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Poole KL, Schmidt LA. Vigilant or avoidant? Children's temperamental shyness, patterns of gaze, and physiology during social threat. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e13118. [PMID: 33999466 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13118] [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] [Received: 11/24/2020] [Revised: 04/12/2021] [Accepted: 04/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Temperamental shyness is characterized by fear, wariness, and the perception of threat in response to social novelty. Previous work has been inconsistent regarding attentional patterns to social threat among shy children, with evidence for both avoidance and vigilance. We examined relations between children's shyness and gaze aversion during the approach of a stranger (i.e., a context of social novelty), and tested whether these patterns of gaze moderated relations between shyness and autonomic reactivity and recovery. Participants included 152 typically-developing children (Mage = 7.82 years, SD = 0.44 years) who had their respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) recorded during baseline, social novelty, and recovery. Children's shyness correlated with increases in self-reported nervousness from baseline to social novelty, providing support for perceived threat. Results revealed that children's proportion of gaze aversion from social novelty was related to shyness in a U-shape pattern such that both low levels of gaze aversion (i.e., attentional vigilance) and high levels of gaze aversion (i.e., attentional avoidance) were related to higher levels of shyness. Further, we found that children's shyness was directly related to decreases in RSA from baseline to social novelty, whereas quadratic gaze to social novelty moderated the relation between shyness and RSA recovery. Specifically, shyness was related to greater RSA recovery among children who exhibited attentional vigilance during the novel social interaction. Our findings provide support for both avoidance of, and vigilance to, social threat among different shy children, and these gaze strategies may be differentially related to physiological regulation during novel social encounters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristie L Poole
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Louis A Schmidt
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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2
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Golombek K, Lidle L, Tuschen-Caffier B, Schmitz J, Vierrath V. The role of emotion regulation in socially anxious children and adolescents: a systematic review. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2020; 29:1479-1501. [PMID: 31201527 DOI: 10.1007/s00787-019-01359-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2019] [Accepted: 05/27/2019] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
While numerous studies suggest that emotion dysregulation is important in maintaining social anxiety among adults, the role of emotion regulation in children and adolescents with social anxiety is not yet well understood. In this systematic review, we use the process model of emotion regulation as a framework for understanding emotion regulation in children and adolescents with social anxiety. We performed a systematic literature search in the electronic data bases Medline and PsycINFO. Additional studies were identified by hand search. We identified 683 studies, screened their titles and abstracts, viewed 142 studies, and included 55 of these. Study results indicate that children and adolescents with social anxiety disorder or high social anxiety show emotion dysregulation across all five domains of emotion regulation, such as enhanced social avoidance, more safety behaviors, repetitive negative thinking, biased attention and interpretation of social information, and reduced emotional expression. While enhanced social avoidance seems to be specific to childhood social anxiety, other maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, such as repetitive negative thinking, seem to occur transdiagnostically across different childhood anxiety disorders. Implications for current theory, interventions and future research are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristin Golombek
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Engelbergerstr 41, Freiburg, 79106, Germany
| | - Leonie Lidle
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.,Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Brunna Tuschen-Caffier
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Engelbergerstr 41, Freiburg, 79106, Germany
| | - Julian Schmitz
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.,Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Verena Vierrath
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Engelbergerstr 41, Freiburg, 79106, Germany.
