Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:15:48.085Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Attentional Bias and the Anxiety Disorders

from Section 1 - Basic Mechanisms in Fear and Anxiety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2018

By
Ernst H. W. Koster  and
Anouk Vanden Bogaerde
Edited by
Bunmi O. Olatunji
Bunmi O. Olatunji
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
Get access

Summary

A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Anxiety and Related Disorders , pp. 41 - 58
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abend, R., de Voogd, L., Salemink, E., Wiers, R.W., Pérez-Edgar, K., Fitzgerald, A., White, L. K., Salum, G. A., He, J., Silverman, W. K., Pettit, J. W., Pine, D.S., & Bar-Haim, Y. (2018). Association between attention bias to threat and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents. Depression and Anxiety, 35(3), 229–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Algom, D., Chajut, E., & Lev, S. (2004). A rational look at the emotional Stroop phenomenon: A generic slowdown, not a Stroop effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 323–338.Google Scholar
Amir, N., Beard, C., Burns, M., & Bomyea, J. (2009). Attention modification program in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 28–33.Google Scholar
Anderson, A. K. (2005). Affective influences on the attentional dynamics supporting awareness. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134, 258–281.Google Scholar
Armstrong, T. & Olatunji, B. O. (2012). Eye tracking of attention in the affective disorders: A metaanalytic review and synthesis. Clinical Psychology Review, 32, 704–723.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baert, S., Koster, E. H. W., & De Raedt, R. (2011). Modification of information-processing biases in emotional disorders: Clinically relevant developments in experimental psychopathology. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 4, 205–219.Google Scholar
Bannerman, R. L., Milders, M., De Gelder, B., & Sahraie, A. (2008). Influence of emotional facial expressions on binocular rivalry. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, 28(4), 317–326.Google Scholar
Bannerman, R. L., Milders, M., & Sahraie, A. (2009). Processing emotional stimuli: Comparison of saccadic and manual choice-reaction times. Cognition & Emotion, 23, 930–954.Google Scholar
Bar-Haim, Y., Lamy, D., Pergamin, L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2007). Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: A meta-analytic study. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 1–24.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Emery, G., & Greenberg, R. L. (1985). Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bernstein, A. & Zvielli, A. (2014). Attention feedback awareness and control training (A-FACT): Experimental test of a novel intervention paradigm targeting attentional bias. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 55, 18–26.Google Scholar
Biederman, J., Rosenbaum, J. F., Bolducmurphy, E. A., Faraone, S. V., Chaloff, J., Hirshfeld, D. R., & Kagan, J. (1993). A 3-year follow-up of children with and without behavioural-inhibition. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 814–821.Google Scholar
Bower, G. H. (1981). Mood and memory. American Psychologist, 36, 129–148.Google Scholar
Bower, G. H. (1987). Commentary on mood and memory. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 25, 443–455.Google Scholar
Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., & Millar, N. H. (2000). Covert and overt orienting of attention to emotional faces in anxiety. Cognition & Emotion, 14(6), 789–808.Google Scholar
Cisler, J. M. & Koster, E. H. W. (2010). Mechanisms underlying attentional biases towards threat: An integrative review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 203–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, D. M. (1999). Anxiety disorders: Why they persist and how to treat them. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, S5–S27.Google Scholar
Cole, C., Zapp, D. J., Fettig, N. B., & Pérez-Edgar, K. (2016). Impact of attention biases to threat and effortful control on individual variations in negative affect and social withdrawal in very young children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 141, 210–221.Google Scholar
Corbetta, M. & Shulman, G. L. (2002). Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3, 201–215.Google Scholar
Cristea, I. A., Kok, R. N., & Cuijpers, P. (2015) Efficacy of cognitive bias modification interventions in anxiety and depression: Meta-analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 206, 7–16.Google Scholar
Cuthbert, B. N. (2014). The RDoC framework: Facilitating transition from ICD/DSM to dimensional approaches that integrate neuroscience and psychopathology. World Psychiatry, 13, 28–35.Google Scholar
De Ruiter, C. & Brosschot, J. F. (1994). The emotional Stroop interference effect in anxiety: Attentional bias or cognitive avoidance?Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 315–319.Google Scholar
Derryberry, D. & Reed, M. A. (2002). Anxiety-related attentional biases and their regulation by attentional control. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 225–236.Google Scholar
Eysenck, M. W. (1992). Anxiety: The Cognitive Perspective. Hove, UK: Erlbaum Ltd.Google Scholar
Eysenck, M. W. (1997). Anxiety and Cognition: A Unified Theory. Hove, UK: Erlbaum Ltd.Google Scholar
