Distinguishing the roles of trait and state anxiety on the nature of anxiety-related attentional biases to threat using a free viewing eye movement paradigm

Eye-tracking analysis of attentional disengagement in phobic and non-phobic individuals

This study investigated threat-related attention biases using a new visual search paradigm with eye tracking, which allows for measuring attentional disengagement in isolation. This is crucial as previous studies have been unable to distinguish between engagement, disengagement, and behavioral freezing. Thirty-three participants (Mage = 28.75 years, SD = 8.98; 21 women) with self-reported specific phobia (spiders, snakes, and pointed objects) and their matched controls (Mage = 28.38 years, SD = 8.66; 21 women) took part in the experiment. The participants were instructed to initially focus on a picture in the center of the screen, then search for a target picture in an outer circle consisting of six images, and respond via a button press whether the object in the target picture was oriented to the left or right. We found that phobic individuals show delayed disengagement and slower decision times compared with non-phobic individuals, regardless of whether the stimulus was threat-related or neutral. These results indicate that phobic individuals tend to exhibit poorer attentional control mechanisms and problems inhibiting irrelevant information. We also confirmed a threat-unrelated shared feature effect with complex stimuli (delayed disengagement when an attended stimulus and an unattended target share common stimulus features). This process might play a role in various experimental setups investigating attentional disengagement that has not yet been considered. These findings are important, as good attentional control may serve as a protective mechanism against anxiety disorders.

Pre-scan state anxiety is associated with greater right amygdala-hippocampal response to fearful versus happy faces among trait-anxious Latina girls

BACKGROUND

Unfamiliarity with academic research may contribute to higher levels of anticipatory state anxiety about affective neuroimaging tasks. Children with high trait anxiety display differences in brain response to fearful facial affect compared to non-anxious youth, but little is known about the influence of state anxiety on this association. Because reduced engagement in scientific research and greater mistrust among minoritized groups may lead to systematic differences in pre-scan state anxiety, it is crucial to understand the neural correlates of state anxiety during emotion processing so as to disambiguate sources of individual differences.

METHODS

The present study probed the interactive effects of pre-scan state anxiety, trait anxiety, and emotional valence (fearful vs. happy faces) on neural activation during implicit emotion processing in a community sample of 46 preadolescent Latina girls (8-13 years).

RESULTS

Among girls with mean and high levels of trait anxiety, pre-scan state anxiety was associated with greater right amygdala-hippocampal and left inferior parietal lobe response to fearful faces relative to happy faces.

CONCLUSIONS

Anticipatory state anxiety in the scanning context may cause children with moderate and high trait anxiety to be hypervigilant to threats, further compounding the effects of trait anxiety. Neuroimaging researchers should control for state anxiety so that systematic differences in brain activation resulting from MRI apprehension are not misleadingly attributed to demographic or environmental characteristics.

A multi-source behavioral and physiological recording system for cognitive assessment

Cognitive assessment has a broad application prospect, including estimate of childhood neuro development and maturation, diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, and selection for special profession. With the development of computer technique and behavioral recording sensors, the method of cognitive assessment has been replaced from paper scale test to human-computer interaction. We can not only obtain the results of tasks, but also make it possible to acquire multiple behavioral and physiological data during the task. However, there is still a strong challenge of recording multi-source data synchronously during multi-dimensional cognitive assessments. Therefore, we built a multi-source cognitive assessment system can record multi-pattern behavioral and physiological data and feedback at different spatiotemporal levels. Under this system, we developed a multi-source diagnostic toolset for cognitive assessment, including eye tracking, hand movement, EEG and human-computer interaction data during the cognitive task. 238 participants with different mental disorders were assessed using this system. The results showed that our diagnostic toolset can be used to study the behavioral abnormalities of patients with mental disorders through the characteristics of multi-source data. Furthermore, this system can provide some objective diagnostic criteria such as behavioral characters and EEG features for diagnosis of mental disorders.

