Liang Chi-Wen, Tsai Jie-Li, Hsu Wen-Yau
Department of Psychology, Chung Yuan Christian University, No. 200, Chung Pei Rd, Chung Li City, 32023, Taiwan, ROC.
Department of Psychology, National Chengchi University, No.64, Sec.2, ZhiNan Rd, Wenshan District, Taipei City, 11605, Taiwan, ROC; Research Center for Mind, Brain, and Learning, National Chengchi University, Taiwan, ROC.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2017 Mar;54:178-185. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2016.08.009. Epub 2016 Aug 21.
Numerous studies have supported attentional biases toward social threats in socially anxious individuals. The aim of the present study was to investigate the time-course of sustained attention for multiple emotional stimuli using a free-viewing paradigm in social anxiety.
Thirty-two socially anxious (SA) and 30 non-anxious (NA) participants completed the free-viewing task. Participants were presented with a face array composed of angry, sad, happy and neutral faces for 10 s in each trial. Eye movements were recorded throughout the trial to assess the time-course of attentional processing.
Although SA participants did not exhibit initial orienting bias, they had higher fixation probability for angry faces during the 250-1000 ms time intervals, relative to NA participants. SA participants also maintained their attention longer than NA participants did when angry faces were initially fixated upon. Moreover, NA participants showed higher fixation probability for happy faces during the 6-8 s after stimulus onset. We failed to observe attentional avoidance of threat in SA participants.
First, this study used a non-clinical sample. Second, the stimuli used in this study were static.
The present findings suggest that, relative to non-anxious individuals, socially anxious individuals are characterized by enhanced engagement with social threat at an early stage of processing and difficulty in disengaging from social threat once their initial attention is located on it. Conversely, non-anxious individuals are characterized by enhanced engagement with positive stimuli at a later stage of processing.
大量研究支持社交焦虑个体对社交威胁存在注意偏向。本研究旨在使用自由观看范式，在社交焦虑情境下探究对多种情绪刺激的持续注意的时间进程。
32名社交焦虑（SA）参与者和30名非焦虑（NA）参与者完成了自由观看任务。每次试验中，向参与者呈现由愤怒、悲伤、快乐和中性面孔组成的面孔阵列，持续10秒。在整个试验过程中记录眼动，以评估注意加工的时间进程。
尽管SA参与者未表现出初始定向偏向，但在250 - 1000毫秒时间间隔内，相对于NA参与者，他们对愤怒面孔的注视概率更高。当最初注视愤怒面孔时，SA参与者保持注意的时间也比NA参与者更长。此外，NA参与者在刺激开始后的6 - 8秒内对快乐面孔的注视概率更高。我们未观察到SA参与者对威胁的注意回避。
第一，本研究使用的是非临床样本。第二，本研究中使用的刺激是静态的。
本研究结果表明，相对于非焦虑个体，社交焦虑个体的特征在于在加工早期对社交威胁的参与增强，且一旦初始注意指向社交威胁就难以从其上脱离。相反，非焦虑个体的特征在于在加工后期对积极刺激的参与增强。