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3
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Kataja EL, Karlsson L, Parsons CE, Pelto J, Pesonen H, Häikiö T, Hyönä J, Nolvi S, Korja R, Karlsson H. Maternal pre- and postnatal anxiety symptoms and infant attention disengagement from emotional faces. J Affect Disord 2019; 243:280-289. [PMID: 30253357 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.09.064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2018] [Revised: 08/22/2018] [Accepted: 09/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Biases in socio-emotional attention may be early markers of risk for self-regulation difficulties and mental illness. We examined the associations between maternal pre- and postnatal anxiety symptoms and infant attention patterns to faces, with particular focus on attentional biases to threat, across male and female infants. METHODS A general population, Caucasian sample of eight-month old infants (N = 362) were tested using eye-tracking and an attention disengagement (overlap) paradigm, with happy, fearful, neutral, and phase-scrambled faces and distractors. Maternal self-reported anxiety symptoms were assessed with the Symptom Checklist-90/anxiety subscale at five time points between gestational week 14 and 6 months postpartum. RESULTS Probability of disengagement was lowest for fearful faces in the whole sample. Maternal pre- but not postnatal anxiety symptoms associated with higher threat bias in infants, and the relation between maternal anxiety symptoms in early pregnancy and higher threat bias in infants remained significant after controlling for maternal postnatal symptoms. Maternal postnatal anxiety symptoms, in turn, associated with higher overall probability of disengagement from faces to distractors, but the effects varied by child sex. LIMITATIONS The small number of mothers suffering from very severe symptoms. No control for the comorbidity of depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Maternal prenatal anxiety symptoms associate with infant's heightened attention bias for threat. Maternal postnatal anxiety symptoms, in turn, associate with infant's overall disengagement probability differently for boys and girls. Boys may show enhanced vigilance for distractors, except when viewing fearful faces, and girls enhanced vigilance for all socio-emotional stimuli. Long-term implications of these findings remain to be explored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eeva-Leena Kataja
- The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Finland; Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Finland.
| | - Linnea Karlsson
- The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Finland; Department of Child Psychiatry, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Finland
| | - Christine E Parsons
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Interacting Minds Center, Aarhus University, Denmark
| | - Juho Pelto
- The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Finland
| | - Henri Pesonen
- Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Finland
| | - Tuomo Häikiö
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Finland
| | - Jukka Hyönä
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Finland
| | - Saara Nolvi
- The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Finland
| | - Riikka Korja
- The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Finland; Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Finland
| | - Hasse Karlsson
- The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Center, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Finland
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4
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Scherr JF, Hogan AL, Hatton D, Roberts JE. Stranger Fear and Early Risk for Social Anxiety in Preschoolers with Fragile X Syndrome Contrasted to Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2018; 47:3741-3755. [PMID: 28210826 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-017-3059-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated behavioral indicators of social fear in preschool boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS) with a low degree of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms (FXS-Low; n = 29), FXS with elevated ASD symptoms (FXS-High; n = 25), idiopathic ASD (iASD; n = 11), and typical development (TD; n = 36). Gaze avoidance, escape behaviors, and facial fear during a stranger approach were coded. Boys with elevated ASD symptoms displayed more avoidant gaze, looking less at the stranger and parent than those with low ASD symptoms across etiologies. The iASD group displayed more facial fear than the other groups. Results suggest etiologically distinct behavioral patterns of social fear in preschoolers with elevated ASD symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica F Scherr
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendleton Street, Barnwell College, Suite 220, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
| | - Abigail L Hogan
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendleton Street, Barnwell College, Suite 220, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
| | - Deborah Hatton
- Department of Special Education, Vanderbilt University, 417D One Magnolia Circle, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA
| | - Jane E Roberts
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendleton Street, Barnwell College, Suite 220, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA.