Repeatability of an attention bias test for sheep suggests variable influence of state and trait affect on behaviour

Understanding the effects of repeated testing on behaviour is essential for behavioural tests that are re-applied to the same individuals for research and welfare assessment purposes. Assessing the repeatability of behaviour can also help us understand the influence of persistent traits vs transient states on animal responses during testing. This study examined the repeatability of behavioural responses in an attention bias test developed for sheep as a measure of affective state. Sheep were assessed in the attention bias test three times (n = 81 sheep), with testing occurring at intervals of 1 year then 2 weeks. During testing, individual sheep were exposed to a dog located behind a window for 3 s in a 4 × 4 m arena, then the dog was obscured from view, removed and sheep behaviours were recorded for 180 s. We hypothesised that behaviours in the test would have moderate-high repeatability but that the mean behavioural responses would change over consecutive trials as sheep habituated to the test environment. To estimate repeatability, data were modelled using restricted maximum likelihood linear mixed-effects models, fitting animal ID as a random effect. Vigilance behaviour, defined as having the head at or above shoulder height, was moderately repeatable (r = 0.58). Latency to eat (r = 0.20) and duration spent looking towards the previous location of the dog (attention to the dog wall) (r = 0.08) had low repeatability. Mean latency to eat did not differ significantly between trials (P = 0.2) and mean vigilance behaviour tended to decrease over the trials (P = 0.07). Mean duration of attention to the dog wall significantly decreased across the trials (P < 0.001), while mean zones crossed increased (P < 0.001), as did behaviours directed towards the exit door such as duration in proximity and pawing at the door. Overall, vigilance behaviour was moderately repeatable, suggesting it may have been driven by temperament or personality traits, while attention and feeding behaviours may have been more influenced by transient affective states or other factors, however further research is needed to better tease apart these potential effects. Sheep demonstrated some habituation to the test over consecutive trials. Care should therefore be taken during future application of the test to ensure all animals undergoing attention bias testing have equivalent experience for a valid interpretation of their relative behavioural responses.

The effect of acute stress on spatial selectivity in dual-stream emotion induced blindness: The role of cortisol and spontaneous frontal EEG theta/beta ratio

The current study explored the effect of acute stress on dual-stream emotion induced blindness (EIB). We focused on spatially localised target processing induced by stress, as well as the role of cortisol and the frontal EEG theta/beta ratio (TBR). Eight-minutes spontaneous EEG data were recorded first. After performing a Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or a corresponding control task a week apart, the participants completed a dual-stream EIB task. Changes in cortisol levels over time were likewise recorded. We found that stress promoted the target processing in the same stream location as the distractor, eliminating the spatial-localisation effect. Cortisol and frontal TBR positively and negatively, respectively, predicted a reduced spatially localised target detection induced by stress following negative distractors. Overall, acute stress apparently reduced the dual-stream EIB due to the effective allocation of limited resources. Further, the role of cortisol associated with better target detection was more specific to the negative distractor condition and partially disassociated from the general stress response. Cortisol levels and frontal TBR independently predicted the spatially localised processing, suggesting differentiated influence paths of trait and state factors on target detection following emotional distractors.

Migraine: interactions between brain's trait and state

It is well established that migraine is a multifactorial disorder. A deep understanding of migraine should be based upon both the underlying traits and the current states affected by different physiological, psychological, and environmental factors. At this point, there is no framework fully meeting these criteria. Here, we describe a broader view of the migraine disorder defined as a dysfunctional brain state and trait interaction. In this model, we consider events that may enhance or diminish migraine responsivity based on an individual's trait and state. This could provide an expanded view for considering how migraine attacks are sometimes precipitated by "triggers" and sometimes not, how these factors only lead to migraine attacks in migraine patients, or how individuals with an increased risk for migraine do not show any symptoms at all. Summarizing recent studies and evidence that support the concept of migraine as a brain state-trait interaction can also contribute to improving patient care by highlighting the importance of precision medicine and applying measures that are able to capture how different traits and states work together to determine migraine.

