Toh Gim Y, Vasey Michael W
Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH, USA.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2017 Mar 13;11:108. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00108. eCollection 2017.
One puzzle in high worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the heterogeneity in the level of autonomic arousal symptoms seen among affected individuals. While current models agree that worry persists, in part, because it fosters avoidance of unpleasant internal experiences, they disagree as to whether worry does so by suppressing activation of autonomic arousal or by fostering persistent autonomic hyperarousal. Our Cognitive Control Model predicts that which pattern of autonomic arousal occurs depends on whether or not a worrier has sufficient cognitive control capacity to worry primarily in a verbal versus imagery-based manner. Because this model has been supported by only one study to date, the present study sought to replicate and extend that study's findings. Results from an online survey in an unselected sample of over 900 college students provide further support for our model's central tenet and initial support for its prediction that higher effortful control is associated with a higher percentage of verbal thought during worry. Finally, we report tentative evidence that autonomic arousal symptoms in worry and GAD vary as a function of individual differences in cognitive control capacity because higher capacity is linked to a greater predominance of verbal thought during worry.
高担忧和广泛性焦虑障碍（GAD）中的一个谜题是，在受影响个体中所观察到的自主唤醒症状水平存在异质性。虽然当前模型一致认为担忧持续存在的部分原因是它促进了对不愉快内心体验的回避，但对于担忧是通过抑制自主唤醒的激活还是通过促进持续性自主过度唤醒做到这一点，它们存在分歧。我们的认知控制模型预测，自主唤醒出现哪种模式取决于担忧者是否有足够的认知控制能力，主要以基于言语而非基于意象的方式进行担忧。由于该模型迄今为止仅得到一项研究的支持，本研究试图重复并扩展该研究的发现。对900多名大学生的未筛选样本进行的在线调查结果，为我们模型的核心原则提供了进一步支持，并初步支持了其预测，即更高的努力控制与担忧期间更高比例的言语思维相关。最后，我们报告了初步证据，表明担忧和广泛性焦虑障碍中的自主唤醒症状会因认知控制能力的个体差异而有所不同，因为更高的能力与担忧期间言语思维占更大优势有关。
