Several theories hypothesize an excessive allocation of attention toward threatening stimuli in anxious individuals. Many experiments show attentional bias in trait anxiety across various paradigms and stimuli. Usually, pictorial stimuli are associated to a facilitation of attentional engagement, whereas lexical stimuli are related to a delay of disengagement. These inconsistent results could depend on the different types of stimuli. Further, no study has investigated the difference between pictorial (pictures or faces) and word stimuli by using the Emotional Spatial Cueing Paradigm (ESCP). The aim of the present study was to assess three different types of stimuli (pictures, faces and words) across ESCP in high trait anxiety individuals (HA). HA (N = 36) and low trait anxiety (LA; N = 31) were administrated the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the ESCP. We used three cue types: threatening and neutral pictures, selected from the International Affective Picture System; threatening and neutral faces, selected by Maccari et al.’s (2014) database; threatening and neutral words, assessed by twenty psychology students. The Group (HA; LA) x Cue (pictures; faces; words) x Validity (valid; invalid) x Emotion (threatening; neutral) ANOVA on reaction times shows the main effects of Cue (F2,13 = 4.94; p = .008), Validity (F1,65 =203.89; p = .0001), Emotion (F1,65=13.97; p = .0003) and the Group x Cue x Validity x Emotion interaction (F2,13 = 3.46; p = .03). To explore this interaction further, we performed an ANOVA on each group. The results indicated a higher attentional engagement toward threatening pictures, than neutral pictures (507.28ms vs 531.56ms) in HA. Our study for the first time assessed the orienting of attention related to different types of cue. We observed a higher attentional engagement toward threatening pictures than threatening faces or words. These results could have implications in clinical training for the modification of attentional bias in anxious individuals.
ATTENTIONAL BIAS IN ANXIOUS INDIVIDUALS: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES / Boncompagni, Ilaria; Marotta, Andrea; Casagrande, Maria. - In: MEDITERRANEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY. - ISSN 2282-1619. - ELETTRONICO. - 5:(2017), pp. 18-19. [DOI: 10.6092/2282-1619/2017.5.1638]
ATTENTIONAL BIAS IN ANXIOUS INDIVIDUALS: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES
Boncompagni Ilaria
;Marotta Andrea;Casagrande Maria
2017
Abstract
Several theories hypothesize an excessive allocation of attention toward threatening stimuli in anxious individuals. Many experiments show attentional bias in trait anxiety across various paradigms and stimuli. Usually, pictorial stimuli are associated to a facilitation of attentional engagement, whereas lexical stimuli are related to a delay of disengagement. These inconsistent results could depend on the different types of stimuli. Further, no study has investigated the difference between pictorial (pictures or faces) and word stimuli by using the Emotional Spatial Cueing Paradigm (ESCP). The aim of the present study was to assess three different types of stimuli (pictures, faces and words) across ESCP in high trait anxiety individuals (HA). HA (N = 36) and low trait anxiety (LA; N = 31) were administrated the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the ESCP. We used three cue types: threatening and neutral pictures, selected from the International Affective Picture System; threatening and neutral faces, selected by Maccari et al.’s (2014) database; threatening and neutral words, assessed by twenty psychology students. The Group (HA; LA) x Cue (pictures; faces; words) x Validity (valid; invalid) x Emotion (threatening; neutral) ANOVA on reaction times shows the main effects of Cue (F2,13 = 4.94; p = .008), Validity (F1,65 =203.89; p = .0001), Emotion (F1,65=13.97; p = .0003) and the Group x Cue x Validity x Emotion interaction (F2,13 = 3.46; p = .03). To explore this interaction further, we performed an ANOVA on each group. The results indicated a higher attentional engagement toward threatening pictures, than neutral pictures (507.28ms vs 531.56ms) in HA. Our study for the first time assessed the orienting of attention related to different types of cue. We observed a higher attentional engagement toward threatening pictures than threatening faces or words. These results could have implications in clinical training for the modification of attentional bias in anxious individuals.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
