26
|
Richards A, French CC, Nash G, Hadwin JA, Donnelly N. A comparison of selective attention and facial processing biases in typically developing children who are high and low in self-reported trait anxiety. Dev Psychopathol 2007; 19:481-95. [PMID: 17459180 DOI: 10.1017/s095457940707023x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
The relationship between children's anxiety and cognitive biases was examined in two tasks. A group of 50 children aged 10 to 11 years (mean = 11 years, SD = 3.71 months) was given two tasks. The first tested children's selective attention (SA) to threat in an emotional Stroop task. The second explored facial processing biases using morphed angry-neutral and happy-neutral emotional expressions that varied in intensity. Faces with varying levels of emotion (25% emotion-75% neutral, 50% emotion-50% neutral, 100% emotion-0% neutral [prototype] and 150% emotion-0% neutral [caricature]) were judged as being angry or happy. Results support previous work highlighting a link between anxiety and SA to threat. In addition, increased anxiety in late childhood is associated with decreased ability to discriminate facial expression. Finally, lack of discrimination in the emotional expression task was related to lack of inhibition to threat in the Stroop task.
Collapse
|
27
|
Hunt C, Keogh E, French CC. Anxiety sensitivity, conscious awareness and selective attentional biases in children. Behav Res Ther 2007; 45:497-509. [PMID: 16740250 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2006.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2005] [Revised: 04/13/2006] [Accepted: 04/13/2006] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The current study investigated whether physical anxiety sensitivity (AS) is associated with selective attentional biases to affective stimuli in children. The dot-probe paradigm was used to examine the deployment of attention towards words pertaining to anxiety symptomatology, socially threatening words, and positive words, in samples of 8-10-year-old children. Word pairs were presented under both masked and unmasked conditions. Irrespective of masking, children high in physical AS displayed an attentional vigilance for emotional words relative to neutral words, whereas those low in physical AS displayed a relative avoidance of such material. The results of this study are interesting as they not only suggest the presence of automatic AS-related biases in childhood, but that this is a general emotionality bias rather than one related to specific anxiety-related stimuli.
Collapse
|
28
|
Wilson K, French CC. The relationship between susceptibility to false memories, dissociativity, and paranormal belief and experience. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2006. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2006.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
|
29
|
Crawley SE, French CC. Field and observer viewpoint in remember-know memories of personal childhood events. Memory 2006; 13:673-81. [PMID: 16191817 DOI: 10.1080/09658210444000296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
This experiment examined the viewpoint and other phenomenal characteristics of childhood memories based on both personal recollections and self-knowledge. Participants were asked to provide examples of remember, know, and uncertain memories, and to rate each memory on a number of dimensions. Remembered events were generally viewed from a field perspective, while known-about events were generally viewed from an observer perspective. In line with earlier research, remembered events received the highest ratings for sensory and contextual detail, emotional content, and memory accuracy, while known-about events were given the lowest ratings. The results are discussed with reference to their possible implications for memory recovery or enhancement techniques that ask people to adopt a different viewpoint. Consideration is given as to whether a switch to a field perspective might encourage the acceptance of suggested details or events.
Collapse
|
30
|
Blagrove M, French CC, Jones G. Probabilistic reasoning, affirmative bias and belief in precognitive dreams. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2006. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.1165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
|
31
|
Hunt C, Keogh E, French CC. Anxiety sensitivity: The role of conscious awareness and selective attentional bias to physical threat. Emotion 2006; 6:418-28. [PMID: 16938083 DOI: 10.1037/1528-3542.6.3.418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Selective attentional biases were examined amongst individuals varying in levels of physical anxiety sensitivity. The dot-probe paradigm was used to examine attention towards anxiety symptomatology, social threat and positive words. Stimuli were presented above (unmasked) and below (masked) the level of conscious awareness. High physical anxiety sensitivity was associated with attentional vigilance for anxiety symptomatology words in both unmasked and masked conditions. For positive words, however, those high in anxiety sensitivity were found to avoid such stimuli when they were masked, whereas they exhibited a relative vigilance when unmasked. If the differences between awareness conditions are reliable, then the impact of the automatic vigilance for threat might be modified by conscious attempts to direct attention towards other types of stimuli.