Trait anxiety affects attentional bias to emotional stimuli across time: A growth curve analysis

Many studies have illustrated the close relationship between anxiety disorders and attentional functioning, but the relationship between trait anxiety and attentional bias remains controversial. This study examines the effect of trait anxiety on the time course of attention to emotional stimuli using materials from the International Affective Picture System. Participants with high vs. low trait anxiety (HTA vs. LTA) viewed four categories of pictures simultaneously: dysphoric, threatening, positive, and neutral. Their eye-movements for each emotional stimulus were recorded for static and dynamic analysis. Data were analyzed using a mixed linear model and growth curve analysis. Specifically, the HTA group showed a greater tendency to avoid threatening stimuli and more pupil diameter variation in the early period of stimulus presentation (0–7.9 s). The HTA group also showed a stronger attentional bias toward positive and dysphoric stimuli in the middle and late period of stimulus presentation (7.9–30 s). These results suggest that trait anxiety has a significant temporal effect on attention to emotional stimuli, and that this effect mainly manifests after 7 s. In finding stronger attentional avoidance of threatening stimuli and more changes in neural activity, as well as a stronger attentional bias toward positive stimuli, this study provides novel insights on the relationship between trait anxiety and selective attention.

Avoidance of mild threat observed in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) using eye tracking

Attentional biases towards threat are assumed to be a causal factor in the development of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). However, findings have been inconsistent, and studies often examine single time-point bias during threat exposure, instead of across time. Attention to threat may shift throughout exposure (e.g., from initial engagement to avoidance), and research suggests that threat intensity and state anxiety influence attentional biases. No studies to our knowledge have examined biases across time and with varying threat intensity and state anxiety. Participants with GAD (n=38) and non-anxious controls (n=25) viewed emotional (high threat, mild threat, and positive) and neutral image pairs under calm and anxious mood states while their eye movements were tracked. Participants showed an initial orientation to emotional images, and, under the anxious mood induction, demonstrated a bias towards threatening images at first fixation and over time. Results suggest it may be normative to attend to threat cues over other stimuli while in an anxious state. Individuals with GAD uniquely showed a bias away from mild (but not high) threat images over time relative to controls. Implications for theories of attentional biases to threat and clinical implications for GAD and anxiety disorders broadly are discussed.

Neutral and threatening distracter word stimuli are unnecessarily stored in working memory but do not differ in their degree of working memory storage

Evidence suggests that threatening stimuli induce attentional biases compared to neutral stimuli, leading to subsequent storage in working memory. The current study examined how threatening versus neutral word distracters influence attention, and how this affects the unnecessary storage of these task-irrelevant stimuli in working memory. We measured the N2pc and contralateral delay activity (CDA), two event-related potentials (ERPs) that index attentional selection and the number of items maintained in WM, respectively, as participants completed a lateralized change detection task using word stimuli. Our results replicated work demonstrating a CDA effect for word stimuli, and found that distracter words are unnecessarily stored in working memory. However, we observed non-significant differences in attentional bias and working memory storage between distracter word conditions, and individual variation in anxiety was not associated with these processes. Bayes Factor analyses supported these null effects, suggesting that differences between neutral and threatening distracter words are unlikely.

Acute stress reduces the emotional attentional blink: Evidence from human electrophysiology

The present study is the first to examine the time-dependent mechanism of acute stress on emotional attentional blink (EAB) with event-related potential (ERP) measures. We explored the stage characteristics of stress affecting EAB, whether it affects the early selective attention process (marked by early posterior negativity) or the late working memory consolidation (marked by late positive potential). Sixty-one healthy participants were exposed to either a Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or a control condition, and salivary cortisol was measured to reflect the stress effect. ERPs were recorded during an attentional blink (AB) paradigm in which target one (T1) were negative or neutral images. Results showed stress generally reduced AB effects. Specifically, stress promoted the early selective attention process of target two (T2) following a neutral T1 but did not affect T2 consolidation into working memory. Correlational analyses further confirmed the positive effect of cortisol and negative emotional state on AB performance. Moreover, the ERP results of acute stress on AB conformed to the trade-off effect between T1 and T2; that is, stress reduced T1 late working memory consolidation and improved T2 early selective attention process. These findings further demonstrated that stress did not change the central resource limitation of AB. In general, stress generates a dissociable effect on AB early- and late-stage processing; namely, acute stress reduce the AB effect mainly from the improvement of participants' overall ability to select the targets in the early stage.