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Fu X, Taber-Thomas BC, Pérez-Edgar K. Frontolimbic functioning during threat-related attention: Relations to early behavioral inhibition and anxiety in children. Biol Psychol 2015; 122:98-109. [PMID: 26325222 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.08.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2015] [Revised: 08/25/2015] [Accepted: 08/26/2015] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Children with behavioral inhibition (BI), a temperament characterized by biologically-based hyper-vigilance to novelty, display threat-related attention biases (AB) that shape developmental trajectories of risk for anxiety. Here we explore the relations between BI, neural function, and anxiety. Fifty-six 9-12-year-olds (23 behaviorally inhibited) performed the dot-probe task while undergoing fMRI. AB scores were not associated with BI group or parent-rated anxiety symptoms. Trials requiring attention orienting away from threat engaged an executive and threat-attention network (dlPFC, vlPFC, mPFC, and amygdala). Within that network, behaviorally inhibited children showed greater activation in the right dlPFC. Heightened dlPFC activation related to increased anxiety, and BI levels accounted for the direct relation between dlPFC activation and anxiety. Behaviorally inhibited children may engage the executive attention system during threat-related processing as a compensatory mechanism. We provide preliminary evidence that the link between PFC functioning and anxiety might be attributed to early-emerging temperamental vulnerabilities present before the emergence of clinical anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxue Fu
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, United States.
| | - Bradley C Taber-Thomas
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, United States.
| | - Koraly Pérez-Edgar
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, United States.
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6
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Boehme S, Ritter V, Tefikow S, Stangier U, Strauss B, Miltner WHR, Straube T. Neural correlates of emotional interference in social anxiety disorder. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0128608. [PMID: 26042738 PMCID: PMC4456154 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2014] [Accepted: 04/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Disorder-relevant but task-unrelated stimuli impair cognitive performance in social anxiety disorder (SAD); however, time course and neural correlates of emotional interference are unknown. The present study investigated time course and neural basis of emotional interference in SAD using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Patients with SAD and healthy controls performed an emotional stroop task which allowed examining interference effects on the current and the succeeding trial. Reaction time data showed an emotional interference effect in the current trial, but not the succeeding trial, specifically in SAD. FMRI data showed greater activation in the left amygdala, bilateral insula, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and left opercular part of the inferior frontal gyrus during emotional interference of the current trial in SAD patients. Furthermore, we found a positive correlation between patients' interference scores and activation in the mPFC, dorsal ACC and left angular/supramarginal gyrus. Taken together, results indicate a network of brain regions comprising amygdala, insula, mPFC, ACC, and areas strongly involved in language processing during the processing of task-unrelated threat in SAD. However, specifically the activation in mPFC, dorsal ACC, and left angular/supramarginal gyrus is associated with the strength of the interference effect, suggesting a cognitive network model of attentional bias in SAD. This probably comprises exceeded allocation of attentional resources to disorder-related information of the presented stimuli and increased self-referential and semantic processing of threat words in SAD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Boehme
- Laboratory of Psychophysiology and functional Imaging, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics & Psychotherapy, University Hospital Würzburg, Fuechsleinstr. 15, D-97080 Würzburg, Germany
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Am Steiger 3 // 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Viktoria Ritter
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Varrentrappstr. 40–42, D-60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Susan Tefikow
- Institute of Psychosocial Medicine and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital—Friedrich Schiller University, Stoystr. 3, D-07740 Jena, Germany
| | - Ulrich Stangier
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Varrentrappstr. 40–42, D-60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Bernhard Strauss
- Institute of Psychosocial Medicine and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital—Friedrich Schiller University, Stoystr. 3, D-07740 Jena, Germany
| | - Wolfgang H. R. Miltner
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Am Steiger 3 // 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, D-48149 Muenster, Germany
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Haller SPW, Cohen Kadosh K, Scerif G, Lau JYF. Social anxiety disorder in adolescence: How developmental cognitive neuroscience findings may shape understanding and interventions for psychopathology. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2015; 13:11-20. [PMID: 25818181 PMCID: PMC6989773 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2015.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2013] [Revised: 02/06/2015] [Accepted: 02/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Social anxiety disorder represents a debilitating condition that has large adverse effects on the quality of social connections, educational achievement and wellbeing. Age-of-onset data suggests that early adolescence is a developmentally sensitive juncture for the onset of social anxiety. In this review, we highlight the potential of using a developmental cognitive neuroscience approach to understand (i) why there are normative increases in social worries in adolescence and (ii) how adolescence-associated changes may 'bring out' neuro-cognitive risk factors for social anxiety in a subset of individuals during this developmental period. We also speculate on how changes that occur in learning and plasticity may allow for optimal acquisition of more adaptive neurocognitive strategies through external interventions. Hence, for the minority of individuals who require external interventions to target their social fears, this enhanced flexibility could result in more powerful and longer-lasting therapeutic effects. We will review two novel interventions that target information-processing biases and their neural substrates via cognitive training and visual feedback of neural activity measured through functional magnetic resonance imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone P W Haller
