Klumpp Heide, Amir Nader
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Anxiety Stress Coping. 2009 May;22(3):283-96. doi: 10.1080/10615800802449602.
Selective attention for threat faces in social anxiety is commonly measured with a probe detection task. Various studies that have used this task show socially anxious individuals exhibit selective attention for threat faces (Mogg & Bradley, 2002; Mogg, Philippot, & Bradley, 2004b; Pishyar, Harris, & Menzies, 2004). Selective attention for threat when measured with a probe detection task is interpreted as an attentional shift toward threat ("vigilance"). Yet, there is data that show socially anxious individuals may have difficulty in shifting their attention away from threat ("disengagement"; Amir, Elias, Klumpp, & Przeworski, 2003). A step toward clarifying the extent to which selective attention for threat comprises vigilance or disengagement effects is described by Koster, Crombez, Verschuere, and de Houwer (2004). We adapted their modified probe detection task to examine vigilance and disengagement effects for threat and happy faces in individuals with and without social anxiety. The results indicate that socially anxious individuals exhibit vigilance for threat faces, but not for happy faces, compared to individuals without social anxiety. Our study is consistent with cognitive theories of anxiety that propose vigilance for threat may contribute to the maintenance of anxiety disorders.
社交焦虑中对威胁面孔的选择性注意通常通过探测检测任务来衡量。使用该任务的各种研究表明，社交焦虑个体对威胁面孔表现出选择性注意（莫格和布拉德利，2002年；莫格、菲利普奥特和布拉德利，2004年b；皮夏尔、哈里斯和门齐斯，2004年）。当用探测检测任务测量时，对威胁的选择性注意被解释为注意力向威胁的转移（“警惕”）。然而，有数据表明，社交焦虑个体可能难以将注意力从威胁上转移开（“脱离”；阿米尔、埃利亚斯、克伦普和普热沃尔斯基，2003年）。科斯特、克伦贝兹、韦尔舒尔和德胡弗（2004年）描述了朝着澄清对威胁的选择性注意在多大程度上包含警惕或脱离效应迈出的一步。我们采用了他们改进的探测检测任务，以检验有社交焦虑和无社交焦虑个体对威胁面孔和快乐面孔的警惕和脱离效应。结果表明，与无社交焦虑个体相比，社交焦虑个体对威胁面孔表现出警惕，但对快乐面孔则不然。我们的研究与焦虑的认知理论一致，该理论提出对威胁的警惕可能有助于焦虑症的维持。