Competition Shadow: Anchoring to Fear Versus Hope in Estimating Rivals in Competition

We studied the effect of two inconsistent emotions, fear and hope, in strategic decision‐making during a competition. We sought to examine which emotion will be more related to whether decision-makers accurately and objectively estimate their rival We developed a nuanced perspective on the effects of trait anxiety on rival estimation by integrating it with the competition shadow. Using a competition simulation and basing on data from 221 individuals across two countries, we found support for a predicted effect of trait anxiety on rival estimation. Several theoretical implications are discussed.

The reliability of attentional biases for emotional images measured using a free-viewing eye-tracking paradigm

Cognitive theories of anxiety disorders and depression posit that attentional biases play a role in the development, maintenance, and recurrence of these disorders. Several paradigms have been used to examine attentional biases in anxiety and depression, but information on the reliability of different attentional bias indices is limited. In this study we examined the internal consistency and 6-month test-retest reliability of attentional bias indices derived from a free-viewing eye-tracking paradigm. Participants completed two versions of an eye-tracking task-one that used naturalistic images as stimuli, and one that used face images. In both tasks, participants viewed displays of four images, each display consisting of one threat image, one sad image, one positive/happy image, and one neutral image. The internal consistency of the fixation indices (dwell time and number of fixations) for threat, sad, and positive images over the full 8-s display was moderate to excellent. When the 8-s display was divided into 2-s intervals, the dwell times for the 0- to 2-s and 2- to 4-s intervals showed lower reliability, particularly for the face images. The attentional bias indices for the naturalistic images showed adequate to good stability over the test-retest period, whereas the test-retest reliability estimates for the face images were in the low to moderate range. The implications of these results for attentional bias research are discussed.

Is the Student-Centered Learning Style More Effective Than the Teacher-Student Double-Centered Learning Style in Improving Reading Performance?

Appropriate learning styles enhance the academic performance of students. This research compares and contrasts the popular effect of teacher-student double centered learning style (TSDCLS) and student-centered learning style (SCLS) on one's reading, including reading comprehension, inference, main idea abstraction, and reading anxiety. One hundred and fifty one students in grade 4 from three groups (two experimental groups and one control group) participated in the experiment with 18 weeks' reading comprehension training. The results showed that, first, both learning styles contributed to students' reading comprehension, inference, main idea abstraction, and reading anxiety. Second, the TSDCLS contributed more to reading anxiety, and the SCLS contributed more to reading comprehension. Both learning styles had similar effects on inference and main idea abstraction. From the correlation test, excluding the correlation between SCLS and reading anxiety which was not significant, all other effects were significant. These findings are discussed along with implications and ideas for future research.

Negative verbal self-relevant feedback is recognized with greater accuracy than facial feedback regardless of depression or social anxiety

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Self-referent information is critical for navigating the social realm, as we constantly use both verbal and non-verbal feedback in our interactions to understand ourselves and the world. In non-clinical samples, a memory bias for positive self-referent information has been observed, while a negativity bias has been observed among those with depression and anxiety. While research suggests that visual and auditory information is processed differently, no study has yet examined if memory biases persist for self-referent information presented by either means. We examined differences in memory for self-relevant social information presented as verbal or facial feedback, and whether symptoms of depression or anxiety influence memory for such information. We predicted that participants would remember more positive feedback overall, and that depression and anxiety would be positively related to memory for negative items.

METHODS

Participants gave a speech, and were provided with positive and negative feedback via facial expressions, (n = 25) or verbal feedback presented aurally (n = 26). Participants then did a recognition test for the feedback they recieved.

RESULTS

Recognition was higher for negative compared to positive feedback in the verbal condition, regardless of depression or anxiety. No memory biases were observed in the facial feedback condition.

LIMITATIONS

No neutral stimuli was presented.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that the type of social feedback one receives may influence how information is remembered, regardless of symptomatology. Future studies should examine the mechanisms by which memory biases exist for different types of self-relevant feedback.