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | | | - Gaia Scerif
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Jennifer Y F Lau
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
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Valadão Dias F, Oliveira RV, Leal I, Maroco J. Positive and Negative Thoughts in Ambiguous Anxiety-Related Stories: The Child’s Perspective. PSYCHOLOGY, COMMUNITY & HEALTH 2015. [DOI: 10.5964/pch.v4i1.114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Aim To evaluate the presence/absence, frequency of cognitive products (positive, negative and neutral thoughts) in a Portuguese community sample of children aged 10 and 11 years. Method A total of 274 children participated in this study, 151 girls and 123 boys, from the 5th and 6th grades, aged 10 and 11 years. Cognitive products were accessed through children’s cognitive responses to the Nine Ambiguous Stories. Results The answers to the nine stories produced 6,633 thoughts (positive - 2,570, negative - 4,063, neutral - 32). The number of positive and negative thoughts varied according to the stories. The absence of either positive or negative thoughts was observed in a very small number of children. The simultaneous presence of positive and negative thoughts per child occurred in all stories. More than half of the children showed more negative thoughts in all stories except for stories 2 and 6. Conclusion The results of this study contribute to the understanding of cognitive development of children, based on what is known and observed in the child and calls attention to the importance of the research of positive and negative content of thoughts shown by children and their impact on childhood anxiety.
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9
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Pergamin-Hight L, Naim R, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, van IJzendoorn MH, Bar-Haim Y. Content specificity of attention bias to threat in anxiety disorders: A meta-analysis. Clin Psychol Rev 2015; 35:10-8. [PMID: 25462110 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2014.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 115] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2014] [Revised: 09/29/2014] [Accepted: 10/29/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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10
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Bögels SM, Knappe S, Clark LA. Adult separation anxiety disorder in DSM-5. Clin Psychol Rev 2013; 33:663-74. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2013.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2012] [Revised: 03/12/2013] [Accepted: 03/18/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Susa G, Pitică I, Benga O, Miclea M. The self regulatory effect of attentional control in modulating the relationship between attentional biases toward threat and anxiety symptoms in children. Cogn Emot 2012; 26:1069-83. [DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2011.638910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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12
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Lau JYF, Hilbert K, Goodman R, Gregory AM, Pine DS, Viding EM, Eley TC. Investigating the genetic and environmental bases of biases in threat recognition and avoidance in children with anxiety problems. BIOLOGY OF MOOD & ANXIETY DISORDERS 2012; 2:12. [PMID: 22788754 PMCID: PMC3487968 DOI: 10.1186/2045-5380-2-12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2011] [Accepted: 05/21/2012] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Background Adults with anxiety show biased categorization and avoidance of threats. Such biases may emerge through complex interplay between genetics and environments, occurring early in life. Research on threat biases in children has focuses on a restricted range of biases, with insufficient focus on genetic and environmental origins. Here, we explore differences between children with and without anxiety problems in under-studied areas of threat bias. We focused both on associations with anxious phenotype and the underlying gene-environmental correlates for two specific processes: the categorisation of threat faces and avoidance learning. Method Two-hundred and fifty 10-year old MZ and DZ twin pairs (500 individuals) completed tasks assessing accuracy in the labelling of threatening facial expressions and in the acquisition of avoidant responses to a card associated with a masked threatening face. To assess whether participants met criteria for an anxiety disorder, parents of twins completed a self-guided computerized version of the Development and Well-being Assessment (DAWBA). Comparison of MZ and DZ twin correlations using model-fitting were used to compute estimates of genetic, shared and non-shared environmental effects. Results Of the 500 twins assessed, 25 (5%) met diagnostic criteria for a current anxiety disorder. Children with anxiety disorders were more accurate in their ability to recognize disgust faces than those without anxiety disorders, but were commensurate on identifying other threatening face emotions (angry, fearful, sad). Children with anxiety disorders but also more strongly avoided selecting a conditioned stimulus than non-anxious children. While recognition of socially threatening faces was moderately heritable, avoidant responses were heavily influenced by the non-shared environment. Conclusion These data add to other findings on threat biases in anxious children. Specifically, we found biases in the labelling of some negative-valence faces and in the acquisition of avoidant responses. While non-shared environmental effects explained all of the variance on threat avoidance, some of this may be due to measurement error.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Y F Lau
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK.
