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Morales S, Brown KM, Taber-Thomas BC, LoBue V, Buss KA, Pérez-Edgar KE. Maternal anxiety predicts attentional bias towards threat in infancy. Emotion 2017; 17:874-883. [PMID: 28206795 PMCID: PMC5519443 DOI: 10.1037/emo0000275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Although cognitive theories of psychopathology suggest that attention bias toward threat plays a role in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety, there is relatively little evidence regarding individual differences in the earliest development of attention bias toward threat. The current study examines attention bias toward threat during its potential first emergence by evaluating the relations between attention bias and known risk factors of anxiety (i.e., temperamental negative affect and maternal anxiety). We measured attention bias to emotional faces in infants (N = 98; 57 male) ages 4 to 24 months during an attention disengagement eye-tracking paradigm. We hypothesized that (a) there would be an attentional bias toward threat in the full sample of infants, replicating previous studies; (b) attentional bias toward threat would be positively related to maternal anxiety; and (c) attention bias toward threat would be positively related to temperamental negative affect. Finally, (d) we explored the potential interaction between temperament and maternal anxiety in predicting attention bias toward threat. We found that attention bias to the affective faces did not change with age, and that bias was not related to temperament. However, attention bias to threat, but not attention bias to happy faces, was positively related to maternal anxiety, such that higher maternal anxiety predicted a larger attention bias for all infants. These findings provide support for attention bias as a putative early mechanism by which early markers of risk are associated with socioemotional development. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kayla M Brown
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State Universit
| | | | | | - Kristin A Buss
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State Universit
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52
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Understanding comorbidity among internalizing problems: Integrating latent structural models of psychopathology and risk mechanisms. Dev Psychopathol 2017; 28:987-1012. [PMID: 27739389 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579416000663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
It is well known that comorbidity is the rule, not the exception, for categorically defined psychiatric disorders, and this is also the case for internalizing disorders of depression and anxiety. This theoretical review paper addresses the ubiquity of comorbidity among internalizing disorders. Our central thesis is that progress in understanding this co-occurrence can be made by employing latent dimensional structural models that organize psychopathology as well as vulnerabilities and risk mechanisms and by connecting the multiple levels of risk and psychopathology outcomes together. Different vulnerabilities and risk mechanisms are hypothesized to predict different levels of the structural model of psychopathology. We review the present state of knowledge based on concurrent and developmental sequential comorbidity patterns among common discrete psychiatric disorders in youth, and then we advocate for the use of more recent bifactor dimensional models of psychopathology (e.g., p factor; Caspi et al., 2014) that can help to explain the co-occurrence among internalizing symptoms. In support of this relatively novel conceptual perspective, we review six exemplar vulnerabilities and risk mechanisms, including executive function, information processing biases, cognitive vulnerabilities, positive and negative affectivity aspects of temperament, and autonomic dysregulation, along with the developmental occurrence of stressors in different domains, to show how these vulnerabilities can predict the general latent psychopathology factor, a unique latent internalizing dimension, as well as specific symptom syndrome manifestations.
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53
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Waters AM, Candy EM, Candy SG. Attention bias to threat in mothers with emotional disorders predicts increased offspring anxiety symptoms: a joint cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. Cogn Emot 2017; 32:892-903. [PMID: 28722537 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2017.1349650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
There is convincing evidence of the transmission of anxiety and depression from parents to children; however, mechanisms by which this vulnerability is passed on are unclear. Cognitive models and a small body of cross-sectional research suggest that parental attention biases (ABs) may be one mechanism involved in transmission. Longitudinal associations of maternal and offspring ABs with offspring symptoms have been scarcely studied. Forty-three mothers-child dyads were included. All children (7-12 years old) were diagnosis-free while 24 mothers had a lifetime emotional disorder (anxiety or depression) (high risk, HR) and 19 mothers had no psychiatric diagnoses (low risk, LR). This study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of maternal and child AB and child anxiety symptomology at initial and 12-month assessments. ABs were assessed using a visual-probe task with emotional faces. There was a significant cross-sectional but not longitudinal association of increased child anxiety symptoms with increased maternal threat AB for HR but not LR dyads. At the cross-sectional level, increases in HR but not LR offspring anxiety symptomology were associated with maternal threat AB. Larger longitudinal studies are required that examine the interplay between parent-child variables and include multiple time-points of assessment and measures of AB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison M Waters
- a School of Applied Psychology , Griffith University , Mt Gravatt , Australia
| | - Elise M Candy
- a School of Applied Psychology , Griffith University , Mt Gravatt , Australia
| | - Steven G Candy
- b Scandy Statistical Modelling Pty Ltd , Blackmans Bay , Australia
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Mogg K, Waters AM, Bradley BP. Attention Bias Modification (ABM): Review of Effects of Multisession ABM Training on Anxiety and Threat-Related Attention in High-Anxious Individuals. Clin Psychol Sci 2017; 5:698-717. [PMID: 28752017 PMCID: PMC5513441 DOI: 10.1177/2167702617696359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2016] [Accepted: 02/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Attention bias modification (ABM) aims to reduce anxiety by reducing attention bias (AB) to threat; however, effects on anxiety and AB are variable. This review examines 34 studies assessing effects of multisession-ABM on both anxiety and AB in high-anxious individuals. Methods include ABM-threat-avoidance (promoting attention-orienting away from threat), ABM-positive-search (promoting explicit, goal-directed attention-search for positive/nonthreat targets among negative/threat distractors), and comparison conditions (e.g., control-attention training combining threat-cue exposure and attention-task practice without AB-modification). Findings indicate anxiety reduction often occurs during both ABM-threat-avoidance and control-attention training; anxiety reduction is not consistently accompanied by AB reduction; anxious individuals often show no pretraining AB in orienting toward threat; and ABM-positive-search training appears promising in reducing anxiety. Methodological and theoretical issues are discussed concerning ABM paradigms, comparison conditions, and AB assessment. ABM methods combining explicit goal-directed attention-search for nonthreat/positive information and effortful threat-distractor inhibition (promoting top-down cognitive control during threat-cue exposure) warrant further evaluation.