A study on attentional bias and response inhibition of facial expressions in manic patients: evidence from eye movement

Introduction: In recent years, evidence has accumulated to suggest that patients with bipolar disorder show altered processing of emotionally relevant information. However, only a few studies have examined manic patients' eye movements when processing facial expressions. Method: A free viewing task and anti-saccade task were used separately to investigate attentional bias and response inhibition while processing emotional stimuli. Data were drawn from matched samples of manic patients (n = 25) and healthy controls (n = 20). Results: The analyses of eye-movement data revealed that there was a significant difference between manic patients and healthy controls in the total duration of fixations but not in the orientation or duration of the first fixation. However, no significant differences between manic patients and healthy controls in response inhibition were detected. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that compared to healthy controls, manic patients show a deficiency in processing speed. The patients showed no attentional vigilance to happy or sad expressions but did showed avoidance of the sad expression and focused more on the happy expression in later emotion processing. There were no impairments of response inhibition detected in manic patients. Key points Abnormal processing of emotional information and having aberrant inner-experiences of emotion is a feature of bipolar disorders. Processing speed is slow in manic patients versus healthy controls. Manic patients focused lesser on sad expression than healthy controls, which suggesting an avoidance of sad expressions. The findings show that psychotherapies like CBT may be applicable to manic patients.

Attentional blink affected by acute stress in women: The role of affective stimuli and attentional resources

The role of attentional resources and affective stimuli on temporal selective attention in the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm under acute stress was explored among women. Seventy-three female undergraduates were randomly assigned to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) group or control group. We found that when the first target was negative, stress increased its accuracy. Stress promoted the recognition of neutral target two (T2) only at lag2, and there was no interaction with theemotionality of target one (T1). In addition, the accumulated effect of stress enhanced temporal selective attention, predominately 20-40 min after the TSST task; cortisol concentration during this time period could significantly predict AB task performance. In summary, when attentional resources were severely insufficient, individuals under stress were more able to focus on the current target; that is, stress facilitated selective attention. A novel result was that participants were exempt from the affective influence of previous targets, which may have been caused by activation of the autonomic nervous system and gender differences.

Attentional disengagement from negative natural sounds for high-anxious individuals

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Previous studies have not consistently concluded whether high-anxious persons exhibit attentional bias towards negative natural auditory stimuli. The present study explores whether auditory negative stimuli could induce attentional bias to negative sounds in real life and investigates the exact nature of these biases using an emotional spatial cueing task.

DESIGN

Experimental study with a mixed factorial design.

METHOD

We created two groups according to the state-trait anxiety scale, namely high and low trait anxiety. Participants (N = 68 undergraduate students) were required to respond to an auditory target after receiving a negative (aversive sounds from natural life) or neutral auditory stimuli.

RESULTS

A 2 (Validity: valid/invalid)   × 2 (Cue Valence: negative/neutral) × 2 (Anxiety Group: LA/HA) repeated-measures ANOVA on reaction times revealed that participants with high trait anxiety exhibited slower reaction times in invalid trials following negative cues than following neutral cues. Higher levels of trait anxiety were associated with more difficult attentional disengagement from negative auditory information.

CONCLUSIONS

The results demonstrate that impaired attentional disengagement was one of the mechanisms by which high-anxious participants exhibited auditory attentional bias to natural negative information.

The effect of anxiety on emotional recognition: evidence from an ERP study

Anxiety-related bias in the recognition memory based on trait anxiety has induced some studies. Their results, however, were conflicting. In fact, anxious differences not only differed from personality traits but also from different anxiety mood levels. We explored the emotional memory bias in both trait and state anxiety individuals, the high trait and high state anxiety group, the high trait and low state anxiety group, the low trait and high state anxiety group, and the low trait and low state anxiety group, on classic recognition paradigm using event-related potentials (ERPs). The behavioral results showed high state anxiety levels increased the d' of negative words, regardless of the trait anxiety of participant is high or low, and a lower d' of recognition memory for negative words than for neutral and positive words in all participants. Moreover, Electrophysiological results supported the findings of behavior, showing an earlier N400 (250-500 ms) latency elicited for new-negative words in high state level than in low state levels in right parietal region. These results suggested that the memory bias to negative events resides in state anxiety, but not in trait anxiety.

