielded mixed findings in the literature. An understudied feature of these behavioral measures has been their psychometric properties, which may affect the probability of detecting significant effects and reproducibility. In the largest investigation of its kind, we tested the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the Suicide Stroop Task in its current form, drawing from seven separate studies (N = 875 participants, 64% female, aged 12 to 81 years). Results indicated that the most common Suicide Stroop scoring approach, interference scores, yielded unacceptably low internal consistency (rs = -.09-.13) and failed to demonstrate concurrent validity. Internal consistency coefficients for mean reaction times (RTs) to each stimulus type ranged from rs = .93-.94. All scoring approaches for suicide-related interference demonstrated poor classification accuracy (AUCs = .52-.56) indicating that scores performed near chance in their ability to classify suicide attempters from nonattempters. In the case of mean RTs, we did not find evidence for concurrent validity despite our excellent reliability findings, highlighting that reliability does not guarantee a measure is clinically useful. These results are discussed in the context of the wider implications for testing and reporting psychometric properties of behavioral measures in mental health research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly M. Wilson
- Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University
| | | | - Randy P. Auerbach
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons
| | - Catherine R. Glenn
- Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester
| | - Jaclyn C. Kearns
- Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester
| | | | - Sadia Najmi
- Department of Psychology, San Diego State University Department of Psychiatry
| | - Rory C. O’Connor
- Suicidal Behavior Research Laboratory, Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow
| | - Jeremy G. Stewart
- Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
| | - Christine B. Cha
- Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University
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44
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Dennis-Tiwary TA, Roy AK, Denefrio S, Myruski S. Heterogeneity of the Anxiety-Related Attention Bias: A Review and Working Model for Future Research. Clin Psychol Sci 2019; 7:879-899. [PMID: 33758680 DOI: 10.1177/2167702619838474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
The anxiety-related attention bias (AB) has been studied for several decades as a clinically-relevant output of the dynamic and complex threat detection-response system. Despite research enthusiasm for the construct of AB, current theories and measurement approaches cannot adequately account for the growing body of mixed, contradictory, and null findings. Drawing on clinical, neuroscience, and animal models, we argue that the apparent complexity and contradictions in the empirical literature can be attributed to the field's failure to clearly conceptualize AB heterogeneity and the dearth of studies in AB that consider additional cognitive mechanisms in anxiety, particularly disruptions in threat-safety discrimination and cognitive control. We review existing research and propose a working model of AB heterogeneity positing that AB may be best conceptualized as multiple subtypes of dysregulated processing of and attention to threat anchored in individual differences in threat-safety discrimination and cognitive control. We review evidence for this working model and discuss how it can be used to advance knowledge of AB mechanisms and inform personalized prevention and intervention approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tracy A Dennis-Tiwary
- Hunter College, The City University of New York, Department of Psychology, New York, NY.,The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, Department of Psychology, New York, NY
| | - Amy Krain Roy
- Fordham University, Department of Psychology, Bronx, NY.,New York University Langone School of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York, NY
| | - Samantha Denefrio
- The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, Department of Psychology, New York, NY.,Hunter College, The City University of New York, Department of Psychology, New York, NY
| | - Sarah Myruski
- Hunter College, The City University of New York, Department of Psychology, New York, NY
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45
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Abstract
There is substantial evidence that heightened anxiety vulnerability is characterized by increased selective attention to threatening information. The reliability of this anxiety-linked attentional bias has become the focus of considerable recent interest. We distinguish between the potential inconsistency of anxiety-linked attentional bias and inconsistency potentially reflecting the psychometric properties of the assessment approaches used to measure it. Though groups with heightened anxiety vulnerability often exhibit, on average, elevated attention to threat, the evidence suggests that individuals are unlikely to each display a stable, invariant attentional bias to threat. Moreover, although existing assessment approaches can differentiate between groups, they do not exhibit the internal consistency or test-retest reliability necessary to classify individuals in terms of their characteristic pattern of attentional responding to threat. We discuss the appropriate uses of existing attentional bias assessment tasks and propose strategies for enhancing classification of individuals in terms of their tendency to display an attentional bias to threat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin MacLeod
- Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