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Shechner T, Britton JC, Pérez-Edgar K, Bar-Haim Y, Ernst M, Fox NA, Leibenluft E, Pine DS. Attention biases, anxiety, and development: toward or away from threats or rewards? Depress Anxiety 2012; 29:282-94. [PMID: 22170764 PMCID: PMC3489173 DOI: 10.1002/da.20914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 158] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2011] [Revised: 09/13/2011] [Accepted: 09/16/2011] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Research on attention provides a promising framework for studying anxiety pathophysiology and treatment. The study of attention biases appears particularly pertinent to developmental research, as attention affects learning and has down-stream effects on behavior. This review summarizes recent findings about attention orienting in anxiety, drawing on findings in recent developmental psychopathology and affective neuroscience research. These findings generate specific insights about both development and therapeutics. The review goes beyond a traditional focus on biased processing of threats and considers biased processing of rewards. Building on this work, we then turn to the treatment of pediatric anxiety, where manipulation of attention to threat and/or reward may serve a therapeutic role as a component of Attention Bias Modification Therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomer Shechner
- Section on Developmental Affective Neuroscience, The National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
| | | | | | - Yair Bar-Haim
- Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Israel
| | - Monique Ernst
- The National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Nathan A. Fox
- Department of Human Development, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | | | - Daniel S. Pine
- The National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
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Schofield CA, Johnson AL, Inhoff AW, Coles ME. Social anxiety and difficulty disengaging threat: evidence from eye-tracking. Cogn Emot 2011; 26:300-11. [PMID: 21970428 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2011.602050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Theoretical models of social phobia propose that biased attention contributes to the maintenance of symptoms; however these theoretical models make opposing predictions. Specifically, whereas Rapee and Heimberg (1997) suggested the biases are characterised by hypervigilance to threat cues and difficulty disengaging attention from threat, Clark and Wells (1995) suggested that threat cues are largely avoided. Previous research has been limited by the almost exclusive reliance on behavioural response times to experimental tasks to provide an index of attentional biases. The current study evaluated the relationship between the time-course of attention and symptoms of social anxiety and depression. Forty-two young adults completed a dot-probe task with emotional faces while eye-movement data were collected. The results revealed that increased social anxiety was associated with attention to emotional (rather than neutral) faces over time as well as difficulty disengaging attention from angry expressions; some evidence was found for a relationship between heightened depressive symptoms and increased attention to fear faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Casey A Schofield
- Psychosocial Research Program, Brown University Medical School and Butler Hospital, Providence, RI, USA
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In-Albon T, Kossowsky J, Schneider S. Vigilance and Avoidance of Threat in the Eye Movements of Children with Separation Anxiety Disorder. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 2009; 38:225-35. [DOI: 10.1007/s10802-009-9359-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Attentional biases in social anxiety: An investigation using the inattentional blindness paradigm. Behav Res Ther 2008; 46:819-35. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2008.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2007] [Revised: 03/10/2008] [Accepted: 04/02/2008] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Abstract
The research literature suggests that children and adolescents suffering from anxiety disorders experience cognitive distortions that magnify their perceived level of threat in the environment. Of these distortions, an attentional bias toward threat-related information has received the most theoretical and empirical consideration. A large volume of research suggests that anxiety-disordered youth selectively allocate their attention toward threat-related information. The present review critically examines this research and highlights several issues relevant to the study of threat-related attentional bias in youth, including the influences of temperament, trait anxiety, and state anxiety on threat-related attentional bias. It furthermore identifies the need for developmental and methodological considerations and recommends directions for research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony C Puliafico