Shorter sleep duration and longer sleep onset latency are related to difficulty disengaging attention from negative emotional images in individuals with elevated transdiagnostic repetitive negative thinking

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is often associated with disruptions in sleep and circadian rhythms. Disruptions in sleep and circadian rhythms may deal a "second hit" to attentional control deficits. This study evaluated whether sleep and circadian rhythm disruptions are related to the top-down control of attention to negative stimuli in individuals with heightened repetitive negative thinking.

METHODS

Fifty-two community adults with high levels of transdiagnostic RNT and varying habitual sleep durations and bedtimes participated in a hybrid free-viewing and directed attention task using pairs of emotionally-evocative and neutral images while eye-tracking data were collected. Self-report and clinician-administered interviews regarding sleep were also collected.

RESULTS

Shorter habitual sleep duration was associated with more time looking at emotionally negative compared to neutral images during a free-viewing attention task and more difficulty disengaging attention from negative compared to neutral images during a directed attention task. In addition, longer sleep onset latencies were also associated with difficulty disengaging attention from negative stimuli. The relations between sleep and attention for positive images were not statistically significant.

LIMITATIONS

A causal link between sleep and attentional control cannot be inferred from these cross-sectional data. The lack of a healthy control sample means that the relations between sleep disruption, attention, and emotional reactivity may not be unique to individuals with RNT.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that sleep disruption may be associated with a specific impact on cognitive resources that are necessary for the top-down inhibitory control of attention to emotionally negative information.

The Moderating Effect of Self-Reported State and Trait Anxiety on the Late Positive Potential to Emotional Faces in 6-11-Year-Old Children

Introduction: The emergence of anxiety during childhood is accompanied by the development of attentional biases to threat. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these biases are poorly understood. In addition, previous research has not examined whether state and trait anxiety are independently associated with threat-related biases. Methods: We compared ERP waveforms during the processing of emotional faces in a population sample of 58 6-11-year-olds who completed self-reported measures of trait and state anxiety and depression. Results: The results showed that the P1 was larger to angry than neutral faces in the left hemisphere, though early components (P1, N170) were not strongly associated with child anxiety or depression. In contrast, Late Positive Potential (LPP) amplitudes to angry (vs. neutral) faces were significantly and positively associated with symptoms of anxiety/depression. In addition, the difference between LPPs for angry (vs. neutral) faces was independently associated with state and trait anxiety symptoms. Discussion: The results showed that neural responses to facial emotion in children with elevated symptoms of anxiety and depression were most evident at later processing stages characterized as evaluative and effortful. The findings support cognitive models of threat perception in anxiety and indicate that trait elements of anxiety and more transitory fluctuations in anxious affect are important in understanding individual variation in the neural response to threat in late childhood.

Are there age differences in attention to emotional images following a sad mood induction? Evidence from a free-viewing eye-tracking paradigm

Two experiments examined age differences in the effect of a sad mood induction (MI) on attention to emotional images. Younger and older adults viewed sets of four images while their eye gaze was tracked throughout an 8-s presentation. Images were viewed before and after a sad MI to assess the effect of a sad mood on attention to positive and negative scenes. Younger and older adults exhibited positively biased attention after the sad MI, significantly increasing their attention to positive images, with no evidence of an age difference in either experiment. A test of participants' recognition memory for the images indicated that the sad MI reduced memory accuracy for sad images for younger and older adults. The results suggest that heightened attention to positive images following a sad MI reflects an affect regulation strategy related to mood repair. The implications for theories of the positivity effect are discussed.

Temporal dynamics of anxiety-related attentional bias: is affective context a missing piece of the puzzle?

