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Attention bias toward threat in pediatric anxiety disorders
- Source :
- Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 47(10)
- Publication Year :
- 2008
-
Abstract
- Objective To examine attention bias toward threat faces in a large sample of anxiety-disordered youths using a well-established visual probe task. Method Study participants included 101 children and adolescents (ages 7–18 years) with generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, and/or separation anxiety disorder enrolled in a multisite anxiety treatment study. Nonanxious youths ( n = 51; ages 9–18 years) were recruited separately. Participants were administered a computerized visual probe task that presents pairs of faces portraying threat (angry), positive (happy), and neutral expressions. They pressed a response key to indicate the spatial location of a probe that replaced one of the faces on each trial. Attention bias scores were calculated from response times to probes for each emotional face type. Results Compared to healthy youths, anxious participants demonstrated a greater attention bias toward threat faces. This threat bias in anxious patients did not significantly vary across the anxiety disorders. There was no group difference in attention bias toward happy faces. Conclusions These results suggest that pediatric anxiety disorders are associated with an attention bias toward threat. Future research may examine the manner in which cognitive bias in anxious youths changes with treatment. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry , 2008;47(10):1189–1196.
- Subjects :
- Male
Generalized anxiety disorder
Adolescent
medicine.medical_treatment
Emotions
Comorbidity
Attentional bias
Article
Developmental psychology
Phobic disorder
Anxiety, Separation
Orientation
Developmental and Educational Psychology
medicine
Reaction Time
Humans
Attention
Child
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Separation anxiety disorder
medicine.disease
Anxiety Disorders
Combined Modality Therapy
Cognitive bias
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Facial Expression
Psychiatry and Mental health
Anti-Anxiety Agents
Pattern Recognition, Visual
Phobic Disorders
Anxiety
Female
medicine.symptom
Psychology
Arousal
Anxiety disorder
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15275418
- Volume :
- 47
- Issue :
- 10
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a603df857528655fcb84417407f991be