| | - Ben Grafton
- Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
| | - Lies Notebaert
- Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
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46
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Aktar E, Van Bockstaele B, Pérez‐Edgar K, Wiers RW, Bögels SM. Intergenerational transmission of attentional bias and anxiety. Dev Sci 2019; 22:e12772. [PMID: 30428152 PMCID: PMC6590262 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2017] [Revised: 09/29/2018] [Accepted: 11/02/2018] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Earlier evidence has revealed a bi-directional causal relationship between anxiety and attention biases in adults and children. This study investigated the prospective and concurrent relations between anxiety and attentional bias in a sample of 89 families (mothers, fathers, and first-born children). Parents' and children's attentional bias was measured when children were 7.5 years old, using both a visual probe task and visual search task with angry versus happy facial expressions. Generalized and social anxiety symptoms in parents and children were measured when children were 4.5 and 7.5 years old. Anxiety in parents and children was prospectively (but not concurrently) related to their respective attentional biases to threat: All participants showed a larger attentional bias to threat in the visual search (but not in the visual probe) task if they were more anxious at the 4.5 (but not at the 7.5) year measurement. Moreover, parents' anxiety levels were prospectively predictive of the visual search attentional bias of their children after controlling for child anxiety. More anxiety in mothers at 4.5 years was related to a faster detection of angry among happy faces, while more anxiety in fathers predicted a faster detection of happy among angry faces in children at 7.5 years. We found no direct association between parental and child attentional biases. Our study contributes to the recently emerging literature on attentional biases as a potential mechanism in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety by showing that parents' anxiety rather than parents' attentional bias contributes to the intergenerational transmission of risk for child anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evin Aktar
- Institute of Psychology, Clinical Psychology UnitLeiden UniversityLeidenthe Netherlands
- Department of Child Development and EducationUniversity of AmsterdamAmsterdamthe Netherlands
| | - Bram Van Bockstaele
- Department of Child Development and EducationUniversity of AmsterdamAmsterdamthe Netherlands
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of AmsterdamAmsterdamthe Netherlands
| | - Koraly Pérez‐Edgar
- Department of PsychologyChild Study CenterThe Pennsylvania State UniversityPennsylvania
| | - Reinout W. Wiers
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of AmsterdamAmsterdamthe Netherlands
| | - Susan M. Bögels
- Department of Child Development and EducationUniversity of AmsterdamAmsterdamthe Netherlands
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of AmsterdamAmsterdamthe Netherlands
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47
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LeMoult J, Gotlib IH. Depression: A cognitive perspective. Clin Psychol Rev 2019; 69:51-66. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2018.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 149] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2017] [Revised: 06/17/2018] [Accepted: 06/17/2018] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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48
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Associations Between Attentional Bias and Interpretation Bias and Change in School Concerns and Anxiety Symptoms During the Transition from Primary to Secondary School. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 2019; 47:1521-1532. [PMID: 30891678 PMCID: PMC6647860 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-019-00528-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
The transition from primary to secondary school is often associated with a period of heightened anxiety and worry. For most children, any feelings of anxiety subside relatively quickly but for a small minority, emotional difficulties can continue into the first year of secondary school and beyond. This study recruited 109 children and measured their anxiety symptoms and school concerns toward the end of primary school and again at the end of their first term of secondary school. We investigated for the first time whether pre-transition measures of attentional and interpretation bias, and the magnitude of change in attentional bias toward and away from threat stimuli were associated with pre- and post-transition measures of anxiety and school concerns, and the change in these measures over time. Over 50% of the current sample exceeded clinical levels of anxiety at pre-transition. However, anxiety symptoms and school concerns had significantly reduced by post-transition. Higher levels of pre-transition anxiety or school concerns, and a greater magnitude of change in attentional bias towards threat stimuli predicted a larger reduction in anxiety symptoms and school concerns across the transition period. A greater interpretation bias toward threat was associated with higher pre-transition anxiety symptoms and school concerns but not post-transition scores, or the change in these scores. While many children experience heightened anxiety prior to school transition, this appears to be largely temporary and self-resolves. Nonetheless, the current findings highlight the importance of monitoring children's anxiety and concerns, and related cognitive processes during this important transition period.