Previous research has demonstrated that anxious individuals attend to negative emotional information at the expense of other information. This is commonly referred to as attentional bias. The field has historically conceived of this process as relatively static; however, research by [Zvielli, A., Bernstein, A., & Koster, E. H. W. (2014). Dynamics of attentional bias to threat in anxious adults: Bias towards and/or away? PLoS ONE, 9(8), e104025; Zvielli, A., Bernstein, A., & Koster, E. H. W. (2015). Temporal dynamics of attentional bias. Clinical Psychological Science, 3(5), 772-788.], and others, challenges this assumption by demonstrating considerable temporal variability in attentional bias amongst anxious individuals. Still, the mechanisms driving these temporal dynamics are less well known. Using a modified dot-probe task, the present study examined the impact of two relevant contextual variables- affective valence and trial repetition. Affective context was instantiated by the presentation of negative versus neutral pictures before each trial, while repetition context was achieved via the presentation of the valenced pictures in either a blocked- or mixed-trial design. Results indicate that individuals with higher trait-anxiety levels were significantly more influenced by blocked presentations of negative affective information, leading to greater temporal fluctuations in attentional bias. Furthermore, our findings provide additional evidence that attentional bias is best conceptualised as dynamic and variable, and that an individual's affective experience is one factor that regulates attentional bias dynamics. Implications relating to theoretical and methodological factors are discussed.

Attention bias towards negative emotional information and its relationship with daily worry in the context of acute stress: An eye-tracking study

Cognitive theories of anxiety psychopathology cite biased attention towards threat as a central vulnerability and maintaining factor. However, many studies have found threat bias indices to have poor reliability and have failed to observe the theorized relationship between threat bias and anxiety symptoms; this may be due to the non-unitary nature of threat bias and the influence of state-level variables on its expression. Accumulating data suggests that state anxious mood is important for the robust expression of threat bias and for relations to emerge between threat bias and symptoms, though this possibility has not been experimentally tested. Eye-tracking was used to assess multiple forms of threat bias (i.e., early vigilance, sustained attention, facilitated engagement, delayed disengagement) thought to be related to anxiety. A non-clinical sample (N = 165) was recruited to test the hypothesis that biased attention towards threat, but not dysphoric or positive emotional stimuli, during an anxious mood induction, but not at a pre-stress baseline, would prospectively predict greater worry symptoms on days in which more naturalistic stressors occurred. Results revealed the hypothesized moderation effect for sustained attention towards threat after the mood induction but not at baseline, though sustained attention towards dysphoric stimuli also moderated the effect of stressors on worry. Worry-relevant sustained attention towards negative emotional stimuli may be a partially mood-context dependent phenomenon.

Mental health stigma: Impact on mental health treatment attitudes and physical health

The purpose of this study was to test two models of the impact of mental health stigma on both attitudes toward seeking psychological help and physical health. General self-efficacy, self-esteem, and anxiety were tested as potential mediators of these two relationships. A sample of adults ( N = 423) aged 18-72 years was surveyed using the participant pool of a large, distance learning university. Structural equation modeling results indicated that mental health stigma directly and indirectly influenced treatment attitudes and physical health. Internal self-variables mediated the relationship between mental health stigma and both study outcomes.

Does anxiety-linked attentional bias to threatening information reflect bias in the setting of attentional goals, or bias in the execution of attentional goals?

Heightened anxiety vulnerability is characterised by an attentional bias that favours the processing of negative information. However, this anxiety-linked attentional bias is amenable to two quite different explanations. One possibility is that it reflects anxiety-linked bias in the setting of attentional goals that favours setting the goal of attending towards negative information over the alternative goal of attending away from such information. Another possibility is that it reflects anxiety-linked bias in the execution of attentional goals that enhances the execution of the former attentional goal compared to the latter. The present study introduces a novel methodology designed to discriminate the validity of these competing hypotheses, by examining anxiety-linked attentional bias under two conditions. One condition left attentional goals unconstrained. The other condition imposed the attentional goal of either attending towards more negative or more benign emotional stimuli. The finding that anxiety-linked attentional bias was observed only under the former condition supported the hypothesis that anxiety is characterised by a bias favouring the setting attentional goals involving vigilance rather than avoidance of negative information, while giving no support to the hypothesis that anxiety is characterised by a bias reflecting enhanced execution of the former attentional goal compared to the latter.