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Eye-Tracking Evidence of a Maintenance Bias in Social Anxiety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2017

Catarina Fernandes ,
Susana Silva ,
Joana Pires ,
Alexandra Reis ,
Antónia Jimenez Ros ,
Luís Janeiro ,
Luís Faísca  and
Ana Teresa Martins
Catarina Fernandes
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
Susana Silva
Affiliation:
Center for Biomedical Research - CBMR/Center for Psychology at the University of Porto, Portugal
Joana Pires
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
Alexandra Reis
Affiliation:
Center for Biomedical Research - CBMR, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
Antónia Jimenez Ros
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
Luís Janeiro
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
Luís Faísca
Affiliation:
Center for Biomedical Research - CBMR, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
Ana Teresa Martins*
Affiliation:
Center for Biomedical Research - CBMR, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
*
Correspondence to Ana Teresa Martins, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Algarve Campus de Gambelas, 8005-000 Faro, Portugal. E-mail: atmartins@ualg.pt
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Abstract

Background: The mechanisms and triggers of the attentional bias in social anxiety are not yet fully determined, and the modulating role of personality traits is being increasingly acknowledged. Aims: Our main purpose was to test whether social anxiety is associated with mechanisms of hypervigilance, avoidance (static biases), vigilance-avoidance or the maintenance of attention (dynamic biases). Our secondary goal was to explore the role of personality structure in shaping the attention bias. Method: Participants with high vs low social anxiety and different personality structures viewed pairs of faces (free-viewing eye-tracking task) representing different emotions (anger, happiness and neutrality). Their eye movements were registered and analysed for both whole-trial (static) and time-dependent (dynamic) measures. Results: Comparisons between participants with high and low social anxiety levels did not yield evidence of differences in eye-tracking measures for the whole trial (latency of first fixation, first fixation direction, total dwell time), but the two groups differed in the time course of overt attention during the trial (dwell time across three successive time segments): participants with high social anxiety were slower in disengaging their attention from happy faces. Similar results were obtained using a full-sample, regression-based analysis. Conclusion: Our results speak in favour of a maintenance bias in social anxiety. Preliminary results indicated that personality structure may not affect the maintenance (dynamic) bias of socially anxious individuals, although depressive personality structures may favour manifestations of a (static) hypervigilance bias.

Keywords

social anxietyeye-trackingattentional biasfacial basic emotion
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , January 2018 , pp. 66 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2017 

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