Nelson Andrea L, Quigley Leanne, Carriere Jonathan, Kalles Elizabeth, Smilek Daniel, Purdon Christine
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, 1165 Morris Park Ave, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
J Anxiety Disord. 2022 May;88:102577. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102577. Epub 2022 May 2.
Attentional biases towards threat are assumed to be a causal factor in the development of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). However, findings have been inconsistent, and studies often examine single time-point bias during threat exposure, instead of across time. Attention to threat may shift throughout exposure (e.g., from initial engagement to avoidance), and research suggests that threat intensity and state anxiety influence attentional biases. No studies to our knowledge have examined biases across time and with varying threat intensity and state anxiety. Participants with GAD (n=38) and non-anxious controls (n=25) viewed emotional (high threat, mild threat, and positive) and neutral image pairs under calm and anxious mood states while their eye movements were tracked. Participants showed an initial orientation to emotional images, and, under the anxious mood induction, demonstrated a bias towards threatening images at first fixation and over time. Results suggest it may be normative to attend to threat cues over other stimuli while in an anxious state. Individuals with GAD uniquely showed a bias away from mild (but not high) threat images over time relative to controls. Implications for theories of attentional biases to threat and clinical implications for GAD and anxiety disorders broadly are discussed.
对威胁的注意偏向被认为是包括广泛性焦虑症（GAD）在内的焦虑症发展的一个因果因素。然而，研究结果并不一致，而且研究通常只考察威胁暴露期间的单一时间点偏向，而非跨时间的情况。对威胁的注意可能在整个暴露过程中发生变化（例如，从最初的关注到回避），并且研究表明威胁强度和状态焦虑会影响注意偏向。据我们所知，尚无研究考察跨时间以及不同威胁强度和状态焦虑情况下的偏向。患有广泛性焦虑症的参与者（n = 38）和非焦虑对照组（n = 25）在平静和焦虑情绪状态下观看情绪性（高威胁、低威胁和积极）和中性图像对，同时追踪他们的眼动。参与者最初会看向情绪性图像，并且在焦虑情绪诱导下，在首次注视时以及随着时间推移表现出对威胁性图像的偏向。结果表明，在焦虑状态下关注威胁线索而非其他刺激可能是正常现象。与对照组相比，患有广泛性焦虑症的个体随着时间推移独特地表现出远离低（而非高）威胁图像的偏向。本文讨论了对威胁的注意偏向理论的影响以及对广泛性焦虑症和更广泛的焦虑症的临床意义。