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49
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Mastorakos T, Scott KL. Attention biases and social-emotional development in preschool-aged children who have been exposed to domestic violence. CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2019; 89:78-86. [PMID: 30639972 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2018] [Revised: 12/29/2018] [Accepted: 01/02/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND School-aged children and adolescents exposed to domestic violence (DV) disproportionality attend to threatening and sad cues in their environment. This bias in attention has been found to predict elevations in symptoms of psychopathology. Studies have yet to explore attention biases using eyetracking technology in preschool-aged children with DV exposure. OBJECTIVE This study investigated whether preschool-aged children exposed to DV show vigilance to angry and sad faces versus happy faces and a target non-face stimulus relative to non-exposed children, and whether such vigilance relates to child social-emotional development. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING Preschool-aged children were recruited from a large, diverse, urban community. DV-exposed children were recruited from a dyadic, mother-child treatment group specifically designed for, and restricted to, mothers who have experienced domestic violence (DV-exposed group, n = 23). Children with no prior exposure to DV and their mothers were recruited within the same community (non-exposed group, n = 32). METHODS Children completed an eye-tracking task to assess their attention to face stimuli and mothers rated their children's social-emotional development. Total duration of fixations were analyzed. RESULTS Results showed that DV-exposed children have a significantly stronger attention bias away from sad faces (p = 0.03; d = 0.62) and neutral faces (p = 0.02; d = 0.70) relative to non-exposed children, and this attention bias away from sad and neutral faces is associated with child social-emotional problems. Contrary to our hypothesis, no bias towards anger was found for DV-exposed versus non-exposed children. CONCLUSIONS This study contributes to growing evidence that young children's negative attention biases influence functioning and have important implications for children's well-being and development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tessie Mastorakos
- Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, 252 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1V6, Canada
| | - Katreena L Scott
- Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, 252 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1V6, Canada.
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50
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Fu X, Pérez-Edgar K. Threat-related Attention Bias in Socioemotional Development: A Critical Review and Methodological Considerations. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2019; 51:31-57. [PMID: 32205901 PMCID: PMC7088448 DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2018.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Cross-sectional evidence suggests that attention bias to threat is linked to anxiety disorders and anxiety vulnerability in both children and adults. However, there is a lack of developmental evidence regarding the causal mechanisms through which attention bias to threat might convey risks for socioemotional problems, such as anxiety. Gaining insights into this question demands longitudinal research to track the complex interplay between threat-related attention and socioemotional functioning. Developing and implementing reliable and valid assessments tools is essential to this line of work. This review presents theoretical accounts and empirical evidence from behavioral, eye-tracking, and neural assessments of attention to discuss our current understanding of the development of normative threat-related attention in infancy, as well as maladaptive threat-related attention patterns that may be associated with the development of anxiety. This review highlights the importance of measuring threat-related attention using multiple attention paradigms at multiple levels of analysis. In order to understand if and how threat-related attention bias in real-life, social interactive contexts can predict socioemotional development outcomes, this review proposes that future research cannot solely rely on screen-based paradigms but needs to extend the assessment of threat-related attention to naturalistic settings. Mobile eye-tracking technology provides an effective tool for capturing threat-related attention processes in vivo as children navigate fear-eliciting environments and may help us uncover more proximal bio-psycho-behavioral markers of anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxue Fu
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
- Center for Biobehavioral Health, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, United States
| | - Koraly Pérez-Edgar
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
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