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55
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van Hoof MJ, van den Bulk BG, Rombouts SARB, Rinne-Albers MAW, van der Wee NJA, van IJzendoorn MH, Vermeiren RRJM. Emotional face processing in adolescents with childhood sexual abuse-related posttraumatic stress disorder, internalizing disorders and healthy controls. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2017; 264:52-59. [PMID: 28458084 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2016] [Revised: 04/09/2017] [Accepted: 04/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marie-José van Hoof
- Curium-LUMC, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands; YOEP (Yulius Onderwijs zorg Expertise Partners), Warmond, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
| | - Bianca G van den Bulk
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; Department of Child and Family Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, The Netherlands
| | - Serge A R B Rombouts
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, The Netherlands; Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Mirjam A W Rinne-Albers
- Curium-LUMC, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Nic J A van der Wee
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Marinus H van IJzendoorn
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; Department of Child and Family Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, The Netherlands; School of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Robert R J M Vermeiren
- Curium-LUMC, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; VU Medical Center, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Balderston NL, Hale E, Hsiung A, Torrisi S, Holroyd T, Carver FW, Coppola R, Ernst M, Grillon C. Threat of shock increases excitability and connectivity of the intraparietal sulcus. eLife 2017; 6. [PMID: 28555565 PMCID: PMC5478270 DOI: 10.7554/elife.23608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2016] [Accepted: 05/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Anxiety disorders affect approximately 1 in 5 (18%) Americans within a given 1 year period, placing a substantial burden on the national health care system. Therefore, there is a critical need to understand the neural mechanisms mediating anxiety symptoms. We used unbiased, multimodal, data-driven, whole-brain measures of neural activity (magnetoencephalography) and connectivity (fMRI) to identify the regions of the brain that contribute most prominently to sustained anxiety. We report that a single brain region, the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), shows both elevated neural activity and global brain connectivity during threat. The IPS plays a key role in attention orienting and may contribute to the hypervigilance that is a common symptom of pathological anxiety. Hyperactivation of this region during elevated state anxiety may account for the paradoxical facilitation of performance on tasks that require an external focus of attention, and impairment of performance on tasks that require an internal focus of attention. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.23608.001 Anxiety disorders affect around one in five Americans, and in many cases people experience anxiety so intensely that they have difficulties performing day-to-day activities. To help these people, it is important to understand how anxiety works. Current research suggests that anxiety disorders are caused when the connections in the brain that control our response to threat are either excessively or inappropriately activated. However, it was not clear what causes the anxiety to last for long periods. To better understand this phenomenon, Balderston et al. studied the brains of over 30 volunteers using two types of measurements called magnetoencephalography and fMRI. In the each experiment, participants experienced periods of threat, where they could receive unpredictable electric shocks. In the first experiment, Balderston et al. measured the brain activity by recording the magnetic fields generated in the brain. In the second experiment, they used fMRI to record changes in the blood flow throughout the brain to measure how the different regions in the brain communicate. The recordings identified a single part of the brain that increased its activity and changed its communication pattern with the other regions in the brain, when people are anxious. This region in a part of the brain called parietal lobe, is also important for processing attention, which suggests that anxiety might make people also more aware of their surroundings. However, this extra awareness might also make it more difficult for people to concentrate. Future studies may be able to stimulate this area of the brain through the scalp to potentially reduce anxiety, as the affected area is close to the skull. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.23608.002
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas L Balderston
- Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
| | - Elizabeth Hale
- Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
| | - Abigail Hsiung
- Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
| | - Salvatore Torrisi
- Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
| | - Tom Holroyd
- MEG Core Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
| | - Frederick W Carver
- MEG Core Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
| | - Richard Coppola
- MEG Core Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
| | - Monique Ernst
- Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
| | - Christian Grillon
- Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
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57
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Salum GA, Mogg K, Bradley BP, Stringaris A, Gadelha A, Pan PM, Rohde LA, Polanczyk GV, Manfro GG, Pine DS, Leibenluft E. Association between irritability and bias in attention orienting to threat in children and adolescents. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2017; 58:595-602. [PMID: 27782299 PMCID: PMC9891207 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/23/2016] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Irritability, a frequent complaint in children with psychiatric disorders, reflects increased predisposition to anger. Preliminary work in pediatric clinical samples links irritability to attention bias to threat, and the current study examines this association in a large population-based sample. METHODS We studied 1,872 children (ages 6-14) using the Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA), Childhood Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and dot-probe tasks. Irritability was defined using CBCL items that assessed temper tantrums and hot temper. The dot-probe task assessed attention biases for threat-related (angry face) stimuli. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess specificity of associations to irritability when adjusting for demographic variables and co-occurring psychiatric traits. Propensity score matching analysis was used to increase causal inference when matching for demographic variables and co-occurring psychiatric traits. RESULTS Irritability was associated with increased attention bias toward threat-related cues. Multiple regression analysis suggests associations between irritability and threat bias are independent from demographic variables, anxiety, and externalizing traits (attention-deficit/hyperactivity, conduct, and headstrong/hurtful), but not from broad internalizing symptoms. Propensity score matching analysis indicated that this association was found for irritable versus nonirritable groups matched on demographic and co-occurring traits including internalizing symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Irritability in children is associated with biased attention toward threatening information. This finding, if replicated, warrants further investigation to examine the extent to which it contributes to chronic irritability and to explore possible treatment implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni A. Salum
- National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INCT-CNPq), São Paulo,Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Karin Mogg
- Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton
| | | | | | - Ary Gadelha
- National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INCT-CNPq), São Paulo,Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo
| | - Pedro M. Pan
- National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INCT-CNPq), São Paulo,Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo
| | - Luis A. Rohde
- National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INCT-CNPq), São Paulo,Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Guilherme V. Polanczyk
- National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INCT-CNPq), São Paulo,Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Gisele G. Manfro
- National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INCT-CNPq), São Paulo,Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Daniel S. Pine
- National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Ellen Leibenluft
- National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA
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58