Collapse
|
32
|
Abstract
Near-death experiences (NDEs) have become the focus of much interest in the last 30 years or so. Such experiences can occur both when individuals are objectively near to death and also when they simply believe themselves to be. The experience typically involves a number of different components including a feeling of peace and well-being, out-of-body experiences (OBEs), entering a region of darkness, seeing a brilliant light, and entering another realm. NDEs are known to have long-lasting transformational effects upon those who experience them. An overview is presented of the various theoretical approaches that have been adopted in attempts to account for the NDE. Spiritual theories assume that consciousness can become detached from the neural substrate of the brain and that the NDE may provide a glimpse of an afterlife. Psychological theories include the proposal that the NDE is a dissociative defense mechanism that occurs in times of extreme danger or, less plausibly, that the NDE reflects memories of being born. Finally, a wide range of organic theories of the NDE has been put forward including those based upon cerebral hypoxia, anoxia, and hypercarbia; endorphins and other neurotransmitters; and abnormal activity in the temporal lobes. Finally, the results of studies of NDEs in cardiac arrest survivors are reviewed and the implications of these results for our understanding of mind-brain relationships are discussed.
Collapse
|
33
|
Keogh E, Bond FW, French CC, Richards A, Davis RE. Test anxiety, susceptibility to distraction and examination performance. ANXIETY STRESS AND COPING 2004. [DOI: 10.1080/10615300410001703472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
|
34
|
Hadwin JA, Donnelly N, French CC, Richards A, Watts A, Daley D. The influence of children's self-report trait anxiety and depression on visual search for emotional faces. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2003; 44:432-44. [PMID: 12635972 DOI: 10.1111/1469-7610.00133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND This study presents two experiments that investigated the relationship between 7- and 10-year-olds' levels of self-report trait anxiety and depression and their visual search for threatening (angry faces) and non-threatening (happy and neutral faces) stimuli. METHOD In both experiments a visual search paradigm was used to measure participants' reaction times to detect the presence or absence of angry, happy or neutral schematic faces (Experiment 1) or cartoon drawings (Experiment 2). On target present trials, a target face was displayed alongside three, five or seven distractor items. On target absent trials all items were distractors. RESULTS Both experiments demonstrated that on target absent (but not present) trials, increased levels of anxiety produced significantly faster search times in the angry face condition, but not in the neutral condition. In Experiment 2 there was some trend towards significance between anxiety and searches for happy faces in absent trials. There were no effects of depression on search times in any condition. CONCLUSION The results support previous work highlighting a specific link between anxiety and attention to threat in childhood.
Collapse
|
35
|
Crawley SE, French CC, Yesson SA. Evidence for transliminality from a subliminal card-guessing task. Perception 2002; 31:887-92. [PMID: 12206534 DOI: 10.1068/p3186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
In this experiment we sought to provide evidence for transliminality from a test of subliminal perception that was disguised as a computerised ESP card-guessing task. It was predicted that highly transliminal individuals would outperform those with low levels of transliminality when given subliminal primes or 'clues' to the correct choice of card, but not when no primes were given. In line with the prediction, higher levels of transliminality were found to be associated with a greater number of correct selections of the target card on the primed trials, but not on the unprimed trials. In addition, a positive correlation was obtained between transliminality and detection accuracy, suggesting that higher levels of transliminality are associated with a greater sensitivity to visual stimulation. The results are discussed with reference to the possibility that transliminality might offer an alternative explanation for some ostensibly psychic perceptual experiences if subliminally acquired material is wrongly attributed to psychic sources.
Collapse
|
36
|
Richards A, French CC, Calder AJ, Webb B, Fox R, Young AW. Anxiety-related bias in the classification of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions. Emotion 2002; 2:273-87. [PMID: 12899360 DOI: 10.1037/1528-3542.2.3.273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 130] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
High- and low-trait socially anxious individuals classified the emotional expressions of photographic quality continua of interpolated ("morphed") facial images that were derived from combining 6 basic prototype emotional expressions to various degrees, with the 2 adjacent emotions arranged in an emotion hexagon. When fear was 1 of the 2 component emotions, the high-trait group displayed enhanced sensitivity for fear. In a 2nd experiment where a mood manipulation was incorporated, again, the high-trait group exhibited enhanced sensitivity for fear. The low-trait group was sensitive for happiness in the control condition. The mood-manipulated group had increased sensitivity for anger expressions, and trait anxiety did not moderate these effects. Interpretations of the results related to the classification of fearful expressions are discussed.
