Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2014 Mar;45(1):26-32. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2013.07.005. Epub 2013 Jul 19.
Some cognitive models propose that information processing biases and fear are reciprocally related. This idea has never been formally tested. Therefore, this study investigated the existence of a vicious circle by which confirmation bias and fear exacerbate each other.
One-hundred-and-seventy-one school children (8-13 years) were first provided with threatening, ambiguous, or positive information about an unknown animal. Then they completed a computerized information search task during which they could collect additional (negative, positive, or neutral) information about the novel animal. Because fear levels were repeatedly assessed during the task, it was possible to examine the reciprocal relationship between confirmation bias and fear.
A reciprocal relation of mutual reinforcement was found between confirmation bias and fear over the course of the experiment: increases in fear predicted subsequent increases in the search for negative information, and increases in the search for negative information further enhanced fear on a later point-in-time. In addition, the initial information given about the animals successfully induced diverging fear levels in the children, and determined their first inclination to search for additional information.
As this study employed a community sample of primary school children, future research should test whether these results can be generalized to clinically anxious youth.
These findings provide first support for the notion that fearful individuals may become trapped in a vicious circle in which fear and a fear-related confirmation bias mutually strengthen each other, thereby maintaining the anxiety pathology.
一些认知模型提出，信息处理偏差和恐惧是相互关联的。这个想法从未得到过正式验证。因此，本研究通过确认偏差和恐惧相互加剧的恶性循环来检验其存在。
首先，171 名学龄儿童（8-13 岁）接触到关于一种未知动物的威胁性、模棱两可或正面的信息。然后，他们完成了一项计算机化的信息搜索任务，在此期间他们可以收集关于该陌生动物的额外（负面、正面或中性）信息。由于在任务过程中反复评估了恐惧水平，因此可以检验确认偏差和恐惧之间的相互关系。
在实验过程中，确认偏差和恐惧之间存在相互增强的循环关系：恐惧的增加预测了随后对负面信息的搜索增加，而对负面信息的搜索增加又进一步增强了稍后时间的恐惧。此外，最初提供的关于动物的信息成功地在孩子们中引起了不同的恐惧水平，并决定了他们最初搜索额外信息的倾向。
由于本研究采用了小学社区样本，未来的研究应检验这些结果是否可以推广到临床焦虑的青少年。
这些发现首次支持了这样一种观点，即恐惧的个体可能陷入一个恶性循环，在这个循环中，恐惧和与恐惧相关的确认偏差相互加强，从而维持焦虑病理。