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
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Spence SH, Lipp OV, Liberman L, March S. Examination of emotional priming among children and young adolescents: Developmental issues and its association with anxiety. AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2007. [DOI: 10.1080/00049530600730468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Susan H. Spence
- Division of Linguistics and Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney
| | - Ottmar V. Lipp
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Lisa Liberman
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Sonja March
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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Hadwin JA, Garner M, Perez-Olivas G. The development of information processing biases in childhood anxiety: a review and exploration of its origins in parenting. Clin Psychol Rev 2006; 26:876-94. [PMID: 16524655 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2005.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2005] [Revised: 09/23/2005] [Accepted: 09/25/2005] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore parenting as one potential route through which information processing biases for threat develop in children. It reviews information processing biases in childhood anxiety in the context of theoretical models and empirical research in the adult anxiety literature. Specifically, it considers how adult models have been used and adapted to develop a theoretical framework with which to investigate information processing biases in children. The paper then considers research which specifically aims to understand the relationship between parenting and the development of information processing biases in children. It concludes that a clearer theoretical framework is required to understand the significance of information biases in childhood anxiety, as well as their origins in parenting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie A Hadwin
- Developmental Brain-Behaviour Unit, School of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
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Hudson JL, Deveney C, Taylor L. Nature, Assessment, and Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Children. Psychiatr Ann 2005. [DOI: 10.3928/00485713-20050901-04] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Bögels SM, Mansell W. Attention processes in the maintenance and treatment of social phobia: hypervigilance, avoidance and self-focused attention. Clin Psychol Rev 2005; 24:827-56. [PMID: 15501558 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2004.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 362] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2003] [Revised: 04/30/2004] [Accepted: 06/30/2004] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Four domains of evidence regarding the relationship between attention and social phobia are reviewed: (1) possible maintaining factor, (2) causal relationship, (3) specific relationship and (4) mediator of change during treatment. Two areas of research are covered and integrated: vigilance-avoidance of social threat stimuli and self-focused attention. There is empirical support for these processes as possible maintaining factors that are specific to patients and non-clinical samples with high levels of social anxiety. There is reasonable evidence to promote the use of attentional strategies in the treatment of social phobia, although better controlled studies are required. We propose six overlapping mechanisms that could be responsible for change: reduced vigilance; reduced avoidance; reduced self-focused attention; mindfulness; increased attentional control; increased self-esteem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan M Bögels
- Department of Medical, Clinical and Experimental Psychology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, Netherlands.
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Abstract
GAD in children is characterized by excessive and uncontrollable worry about a number of events and activities in daily life. GAD is a prevalent and chronic disorder that is highly comorbid with other psychiatric disorders and has a significant affect on a child's life. Reliable and valid methods are available with which to assess childhood anxiety (eg, structured interviews and questionnaires). Furthermore, efficacious treatments for anxious children have emerged, with CBT the treatment of choice. In recent years, our understanding of childhood anxiety disorders has grown exponentially. Much of our understanding of GAD, however, is still reliant on studies of children with a range of anxiety disorders. Future research is needed that specifically examines children with GAD compared to anxious, depressed children without GAD. Such research would aid in the identification of factors unique to GAD, improve assessment methods and potentially enhance treatments for children with GAD.
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