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Lau JYF, Waters AM. Annual Research Review: An expanded account of information-processing mechanisms in risk for child and adolescent anxiety and depression. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2017; 58:387-407. [PMID: 27966780 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/05/2016] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Anxiety and depression occurring during childhood and adolescence are common and costly. While early-emerging anxiety and depression can arise through a complex interplay of 'distal' factors such as genetic and environmental influences, temperamental characteristics and brain circuitry, the more proximal mechanisms that transfer risks on symptoms are poorly delineated. Information-processing biases, which differentiate youth with and without anxiety and/or depression, could act as proximal mechanisms that mediate more distal risks on symptoms. This article reviews the literature on information-processing biases, their associations with anxiety and depression symptoms in youth and with other distal risk factors, to provide direction for further research. METHODS Based on strategic searches of the literature, we consider how youth with and without anxiety and/or depression vary in how they deploy attention to social-affective stimuli, discriminate between threat and safety cues, retain memories of negative events and appraise ambiguous information. We discuss how these information-processing biases are similarly or differentially expressed on anxiety and depression and whether these biases are linked to genetic and environmental factors, temperamental characteristics and patterns of brain circuitry functioning implicated in anxiety and depression. FINDINGS Biases in attention and appraisal characterise both youth anxiety and depression but with some differences in how these are expressed for each symptom type. Difficulties in threat-safety cue discrimination characterise anxiety and are understudied in depression, while biases in the retrieval of negative and overgeneral memories have been observed in depression but are understudied in anxiety. Information-processing biases have been studied in relation to some distal factors but not systematically, so relationships remain inconclusive. CONCLUSIONS Biases in attention, threat-safety cue discrimination, memory and appraisal may characterise anxiety and/or depression risk. We discuss future research directions that can more systematically test whether these biases act as proximal mechanisms that mediate other distal risk factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Y F Lau
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Allison M Waters
- School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Qld, Australia
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Hummel AC, Premo JE, Kiel EJ. Attention to Threat as a Predictor of Shyness in the Context of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems. INFANCY 2017; 22:240-255. [PMID: 28936126 PMCID: PMC5602539 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2015] [Accepted: 04/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The duration of children's attention to putative threat has been documented as a consistent predictor of later anxiety in inhibited children across childhood (Fox, 2010; Perez-Edgar & Fox, 2005). However, attention to threat has not been broadly examined within existing behavioral contexts, and has seldom been studied in very early childhood. Whereas toddlers with high levels of internalizing behavior may view fear-inducing stimuli as a threat, toddlers with high levels of externalizing behavior may demonstrate attention out of interest or sensation seeking. Thus, attention to threat was expected to predict increased toddler shyness in the context of either high internalizing problems or low externalizing behavior. We examined 117 24-month-old toddlers to determine whether attention to threat interacted with internalizing and externalizing behavior at 24 months of age to predict toddler shyness one year later. Results indicated that attention to threat predicted toddlers' lower shyness at 36 months when toddlers' externalizing behavior at age 24 months were high, but there was no significant interaction between toddlers' internalizing behavior and their attention to threat in predicting later shyness. These results expand our understanding of the contexts in which attention to threat in early childhood is a viable predictor of later shyness.
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60
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Rozenman M, Vreeland A, Piacentini J. Thinking anxious, feeling anxious, or both? Cognitive bias moderates the relationship between anxiety disorder status and sympathetic arousal in youth. J Anxiety Disord 2017; 45:34-42. [PMID: 27923164 PMCID: PMC5863750 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2016] [Revised: 11/01/2016] [Accepted: 11/15/2016] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive bias and physiological arousal are two putative markers that may underlie youth anxiety. However, data on relationships between cognitive bias and arousal are limited, and typically do not include behavioral measurement of these constructs in order to tap real-time processes. We aimed to examine the relationship between performance-based cognitive bias and sympathetic arousal during stress in clinically anxious and typically-developing youth. The sample included children and adolescents ages 9 to 17 (Mean age=13.18, SD=2.60) who either met diagnostic criteria for primary generalized anxiety, social phobia, or separation anxiety (N=24) or healthy controls who had no history of psychopathology (N=22). Youth completed performance-based measures of attention and interpretation bias. Electrodermal activity was assessed while youth participated in the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C; Buske-Kirschbaum, Jobst, & Wustmans, 1997). A mixed models analysis indicated significant linear and non-linear changes in skin conductance, with similar slopes for both groups. Interpretation bias, but not attention bias, moderated the relationship between group status and sympathetic arousal during the TSST-C. Arousal trajectories did not differ for anxious and healthy control youth who exhibited high levels of threat interpretation bias. However, for youth who exhibited moderate and low levels of interpretation bias, the anxious group demonstrated greater arousal slopes than healthy control youth. Results provide initial evidence that the relationship between anxiety status and physiological arousal during stress may be moderated by level of interpretation bias for threat. These findings may implicate interpretation bias as a marker of sympathetic reactivity in youth. Implications for future research and limitations are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle Rozenman
- Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, United States.
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61
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Guided parent-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for childhood anxiety: Predictors of treatment response. J Anxiety Disord 2017; 45:43-48. [PMID: 27930939 PMCID: PMC5240848 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2015] [Revised: 10/25/2016] [Accepted: 11/04/2016] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Guided Parent-delivered Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (GPD-CBT) is a brief, effective treatment for childhood anxiety disorders, however not all children respond favourably. AIMS To examine predictors of response to GPD-CBT. METHODS Parents of 125 children (7-12 years) with an anxiety disorder received GPD-CBT over 2.6 or 5.3h. Recovery was measured post treatment and six months later. RESULTS Younger children and those with primary Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) improved more post treatment, but older children and those without primary GAD had better outcomes at six month follow up. Fewer children allocated to 2.6h had recovered post treatment compared to those allocated to the 5.2h intervention, but did not differ significantly six months later. CONCLUSIONS The identification of predictors of short and longer-term treatment outcomes can guide treatment decisions following this low-intensity approach.
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Poverty-Related Adversity and Emotion Regulation Predict Internalizing Behavior Problems among Low-Income Children Ages 8-11. Behav Sci (Basel) 2016; 7:bs7010002. [PMID: 28036091 PMCID: PMC5371746 DOI: 10.3390/bs7010002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2016] [Revised: 12/12/2016] [Accepted: 12/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The current study examines the additive and joint roles of chronic poverty-related adversity and three candidate neurocognitive processes of emotion regulation (ER)-including: (i) attention bias to threat (ABT); (ii) accuracy of facial emotion appraisal (FEA); and (iii) negative affect (NA)-for low-income, ethnic minority children's internalizing problems (N = 338). Children were enrolled in the current study from publicly funded preschools, with poverty-related adversity assessed at multiple time points from early to middle childhood. Field-based administration of neurocognitively-informed assessments of ABT, FEA and NA as well as parental report of internalizing symptoms were collected when children were ages 8-11, 6 years after baseline. Results suggest that chronic exposure to poverty-related adversity from early to middle childhood predicted higher levels of internalizing symptomatology when children are ages 8-11, even after controlling for initial poverty status and early internalizing symptoms in preschool. Moreover, each of the 3 hypothesized components of ER played an independent and statistically significant role in predicting children's parent-reported internalizing symptoms at the 6-year follow-up, even after controlling for early and chronic poverty-related adversity.