Eysenck, M. W. & Calvo, M. G. (1992). Anxiety and performance: The processing efficiency theory. Cognition & Emotion, 6, 409–434.Google Scholar
Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion, 7(2), 336–353.Google Scholar
Fox, E., Cahill, S., & Zougkou, K. (2010). Preconscious processing biases predict emotional reactivity to stress. Biological Psychiatry, 67, 371–377.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox, E., Russo, R., Bowles, R., & Dutton, K. (2001). Do threatening stimuli draw or hold visual attention in subclinical anxiety? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130(4), 681–700.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hallion, L. S., & Ruscio, A. M. (2011). A meta-analysis of the effect of cognitive bias modification on anxiety and depression. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 940–958.Google Scholar
Hermans, D., Vansteenwegen, D., & Eelen, P. (1999). Eye movement registration as a continuous index of attention deployment: Data from a group of spider anxious students. Cognition & Emotion, 13, 419–434.Google Scholar
Holender, D. (1986). Semantic activation without conscious identification in dichotic listening, parafoveal vision, and visual masking: A survey and appraisal. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 1–23.Google Scholar
Horstmann, G. (2007). Preattentive face processing: What do visual search experiments with schematic faces tell us? Visual Cognition, 15, 799–833.Google Scholar
Iacoviello, B. M., Wu, G., Abend, R., Murrough, J. W., Feder, A., Fruchter, E., Levinstein, Y., Wald, I., Bailey, C. R., Pine, D. S., Neumeister, A., Bar-Haim, Y., & Charney, D. S. (2014). Attention bias variability and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 27, 1–8.Google Scholar
Koster, E. H. W. & Bernstein, A. (2015). Introduction to the special issue on cognitive bias modification: Taking a step back to move forward? Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 49, 1–4.Google Scholar
Koster, E. H. W., Fox, E., & MacLeod, C. (2009). Introduction of the special section on cognitive bias modification. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 1–4.Google Scholar
Kruijt, A. W., Field, A. P., & Fox, E. (2016). Capturing dynamics of biased attention: Are new attention variability measures the way forward? PLOS One, 11, e0166600.Google Scholar
Lazarov, A., Marom, S., Yahalom, N., Pine, D. S., Hermesh, H., & Bar-Haim, Y. (2017). Attention bias modification augments cognitive-behavioral group therapy for social anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Psychological Medicine, 1–9. doi: 10.1017/S003329171700366X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazarov, A., Pine, D. S., & Bar-Haim, Y. (2017). Gaze-contingent music reward treatment for social anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Psychiatry, 174, 649–656.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lonigan, C. J., Vasey, M. W., Phillips, B. M., & Hazen, R. A. (2004). Temperament, anxiety, and the processing of threat-relevant stimuli. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 8–20.Google Scholar
Macleod, C., & Hagan, R. (1992). Individual differences in the selective processing of threatening information, and emotional responses to a stressful life event. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 30, 151–161.Google Scholar
MacLeod, C. & Mathews, A. (1988). Anxiety and the allocation of attention to threat. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 40A, 653–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, P. (1986). Attentional bias in emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 15–20.Google Scholar
MacLeod, C. & Rutherford, E. M. (1992). Anxiety and the selective processing of emotional information: Mediating roles of awareness, trait and state variables, and personal relevance of stimulus materials. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 30, 479–491.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacLeod, C., Rutherford, E., Campbell, L., Ebsworthy, G., & Holker, L. (2001). Selective attention and emotional vulnerability: Assessing the causal basis of their association through the experimental manipulation of attentional bias. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 107–123.Google Scholar
Mathews, A. & MacLeod, C. (1985). Selective processing of threat cues in anxiety states. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 563–569.Google Scholar
Mathews, A. & MacLeod, C. (1994). Cognitive approaches to emotion and emotional disorders. Annual Review of Psychology, 45, 25–50.Google Scholar
Mogg, K. & Bradley, B. P. (1998). A cognitive-motivational analysis of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 809–848.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P. (2016). Anxiety and attention to threat: Cognitive mechanisms and treatment with attention bias modification. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 87, 76–108.Google Scholar
Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P., Dixon, C., Fisher, S., Twelftree, H., & McWilliams, A. (2000). Trait anxiety, defensiveness and selective processing of threat: An investigation using two measures of attentional bias. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 1063–1077.Google Scholar