Collapse
|
37
|
Holden KJ, French CC. Alien abduction experiences: Some clues from neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry. Cogn Neuropsychiatry 2002; 7:163-78. [PMID: 16571535 DOI: 10.1080/13546800244000058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Many thousands of people around the world firmly believe that they have been abducted by alien beings and taken on board spaceships where they have been subjected to painful medical examination. METHOD Given that such accounts are almost certainly untrue, four areas of neuroscience are considered with respect to possible clues that may lead towards a fuller understanding of the alien abduction experience. RESULTS First, it is argued that sleep paralysis may be implicated in many such claims. Second, research into false memories is considered. It is argued that abductees may be more prone to false memories than the general population. Third, evidence is considered relating to the mental health of abductees. It is concluded that there is currently no convincing evidence for higher rates of serious psychopathology amongst abductees compared to the general population. However, abductees do seem to show higher levels on some potentially relevant measures (e.g., tendency to dissociate). Finally, claims that alien abduction experiences may be linked to abnormal activity in the temporal lobes is considered. CONCLUSION Although the neurosciences provide many clues to the nature of this bizarre experience, further research is required before a full understanding will be attained.
Collapse
|
38
|
|
39
|
Richards A, French CC, Keogh E, Carter C. Test-Anxiety, inferential reasoning and working memory load. ANXIETY STRESS AND COPING 2000. [DOI: 10.1080/10615800008248335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
|
40
|
|
41
|
Davies MF, French CC, Keogh E. Self-Deceptive Enhancement and Impression Management correlates of EPQ-R dimensions. THE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 1998; 132:401-6. [PMID: 9637022 DOI: 10.1080/00223989809599274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The Self-Deceptive Enhancement and Impression Management scales of the Paulhus (1991) Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding were correlated with the Psychoticism, Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Lie scales of the Eysenck EPQ-R (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991) in a student sample. Extraversion correlated positively and Neuroticism correlated negatively with Self-Deceptive Enhancement, whereas Psychoticism correlated negatively and the Lie scale correlated positively with Impression Management. These findings suggest that the EPQ-R scales are involved in different aspects of socially desirable responding. It was concluded that social desirability should not be controlled in measures of Extraversion and Neuroticism but it should be controlled in measures of Psychoticism.
Collapse
|
42
|
Richards A, French CC, Harris P. Mistakes around the clock: errors in memory for the orientation of numerals. THE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 1998; 132:42-6. [PMID: 9447724 DOI: 10.1080/00223989809599263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent research has demonstrated that when participants are required to draw from memory a standard clock with numbers represented by Roman numerals, they typically misrepresent the four as "IV" rather than as the correct "IIII." Participants do not make this mistake when they simply copy the clock while it remains in full view. A reanalysis of the data presented by Richards, French, and Harris (1996) is reported in which we investigated the representation of the orientation of the Roman numerals on the clockface and found that participants in the memory conditions (surprise and forewarned) were more likely than participants in the copy (control) condition to draw the numerals vertically rather than in their correct centripetal orientation. In addition, we found this error was even more likely to occur for participants when they had no warning that a memory task would take place.
Collapse
|
43
|
Hadwin J, Frost S, French CC, Richards A. Cognitive processing and trait anxiety in typically developing children: evidence for an interpretation bias. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 1997; 106:486-90. [PMID: 9241952 DOI: 10.1037/0021-843x.106.3.486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
In this study the authors examined whether increases in children's levels of self-reported trait anxiety would be related to their interpretation of ambiguous stimuli. By using the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (C. R. Reynolds & B. O. Richmond, 1985), the authors obtained measurements of anxiety for 40 children ages 7 and 9 years. Interpretation of ambiguous stimuli was measured by using a pictorial homophone task, where homophones could be interpreted as either threatening or neutral. Results showed that children's interpretations of homophones was significantly predicted by level of anxiety. Increases in levels of trait anxiety were positively associated with threatening interpretations of homophones.
Collapse
|
44
|
Keogh E, French CC. The effects of mood manipulation and trait anxiety on susceptibility to distraction. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 1997. [DOI: 10.1016/s0191-8869(96)00211-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
45
|
French CC, Richards A, Scholfield EJ. Hypomania, anxiety and the emotional Stroop. BRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 1996; 35:617-26. [PMID: 8955547 DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1996.tb01217.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Bentall & Thompson (1990) selected participants on the basis of high, medium and low scores on the Hypomanic Personality Scale. In an emotional Stroop test, the high hypomanic participants showed interference of colour naming for depression-related but not euphoria-related words. The current study tests the hypothesis that the effects found were mediated by anxiety, and not hypomania as claimed. Bentall & Thompson's study was repeated but measures of state of trait anxiety were also taken. When analysis was restricted to three subgroups selected in the same manner as in Bentall & Thompson's (1990) study, the findings were very similar to those found in that study and the hypomania-related interference effects were found to occur even when anxiety levels were taken into account. Further analyses of data from the full sample of participants supported the idea that hypomanic personality might reflect a partially successful means of coping with depressive tendencies.