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63
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Oar EL, Farrell LJ, Ollendick TH. One Session Treatment for Specific Phobias: An Adaptation for Paediatric Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia in Youth. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 2016; 18:370-94. [PMID: 26374227 DOI: 10.1007/s10567-015-0189-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Blood-injection-injury (BII) phobia is a chronic and debilitating disorder, which has largely been neglected in the child literature. The present paper briefly reviews the aetiology of specific phobias with particular attention to BII and provides an integrated developmental model of this disorder in youth. Evidence-based treatments for child-specific phobias are discussed, and the development of a modified one session treatment (OST) approach to enhance treatment outcomes for BII phobia in children and adolescents is described. This approach is illustrated in two children with a primary diagnosis of BII phobia. The cases illustrate the unique challenges associated with treating BII in youth and the need for a modified intervention. Modifications included addressing the role of pain (e.g., psychoeducation, more graduated exposure steps) and disgust (e.g., disgust eliciting exposure tasks) in the expression of the phobia and fainting in the maintenance of this phobia. Moreover, it is recommended that parents be more actively involved throughout treatment (e.g., education session prior to OST, contingency management training, guidance regarding planning exposure tasks following treatment) and for families to participate in a structured e-therapy maintenance programme post-treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ella L Oar
- School of Applied Psychology, Behavioural Basis of Health and Menzies Health Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Southport, QLD, 4222, Australia.
| | - Lara J Farrell
- School of Applied Psychology, Behavioural Basis of Health and Menzies Health Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Southport, QLD, 4222, Australia
| | - Thomas H Ollendick
- Child Study Centre, Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA
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64
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Anxiety and attention to threat: Cognitive mechanisms and treatment with attention bias modification. Behav Res Ther 2016; 87:76-108. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2016.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 161] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2015] [Revised: 07/23/2016] [Accepted: 08/01/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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65
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Towards a cognitive-learning formulation of youth anxiety: A narrative review of theory and evidence and implications for treatment. Clin Psychol Rev 2016; 50:50-66. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2016.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2015] [Revised: 09/07/2016] [Accepted: 09/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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66
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Morales S, Fu X, Pérez-Edgar KE. A developmental neuroscience perspective on affect-biased attention. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2016; 21:26-41. [PMID: 27606972 PMCID: PMC5067218 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2016] [Revised: 08/17/2016] [Accepted: 08/22/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
There is growing interest regarding the impact of affect-biased attention on psychopathology. However, most of the research to date lacks a developmental approach. In the present review, we examine the role affect-biased attention plays in shaping socioemotional trajectories within a developmental neuroscience framework. We propose that affect-biased attention, particularly if stable and entrenched, acts as a developmental tether that helps sustain early socioemotional and behavioral profiles over time, placing some individuals on maladaptive developmental trajectories. Although most of the evidence is found in the anxiety literature, we suggest that these relations may operate across multiple domains of interest, including positive affect, externalizing behaviors, drug use, and eating behaviors. We also review the general mechanisms and neural correlates of affect-biased attention, as well as the current evidence for the co-development of attention and affect. Based on the reviewed literature, we propose a model that may help us better understand the nuances of affect-biased attention across development. The model may serve as a strong foundation for ongoing attempts to identify neurocognitive mechanisms and intervene with individuals at risk. Finally, we discuss open issues for future research that may help bridge existing gaps in the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santiago Morales
- The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology, 140 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, United States.
| | - Xiaoxue Fu
- The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology, 140 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, United States
| | - Koraly E Pérez-Edgar
- The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology, 140 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, United States
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67
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Montagner R, Mogg K, Bradley BP, Pine DS, Czykiel MS, Miguel EC, Rohde LA, Manfro GG, Salum GA. Attentional bias to threat in children at-risk for emotional disorders: role of gender and type of maternal emotional disorder. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2016; 25:735-42. [PMID: 26547923 DOI: 10.1007/s00787-015-0792-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2015] [Accepted: 10/27/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies suggested that threat biases underlie familial risk for emotional disorders in children. However, major questions remain concerning the moderating role of the offspring gender and the type of parental emotional disorder on this association. This study addresses these questions in a large sample of boys and girls. Participants were 6-12 years old (at screening) typically developing children participating in the High Risk Cohort Study for Psychiatric Disorders (n = 1280; 606 girls, 674 boys). Children were stratified according to maternal emotional disorder (none; mood disorder; anxiety disorder; comorbid anxiety/mood disorder) and gender. Attention biases were assessed using a dot-probe paradigm with threat, happy and neutral faces. A significant gender-by-parental emotional disorder interaction predicted threat bias, independent of anxiety and depression symptoms in children. Daughters of mothers with an emotional disorder showed increased attention to threat compared with daughters of disorder-free mothers, irrespective of the type of maternal emotion disorder. In contrast, attention bias to threat in boys only occurred in mothers with a non-comorbid mood disorder. No group differences were found for biases for happy-face cues. Gender and type of maternal emotional disorder predict attention bias in disorder-free children. This highlights the need for longitudinal research to clarify whether this pattern of threat-attention bias in children relates to the risk of developing anxiety and mood disorders later in life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Montagner
- Hospital de Clınicas de Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Ramiro Barcelos, 2350, Room 2202, Porto Alegre, 90035-003, Brazil.
| | | | | | - Daniel S Pine
- National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Marcelo S Czykiel
- Hospital de Clınicas de Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Ramiro Barcelos, 2350, Room 2202, Porto Alegre, 90035-003, Brazil
| | - Euripedes Constantino Miguel
- São Paulo University, São Paulo, Brazil.,National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INPD, CNPq), São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Luis A Rohde
- Hospital de Clınicas de Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Ramiro Barcelos, 2350, Room 2202, Porto Alegre, 90035-003, Brazil.,São Paulo University, São Paulo, Brazil.,National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INPD, CNPq), São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Gisele G Manfro
- Hospital de Clınicas de Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Ramiro Barcelos, 2350, Room 2202, Porto Alegre, 90035-003, Brazil.,National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INPD, CNPq), São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Giovanni A Salum
- Hospital de Clınicas de Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Ramiro Barcelos, 2350, Room 2202, Porto Alegre, 90035-003, Brazil.,National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INPD, CNPq), São Paulo, Brazil
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68
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Attention Biases Towards and Away from Threat Mark the Relation between Early Dysregulated Fear and the Later Emergence of Social Withdrawal. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 2016; 43:1067-78. [PMID: 25510354 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-014-9963-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Fearful temperament, mostly studied as behavioral inhibition (BI), has been extensively associated with social withdrawal in childhood and the later emergence of anxiety disorders, especially social anxiety disorder (SAD). Recent studies have characterized a distinct type of fearful temperament marked by high levels of fear in low threat situations - labeled dysregulated fear. Dysregulated fear has been related to SAD over and above risks associated with BI. However, the mechanism by which dysregulated fear is related to SAD has not been studied. Cognitive mechanisms, such as attentional bias towards threat, may be a possible conduit. We examined differences in attentional bias towards threat in six-year-olds who displayed a pattern of dysregulated fear at age two (N = 23) compared with children who did not display dysregulated fear (N = 33). Moreover, we examined the concurrent relation between attentional bias and social withdrawal. Results indicated that children characterized by dysregulated fear showed a significant bias away from threat, and that this bias was significantly different from the children without dysregulated fear, who showed no significant bias. Moreover, attentional bias towards threat was positively related to social withdrawal only for the dysregulated fear group. These results are discussed in consideration of the existing knowledge of attentional bias to threat in the developmental and pediatric anxiety literatures, as well as recent studies that find important heterogeneity in attentional bias.
