Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, R. Alfredo Allen, 4200-135, Porto, Portugal.
Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2024 Feb;24(1):143-155. doi: 10.3758/s13415-024-01159-y. Epub 2024 Jan 24.
Anxiety disorders are the most common psychopathologies among adolescents. Their diagnostic criteria include both fear and anxiety symptomatology, although according to the literature, we can find evidence for some distinction between these two emotions. The present study contribute to this distinction, exploring the effects of trait fear and trait anxiety on behavioral and neural correlates. Thirty-two participants (aged 11-16 years) performed two experimental tasks of salient target detection, including visual stimuli that were manipulated to become salient, while reaction times and EEG were recorded. Results of both tasks revealed differential effects of trait fear and trait anxiety assessed through the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised and the Youth Anxiety Measure for DSM-5 on reaction times and ERP components amplitudes. Specifically, higher symptoms from Separation Anxiety Disorder increased early neural visual processing and decreased reaction times for more salient stimuli. Also, trait fear reduced later neural visual processing of salient stimuli. These findings may provide a significant contribution to guiding psychological interventions, especially with adolescents presenting higher levels of anxiety-related symptomatology.
焦虑障碍是青少年中最常见的精神病理学。其诊断标准包括恐惧和焦虑症状,但根据文献,我们可以发现这两种情绪之间存在一些区别的证据。本研究通过探索特质恐惧和特质焦虑对行为和神经相关因素的影响,对这种区别做出了贡献。32 名参与者(年龄 11-16 岁)完成了两个显著目标检测的实验任务,包括视觉刺激,这些刺激被操纵变得显著,同时记录反应时间和 EEG。通过儿童修订版恐惧调查量表和 DSM-5 青少年焦虑量表评估特质恐惧和特质焦虑的两个任务的结果都揭示了反应时间和 ERP 成分振幅上的差异。具体来说,分离焦虑障碍的症状越高,对更显著刺激的早期神经视觉处理就越快,反应时间就越短。此外,特质恐惧减少了对显著刺激的后期神经视觉处理。这些发现可能对指导心理干预有重要意义,特别是对表现出更高焦虑相关症状的青少年。