Mogg, K., Holmes, A., Garner, M., & Bradley, B. P. (2008). Effects of threat cues on attentional shifting, disengagement and response slowing in anxious individuals. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 656–667.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mogg, K., Mathews, A., & Weinman, J. (1987). Memory bias in clinical anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 96, 94–98.Google Scholar
Mogoase, C., David, D., & Koster, E. H. W. (2014). Clinical efficacy of attentional bias modification procedures: An updated meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 70, 1133–1157.Google Scholar
Öhman, A., Flykt, A., & Lundqvist, D. (2000). Unconscious emotion: Evolutionary perspectives, psychophysiological data, and neuropsychological mechanisms. In Lane, R. D. & Nadel, L. (eds.), Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion (pp. 296–327). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Parkinson, L. & Rachman, S. (1981). Intrusive thoughts: The effects of an uncontrived stress. Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 3, 111–118.Google Scholar
Pérez-Edgar, K., Bar-Haim, Y., McDermott, J. M., Chronis-Tuscano, A., Pine, D. S., & Fox, N. A. (2010). Attention biases to threat and behavioral inhibition in early childhood shape adolescent social withdrawal. Emotion, 10, 349–357.Google Scholar
Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32(1), 3–25.Google Scholar
Price, R. B., Greven, I. M., Koster, E. H. W., Siegle, G. J., & De Raedt, R. (2016). A novel attention training paradigm based on operant conditioning of eye gaze: Preliminary findings. Emotion, 16, 110–116.Google Scholar
Rapee, R., Macleod, C., Carpenter, L., Gaston, J., Frei, J., Peters, L., & Baillie, A. (2013). Integrating cognitive bias modification into a standard cognitive behavioural treatment package for social phobia: A randomized controlled trial. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 51, 207–215.Google Scholar
Rinck, M., Kwakkenbos, L., Dotsch, R., Wigboldus, D., & Becker, E. S. (2010). Attentional and behavioral responses of spider fearfuls to virtual spiders. Cognition & Emotion, 24, 1199–1206.Google Scholar
Rodebaugh, T. L., Sculin, R. B., Langer, J. K., Dixon, D. J., Huppert, J. D., Bernstein, A., Zvielli, A., & Lenze, E. J. (2016). Unreliability as a threat to understanding psychopathology: The dot-probe task as cautionary tale. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(6). 840–851.Google Scholar
Rothbart, M. K. & Bates, J. E. (2006). Temperament. In Damon, W., Lerner, R., & Eisenberg, N. (eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology: vol. 3. Social, Emotional, and Personality Development (6th edn, pp. 99–166). New York, NY: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rudaizky, D., Basanovic, J., & Macleod, C. (2014). Biased attentional engagement with, and disengagement from, negative information: Independent cognitive pathways to anxiety vulnerability? Cognition & Emotion, 28, 245–259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanchez, A., Everaert, J., & Koster, E. H. W. (2016). Attention training through gaze-contingent feedback: Effects on reappraisal and negative emotions. Emotion, 16.Google Scholar
Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18(6), 643–662.Google Scholar
Tobon, J. I., Ouimet, A. J., & Dozois, D. J. A. (2011). Attentional bias in anxiety disorders following cognitive behavioral treatment. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 25, 114–129.Google Scholar
Van Bockstaele, B., Verschuere, B., Crombez, G., De Houwer, J., Tibboel, H., & Koster, E. H. W. (2014). A review of current evidence for the causal impact of attentional bias on fear and anxiety. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 682–721.Google Scholar
Van den Hout, M., Tenney, N., Huygens, K., Merckelbach, H., & Kindt, M. (1995). Responding to subliminal threat cues is related to trait anxiety and emotional vulnerability: S successful replication of MacLeod and Hagan (1992). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 451–454.Google Scholar
Vogt, J., Houwer, J., Crombez, G., & Van Damme, S. (2013) Competing for attentional priority: Temporary goals versus threats. Emotion, 13, 587–598.Google Scholar
Weierich, M. R., Treat, T. A., & Hollingworth, A. (2008). Theories and measurement of visual attentional processing in anxiety. Cognition & Emotion, 22(6), 985–1018.Google Scholar
Wells, A. & Matthews, G. (1994). Attention and Emotion: A Clinical Perspective. Hove, UK: Erlbaum Ltd.Google Scholar
White, L. K., Henderson, H. A., Walker, O. L., Leibenluft, E., Pine, D.S., Degnan, K. A., Pérez-Edgar, K., Shechner, T., Bar-Haim, Y., Fox, N. A. (2017). Developmental relations among behavioral inhibition, anxiety, and attention bias to threat and positive information. Child Development, 88, 141–155.Google Scholar
Williams, J. M. G., Watts, F. N., MacLeod, C., & Mathews, A. (1988). Cognitive Psychology and Emotional Disorders. Chichester, UK: Wiley.Google Scholar
Williams, J. M. G., Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1996). The emotional Stroop task and psychopathology. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 3–24.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. & Macleod, C. (2003). Contrasting two accounts of anxiety-linked attentional bias: Selective attention to varying levels of stimulus threat intensity. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 212–218.Google Scholar
Zvielli, A., Bernstein, A., & Koster, E. H. W. (2015). Temporal dynamics of attentional bias. Clinical Psychological Science, 3, 772–788.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×