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69
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Anxiety and Attentional Bias in Preschool-Aged Children: An Eyetracking Study. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY 2016; 43:1055-65. [PMID: 25434325 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-014-9962-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Extensive research has examined attentional bias for threat in anxious adults and school-aged children but it is unclear when this anxiety-related bias is first established. This study uses eyetracking technology to assess attentional bias in a sample of 83 children aged 3 or 4 years. Of these, 37 (19 female) met criteria for an anxiety disorder and 46 (30 female) did not. Gaze was recorded during a free-viewing task with angry-neutral face pairs presented for 1250 ms. There was no indication of between-group differences in threat bias, with both anxious and non-anxious groups showing vigilance for angry faces as well as longer dwell times to angry over neutral faces. Importantly, however, the anxious participants spent significantly less time looking at the faces overall, when compared to the non-anxious group. The results suggest that both anxious and non-anxious preschool-aged children preferentially attend to threat but that anxious children may be more avoidant of faces than non-anxious children.
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70
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Thai N, Taber-Thomas BC, Pérez-Edgar KE. Neural correlates of attention biases, behavioral inhibition, and social anxiety in children: An ERP study. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2016; 19:200-10. [PMID: 27061248 PMCID: PMC4912890 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2015] [Revised: 03/29/2016] [Accepted: 03/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a biologically-based temperament characterized by vigilance toward threat. Over time, many children with BI increasingly fear social circumstances and display maladaptive social behavior. BI is also one of the strongest individual risk factors for developing social anxiety disorder. Although research has established a link between BI and anxiety, its causal mechanism remains unclear. Attention biases may underlie this relation. The current study examined neural markers of the BI-attention-anxiety link in children ages 9-12 years (N=99, Mean=9.97, SD=0.97). ERP measures were collected as children completed an attention-bias (dot-probe) task with neutral and angry faces. P2 and N2 amplitudes were associated with social anxiety and attention bias, respectively. Specifically, augmented P2 was related to decreased symptoms of social anxiety and moderated the relation between BI and social anxiety, suggesting that increasing attention mobilization may serve as a compensatory mechanism that attenuates social anxiety in individuals with high BI. The BI by N2 interaction found that larger N2 related to threat avoidance with increasing levels of BI, consistent with over-controlled socio-emotional functioning. Lastly, children without BI (BN) showed an augmented P1 to probes replacing angry faces, suggesting maintenance of attentional resources in threat-related contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nhi Thai
- The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology, 142 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, United States.
| | - Bradley C Taber-Thomas
- The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology, 142 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, United States
| | - Koraly E Pérez-Edgar
- The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology, 142 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, United States
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71
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Fonzo GA, Ramsawh HJ, Flagan TM, Simmons AN, Sullivan SG, Allard CB, Paulus MP, Stein MB. Early life stress and the anxious brain: evidence for a neural mechanism linking childhood emotional maltreatment to anxiety in adulthood. Psychol Med 2016; 46:1037-1054. [PMID: 26670947 PMCID: PMC4795156 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291715002603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) increases the likelihood of developing an anxiety disorder in adulthood, but the neural processes underlying conferment of this risk have not been established. Here, we test the potential for neuroimaging the adult brain to inform understanding of the mechanism linking CEM to adult anxiety symptoms. METHOD One hundred eighty-two adults (148 females, 34 males) with a normal-to-clinical range of anxiety symptoms underwent structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging while completing an emotion-processing paradigm with facial expressions of fear, anger, and happiness. Participants completed self-report measures of CEM and current anxiety symptoms. Voxelwise mediation analyses on gray-matter volumes and activation to each emotion condition were used to identify candidate brain mechanisms relating CEM to anxiety in adulthood. RESULTS During processing of fear and anger faces, greater amygdala and less right dorsolateral prefrontal (dlPFC) activation partially mediated the positive relationship between CEM and anxiety symptoms. Greater right posterior insula activation to fear also partially mediated this relationship, as did greater ventral anterior cingulate (ACC) and less dorsal ACC activation to anger. Responses to happy faces in these regions did not mediate the CEM-anxiety relationship. Smaller right dlPFC gray-matter volumes also partially mediated the CEM-anxiety relationship. CONCLUSIONS Activation patterns of the adult brain demonstrate the potential to inform mechanistic accounts of the CEM conferment of anxiety symptoms. Results support the hypothesis that exaggerated limbic activation to negative valence facial emotions links CEM to anxiety symptoms, which may be consequent to a breakdown of cortical regulatory processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- G A Fonzo
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences,Stanford University,Stanford, CA,USA
| | - H J Ramsawh
- Department of Clinical Effectiveness Research,Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute,Washington, DC,USA
| | - T M Flagan
- Department of Psychiatry,University of California San Diego,La Jolla,CA,USA
| | - A N Simmons
- Department of Psychiatry,University of California San Diego,La Jolla,CA,USA
| | - S G Sullivan
- Department of Psychiatry,University of California San Diego,La Jolla,CA,USA
| | - C B Allard
- Department of Psychiatry,University of California San Diego,La Jolla,CA,USA
| | - M P Paulus
- Department of Psychiatry,University of California San Diego,La Jolla,CA,USA
| | - M B Stein
- Department of Psychiatry,University of California San Diego,La Jolla,CA,USA
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72
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Morales S, Taber-Thomas BC, Pérez-Edgar KE. Patterns of attention to threat across tasks in behaviorally inhibited children at risk for anxiety. Dev Sci 2016; 20. [PMID: 26786586 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2015] [Accepted: 11/03/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Although attention bias towards threat has been causally implicated in the development and maintenance of fear and anxiety, the expected associations do not appear consistently. Reliance on a single task to capture attention bias, in this case overwhelmingly the dot-probe task, may contribute to this inconsistency. Comparing across attentional bias measures could help capture patterns of behavior that have implications for anxiety. This study examines the patterns of attentional bias across two related measures in a sample of children at temperamental risk for anxiety. Children (Meanage = 10.19 ± 0.96) characterized as behaviorally inhibited (N = 50) or non-inhibited (N = 64) via parent-report completed the dot-probe and affective Posner tasks to measure attentional bias to threat. Parent-report diagnostic interviews assessed children's social anxiety. Behavioral inhibition was not associated with performance in the dot-probe task, but was associated with increased attentional bias to threat in the affective Posner task. Cross-task convergence was dependent on temperament, such that attention bias across the two tasks was only related in behaviorally inhibited children. Finally, children who were consistently biased across tasks (showing high or low attentional bias scores in both tasks, rather than high in one but low in the other) had higher levels of anxiety. Convergence across attention bias measures may be dependent on individuals' predispositions (e.g. temperament). Moreover, convergence of attention bias across measures may be a stronger marker of information processing patterns that shape socioemotional outcomes than performance in a single task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santiago Morales