Collapse
|
46
|
Richards A, French CC, Randall F. Anxiety and the use of strategies in the performance of a sentence-picture verification task. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 1996; 105:132-6. [PMID: 8666702 DOI: 10.1037/0021-843x.105.1.132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
An experiment was conducted to examine processing strategy differences in anxiety. The sentence-picture verification task was modified to incorporate a block of threat-related trials (involving a knife and a rifle) and a block of neutral trials (involving a truck and a chair). It was predicted that the high-trait, relative to low-trait, anxious individuals would prefer to use a linguistic strategy for threat-related as compared to neutral trials. In addition, the idea that an image-based strategy is more important for processing emotional material was examined. There was some support for both of these hypotheses.
Collapse
|
47
|
Abstract
French and Richards (1993) found that subjects asked to draw from memory a clock that had Roman numerals on its face typically represented the number four on the clock face as "IV" rather than the correct "IIII", whereas those merely asked to copy it typically drew "IIII". The current experiments followed the methodology of French and Richards, but then went on to examine the subsequent memorial representation of the number four. Subjects drew a clock with Roman numerals on its face, either from memory (with or without forewarning) or while the clock remained in full view. Subsequently, subjects were asked to recall the exact form in which the numbers were represented on the clock (Experiment 1) or were asked to recognise which of two clocks had been presented earlier (Experiment 2). Findings supported the idea that subjects in the copy condition were more likely than subjects in other conditions to draw the clock without invoking schematic knowledge of Roman numerals. The basic effect reported by French and Richards was replicated in both experiments. Furthermore, in both experiments, subjects who correctly drew the clock with the number four represented as "IIII" were more likely to misrepresent it as "IV" in the subsequent memory task if they were in the copy condition rather than the two memory conditions. The results are interpreted in terms of schema theory.
Collapse
|
48
|
Richards A, French CC, Dowd R. Hemisphere asymmetry and the processing of emotional words in anxiety. Neuropsychologia 1995; 33:835-41. [PMID: 7477811 DOI: 10.1016/0028-3932(95)00022-u] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
High- and low-trait anxious subjects participated in a divided visual field emotional Stroop task. Subjects identified the colour of unilaterally presented threat-related, positive and neutral words. The high- and low-trait groups differed in terms of their accuracy scores but not in their reaction times. Analysis of the accuracy data revealed that the high-trait group exhibited right hemisphere interference for emotional relative to neutral trials whereas the low-trait showed right hemisphere interference for threat-related trials only. The idea that the right hemisphere is differentially specialised for the processing of emotional information was supported.
Collapse
|
49
|
Thalbourne MA, French CC. Paranormal belief, manic-depressiveness, and magical ideation: a replication. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 1995. [DOI: 10.1016/0191-8869(94)00146-j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
|
50
|
Richards A, French CC, Johnson W, Naparstek J, Williams J. Effects of mood manipulation and anxiety on performance of an emotional Stroop task. Br J Psychol 1992; 83 ( Pt 4):479-91. [PMID: 1486362 DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1992.tb02454.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 147] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
In Study 1 subjects high and low in trait anxiety were asked to identify the colour of anxiety-related, anxiety-matched neutral, happiness-related and happiness-matched neutral words. There were two types of stimulus presentation: blocked trials, where stimuli were blocked with respect to their valence, and mixed trials, where stimuli were mixed with respect to their valence. Subjects high in trait anxiety took longer to identify the colour of anxiety-related compared to matched neutral words for blocked-trial presentation only. In Study 2 subjects were exposed to either a positive or a negative mood-manipulation followed by a mixed-trial Stroop task. The mood manipulation procedure was successful in producing predicted changes in self-reported state anxiety. Analyses showed that high-trait-anxiety subjects exhibited interference effects consistent with the induced mood. No such effects were observed for the low-trait-anxiety subjects.
Collapse
|