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Relationships between attention to emotion and anxiety among a community sample of adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2021

Benjamin C. Mullin ,
Jacob B. W. Holzman ,
Laura Pyle ,
Emmaly L. Perks ,
Yaswanth Chintaluru ,
Lauren D. Gulley ,
Dustin A. Haraden  and
Benjamin L. Hankin
Benjamin C. Mullin*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA Pediatric Mental Health Institute, Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA
Jacob B. W. Holzman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA Pediatric Mental Health Institute, Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA
Laura Pyle
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA Department of Biostatistics and Informatics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA
Emmaly L. Perks
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
Yaswanth Chintaluru
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Denver, Denver, CO, USA
Lauren D. Gulley
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Dustin A. Haraden
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
Benjamin L. Hankin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Benjamin C. Mullin, E-mail: Benjamin.mullin@cuanschutz.edu
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Abstract

Background

Attentional bias to threat has been implicated as a cognitive mechanism in anxiety disorders for youth. Yet, prior studies documenting this bias have largely relied on a method with questionable reliability (i.e. dot-probe task) and small samples, few of which included adolescents. The current study sought to address such limitations by examining relations between anxiety – both clinically diagnosed and dimensionally rated – and attentional bias to threat.

Methods

The study included a community sample of adolescents and employed eye-tracking methodology intended to capture possible biases across the full range of both automatic (i.e. vigilance bias) and controlled attentional processes (i.e. avoidance bias, maintenance bias). We examined both dimensional anxiety (across the full sample; n = 215) and categorical anxiety in a subset case-control analysis (n = 100) as predictors of biases.

Results

Findings indicated that participants with an anxiety disorder oriented more slowly to angry faces than matched controls. Results did not suggest a greater likelihood of initial orienting to angry faces among our participants with anxiety disorders or those with higher dimensional ratings of anxiety. Greater anxiety severity was associated with greater dwell time to neutral faces.

Conclusions

This is the largest study to date examining eye-tracking metrics of attention to threat among healthy and anxious youth. Findings did not support the notion that anxiety is characterized by heightened vigilance or avoidance/maintenance of attention to threat. All effects detected were extremely small. Links between attention to threat and anxiety among adolescents may be subtle and highly dependent on experimental task dimensions.

Keywords

Adolescentanxietyattentioneye-tracking
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 52 , Issue 8 , June 2022 , pp. 1548 - 1559
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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