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
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73
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Gibb BE, McGeary JE, Beevers CG. Attentional biases to emotional stimuli: Key components of the RDoC constructs of sustained threat and loss. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 2016; 171B:65-80. [PMID: 26369836 PMCID: PMC5664953 DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2015] [Accepted: 09/01/2015] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Biased attention to emotional stimuli plays a key role in the RDoC constructs of Sustained Threat and Loss. In this article, we review approaches to assessing these biases, their links with psychopathology, and the underlying neural influences. We then review evidence from twin and candidate gene studies regarding genetic influences on attentional biases. We also discuss the impact of developmental and environmental influences and end with a number of suggestions for future research in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - John E. McGeary
- Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center
- Division of Behavioral Genetics, Rhode Island Hospital
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University
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74
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Shackman AJ, Stockbridge MD, Tillman RM, Kaplan CM, Tromp DPM, Fox AS, Gamer M. The neurobiology of dispositional negativity and attentional biases to threat: Implications for understanding anxiety disorders in adults and youth. J Exp Psychopathol 2016; 7:311-342. [PMID: 27917284 PMCID: PMC5130287 DOI: 10.5127/jep.054015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
When extreme, anxiety can become debilitating. Anxiety disorders, which often first emerge early in development, are common and challenging to treat, yet the neurocognitive mechanisms that confer increased risk have only recently begun to come into focus. Here we review recent work highlighting the importance of neural circuits centered on the amygdala. We begin by describing dispositional negativity, a core dimension of childhood temperament and adult personality and an important risk factor for the development of anxiety disorders and other kinds of stress-sensitive psychopathology. Converging lines of epidemiological, neurophysiological, and mechanistic evidence indicate that the amygdala supports stable individual differences in dispositional negativity across the lifespan and contributes to the etiology of anxiety disorders in adults and youth. Hyper-vigilance and attentional biases to threat are prominent features of the anxious phenotype and there is growing evidence that they contribute to the development of psychopathology. Anatomical studies show that the amygdala is a hub, poised to govern attention to threat via projections to sensory cortex and ascending neuromodulatory systems. Imaging and lesion studies demonstrate that the amygdala plays a key role in selecting and prioritizing the processing of threat-related cues. Collectively, these observations provide a neurobiologically-grounded framework for understanding the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in adults and youth and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander J. Shackman
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
- Maryland Neuroimaging Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
| | - Melissa D. Stockbridge
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
| | - Rachael M. Tillman
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
| | - Claire M. Kaplan
- Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA
| | - Do P. M. Tromp
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53719 USA
- HealthEmotions Research Institute, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53719 USA
- Lane Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53719 USA
- Neuroscience Training Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53719 USA
| | - Andrew S. Fox
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 USA
- California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 USA
| | - Matthias Gamer
- Department of Psychology, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
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75
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Price RB, Rosen D, Siegle GJ, Ladouceur CD, Tang K, Allen KB, Ryan ND, Dahl RE, Forbes EE, Silk JS. From anxious youth to depressed adolescents: Prospective prediction of 2-year depression symptoms via attentional bias measures. JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 2015; 125:267-278. [PMID: 26595463 DOI: 10.1037/abn0000127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Anxious youth are at heightened risk for subsequent development of depression; however, little is known regarding which anxious youth are at the highest prospective risk. Biased attentional patterns (e.g., vigilance and avoidance of negative cues) are implicated as key mechanisms in both anxiety and depression. Aberrant attentional patterns may disrupt opportunities to effectively engage with, and learn from, threatening aspects of the environment during development and/or treatment, compounding risk over time. Sixty-seven anxious youth (ages 9-14; 36 female) completed a dot-probe task to assess baseline attentional patterns provoked by fearful-neutral face pairs. The time course of attentional patterns both during and after threat was assessed via eye-tracking and pupilometry. Self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed 2 years after the conclusion of a larger psychotherapy treatment trial. Eye-tracking patterns indicating threat avoidance predicted greater 2-year depression scores, over and above baseline and posttreatment symptoms. Sustained, postthreat pupillary avoidance (reflecting preferential neural engagement with the neutral relative to the previously threatening location) predicted additional variance in depression scores, suggesting sustained avoidance in the wake of threat further exacerbated risk. Identical eye-tracking and pupil indices were not predictive of anxiety at 2 years. These biobehavioral markers imply that avoidant attentional processing in the context of anxiety may be a gateway to depression across a key maturational window. Excessive avoidance of threat could interfere with acquisition of adaptive emotion regulation skills during development, culminating in the broad behavioral deactivation that typifies depression. Prevention efforts explicitly targeting avoidant attentional patterns may be warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Dana Rosen
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh
| | | | | | - Kevin Tang
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh
| | | | - Neal D Ryan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh
| | - Ronald E Dahl
- Department of Community Health and Human Development, Berkeley School of Public Health
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76
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Cole CE, Zapp DJ, Fettig NB, Pérez-Edgar K. Impact of attention biases to threat and effortful control on individual variations in negative affect and social withdrawal in very young children. J Exp Child Psychol 2015; 141:210-21. [PMID: 26477597 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2015] [Accepted: 09/14/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Early temperamental sensitivity may form the basis for the later development of socioemotional maladjustment. In particular, temperamental negative affect places children at risk for the development of anxiety. However, not all children who show negative affect go on to develop anxiety or extreme social withdrawal. Recent research indicates that reactive control, in the form of attention to threat, may serve as a bridge between early temperament and the development of later social difficulties. In addition, variation in effortful control may also modulate this trajectory. Children (mean age=5.57 years) were assessed for attention bias to threatening and pleasant faces using a dot-probe paradigm. Attention bias to threatening (but not happy) faces moderated the direct positive relation between negative affect and social withdrawal. Children with threat biases showed a significant link between negative affect and social withdrawal, whereas children who avoided threat did not. In contrast, effortful control did not moderate the relation between negative affect and social withdrawal. Rather, there was a direct negative relation between effortful control and social withdrawal. The findings from this short report indicate that the relations among temperament, attention bias, and social withdrawal appears early in life and point to early emerging specificity in reactive and regulatory functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire E Cole
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.
| | - Daniel J Zapp
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
| | - Nicole B Fettig
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
| | - Koraly Pérez-Edgar
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA
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77
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Waters AM, Zimmer-Gembeck MJ, Craske MG, Pine DS, Bradley BP, Mogg K. Look for good and never give up: A novel attention training treatment for childhood anxiety disorders. Behav Res Ther 2015; 73:111-23. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2015.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2015] [Revised: 06/25/2015] [Accepted: 08/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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78
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Predictors of Treatment Outcomes in Anxious Children Receiving Group Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: Pretreatment Attention Bias to Threat and Emotional Variability During Exposure Tasks. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE 2015. [DOI: 10.1017/bec.2015.6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Background and objectives: Pretreatment attention bias towards threat stimuli has been shown to predict treatment outcomes following exposure-based treatments. The extent of emotional variability experienced during exposure therapy has also been found to predict better treatment outcomes in anxious adults. The present study examined whether pretreatment attention bias towards threat stimuli and greater emotional variability during exposure activities were associated with stronger treatment outcomes in anxious children receiving group-based cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). Methods: Twenty-six anxious children completed a visual probe task with emotional faces, followed by a 10-week CBT program in a group format. Children completed weekly within-session exposure activities during the last 5 weeks of group CBT. Results: Pretreatment attention bias towards threat stimuli, greater emotional variability and within-session habituation during exposure activities were significantly associated with reductions in clinician- and/or parent-rated anxiety symptoms after the 10-week CBT program. Treatment responders had significantly higher peak emotional distress ratings during exposure activities. However, threat attention bias and within-session exposure measures were not significantly related. Conclusions: Pre-existing individual differences in attention bias to threat cues and the degree of emotional reactivity experienced during exposure activities are both important independent predictors of treatment outcomes for anxious children receiving group-based CBT.
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79
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Morales S, Pérez-Edgar K, Buss K. Longitudinal relations among exuberance, externalizing behaviors, and attentional bias to reward: the mediating role of effortful control. Dev Sci 2015; 19:853-62. [PMID: 26077132 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2014] [Accepted: 04/06/2015] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The present study examined the associations between temperamental exuberance during toddlerhood (20 months), attention bias towards reward at the end of kindergarten (76 months), and externalizing behaviors across the kindergarten year. Moreover, we examined the role of effortful control at 48 months on the relation between early exuberance and attention bias. Attention bias towards reward was positively predicted by exuberance, negatively predicted by effortful control, and positively related to externalizing problems. Finally, the longitudinal path between exuberance and attention bias to reward was mediated by effortful control - such that higher toddler exuberance led to increased attention bias towards reward by way of lower effortful control. These results extend the attention bias and socioemotional functioning literature and have implications for the identification of children at risk for behavioral problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santiago Morales
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
| | | | - Kristin Buss
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
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80
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Ollendick TH, Muris P. The scientific legacy of Little Hans and Little Albert: future directions for research on specific phobias in youth. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY 2015; 44:689-706. [PMID: 25864566 DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2015.1020543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
We review issues associated with the phenomenology, etiology, assessment, and treatment of specific phobias in children and adolescents and provide suggestions for future research and clinical practice. In doing so, we highlight the early case studies of Little Hans and Little Albert and the advances that have been made following the publication of these seminal cases. In recent years, we have witnessed a deeper understanding of the etiology of specific phobias and developed a rich array of evidence-based assessments and treatments with which to address specific phobias in youth. Although much has been accomplished in this area of inquiry, we also note that much remains to be done before we can advance more fully our understanding, assessment, and treatment of specific phobias in youth. It will be important for future work to build more firmly on these developments and to better determine the moderators and mediators of change with our evidence-based treatments and to more vigorously pursue their dissemination in real-word settings.
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81
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Attention bias to emotional information in children as a function of maternal emotional disorders and maternal attention biases. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2015; 46:158-63. [PMID: 25460262 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2014] [Revised: 10/04/2014] [Accepted: 10/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Children of parents with emotional disorders have an increased risk for developing anxiety and depressive disorders. Yet the mechanisms that contribute to this increased risk are poorly understood. The present study aimed to examine attention biases in children as a function of maternal lifetime emotional disorders and maternal attention biases. METHODS There were 134 participants, including 38 high-risk children, and their mothers who had lifetime emotional disorders; and 29 low-risk children, and their mothers without lifetime emotional disorders. Mothers and children completed a visual probe task with emotional face pairs presented for 500 ms. RESULTS Attention bias in children did not significantly differ solely as a function of whether or not their mothers had lifetime emotional disorders. However, attention bias in high-risk children was significantly related to their mothers' attention bias. Specifically, children of mothers with lifetime emotional disorders showed a greater negative attention bias if their mothers had a greater tendency to direct attention away from positive information. LIMITATIONS This study was cross-sectional in nature, and therefore unable to assess long-term predictive effects. Also, just one exposure duration of 500 ms was utilised. CONCLUSION Attention bias for negative information is greater in offspring of mothers who have lifetime emotional disorders and a reduced positive bias, which could be a risk marker for the development of emotional disorders in children.
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A Critical Review of Attentional Threat Bias and Its Role in the Treatment of Pediatric Anxiety Disorders. J Cogn Psychother 2015; 29:171-184. [PMID: 32755946 DOI: 10.1891/0889-8391.29.3.171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Threat bias, or exaggerated selective attention to threat, is considered a key neurocognitive factor in the etiology and maintenance of pediatric anxiety disorders. However, upon closer examination of the literature, there is greater heterogeneity in threat-related attentional biases than typically acknowledged. This is likely impacting progress that can be made in terms of interventions focused on modifying this bias and reducing anxiety, namely attention bias modification training. We suggest that the field may need to "take a step back" from developing interventions and focus research efforts on improving the methodology of studying attention bias itself, particularly in a developmental context. We summarize a neurocognitive model that addresses the issue of heterogeneity by broadly incorporating biases toward and away from threat, linking this variation to key neurodevelopmental factors, and providing a basis for future research aimed at improving the utility of threat bias measures and interventions in clinical practice.
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Waters AM, Kershaw R. Direction of attention bias to threat relates to differences in fear acquisition and extinction in anxious children. Behav Res Ther 2015; 64:56-65. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2014.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2013] [Revised: 11/04/2014] [Accepted: 11/30/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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84
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Browne CA, Hanke J, Rose C, Walsh I, Foley T, Clarke G, Schwegler H, Cryan JF, Yilmazer-Hanke D. Effect of acute swim stress on plasma corticosterone and brain monoamine levels in bidirectionally selected DxH recombinant inbred mouse strains differing in fear recall and extinction. Stress 2014; 17:471-83. [PMID: 25117886 PMCID: PMC4527314 DOI: 10.3109/10253890.2014.954104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Stress-induced changes in plasma corticosterone and central monoamine levels were examined in mouse strains that differ in fear-related behaviors. Two DxH recombinant inbred mouse strains with a DBA/2J background, which were originally bred for a high (H-FSS) and low fear-sensitized acoustic startle reflex (L-FSS), were used. Levels of noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin and their metabolites 3,4-dihydroxyphenyacetic acid (DOPAC), homovanillic acid (HVA), and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) were studied in the amygdala, hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, striatum, hypothalamus and brainstem. H-FSS mice exhibited increased fear levels and a deficit in fear extinction (within-session) in the auditory fear-conditioning test, and depressive-like behavior in the acute forced swim stress test. They had higher tissue noradrenaline and serotonin levels and lower dopamine and serotonin turnover under basal conditions, although they were largely insensitive to stress-induced changes in neurotransmitter metabolism. In contrast, acute swim stress increased monoamine levels but decreased turnover in the less fearful L-FSS mice. L-FSS mice also showed a trend toward higher basal and stress-induced corticosterone levels and an increase in noradrenaline and serotonin in the hypothalamus and brainstem 30 min after stress compared to H-FSS mice. Moreover, the dopaminergic system was activated differentially in the medial prefrontal cortex and striatum of the two strains by acute stress. Thus, H-FSS mice showed increased basal noradrenaline tissue levels compatible with a fear phenotype or chronic stressed condition. Low corticosterone levels and the poor monoamine response to stress in H-FSS mice may point to mechanisms similar to those found in principal fear disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline A Browne
- Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork , Cork , Ireland
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85
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Carretié L. Exogenous (automatic) attention to emotional stimuli: a review. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2014; 14:1228-58. [PMID: 24683062 PMCID: PMC4218981 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-014-0270-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 235] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Current knowledge on the architecture of exogenous attention (also called automatic, bottom-up, or stimulus-driven attention, among other terms) has been mainly obtained from studies employing neutral, anodyne stimuli. Since, from an evolutionary perspective, exogenous attention can be understood as an adaptive tool for rapidly detecting salient events, reorienting processing resources to them, and enhancing processing mechanisms, emotional events (which are, by definition, salient for the individual) would seem crucial to a comprehensive understanding of this process. This review, focusing on the visual modality, describes 55 experiments in which both emotional and neutral irrelevant distractors are presented at the same time as ongoing task targets. Qualitative and, when possible, meta-analytic descriptions of results are provided. The most conspicuous result is that, as confirmed by behavioral and/or neural indices, emotional distractors capture exogenous attention to a significantly greater extent than do neutral distractors. The modulatory effects of the nature of distractors capturing attention, of the ongoing task characteristics, and of individual differences, previously proposed as mediating factors, are also described. Additionally, studies reviewed here provide temporal and spatial information-partially absent in traditional cognitive models-on the neural basis of preattention/evaluation, reorienting, and sensory amplification, the main subprocesses involved in exogenous attention. A model integrating these different levels of information is proposed. The present review, which reveals that there are several key issues for which experimental data are surprisingly scarce, confirms the relevance of including emotional distractors in studies on exogenous attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Carretié
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain,
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86
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Augmenting one-session treatment of children's specific phobias with attention training to positive stimuli. Behav Res Ther 2014; 62:107-19. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2014.07.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2014] [Revised: 07/19/2014] [Accepted: 07/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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87
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Waters AM, Nazarian M, Mineka S, Zinbarg RE, Griffith JW, Naliboff B, Ornitz EM, Craske MG. Context and explicit threat cue modulation of the startle reflex: preliminary evidence of distinctions between adolescents with principal fear disorders versus distress disorders. Psychiatry Res 2014; 217:93-9. [PMID: 24679992 PMCID: PMC4041703 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2014.01.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2013] [Revised: 12/13/2013] [Accepted: 01/30/2014] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Anxiety and depression are prevalent, impairing disorders. High comorbidity has raised questions about how to define and classify them. Structural models emphasise distinctions between "fear" and "distress" disorders while other initiatives propose they be defined by neurobiological indicators that cut across disorders. This study examined startle reflex (SR) modulation in adolescents with principal fear disorders (specific phobia; social phobia) (n=20), distress disorders (unipolar depressive disorders, dysthymia, generalised anxiety disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder) (n=9), and controls (n=29) during (a) baseline conditions, (b) threat context conditions (presence of contraction pads over the biceps muscle), and (c) an explicit threat cue paradigm involving phases that signalled safety from aversive stimuli (early and late stages of safe phases; early stages of danger phases) and phases that signalled immediate danger of an aversive stimulus (late stages of danger phases). Adolescents with principal fear disorders showed larger SRs than other groups throughout safe phases and early stages of danger phases. SRs did not differ between groups during late danger phases. Adolescents with principal distress disorders showed attenuated SRs during baseline and context conditions compared to other groups. Preliminary findings support initiatives to redefine emotional disorders based on neurobiological functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison M. Waters
- School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
| | | | - Susan Mineka
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Richard E. Zinbarg
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA,The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - James W. Griffith
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Bruce Naliboff
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA,VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Edward M. Ornitz
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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