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Patterns of attention to threat across tasks in behaviorally inhibited children at risk for anxiety.

ABSTRACT: Although attention bias towards threat has been causally implicated in the development and maintenance of fear and anxiety, the expected associations do not appear consistently. Reliance on a single task to capture attention bias, in this case overwhelmingly the dot-probe task, may contribute to this inconsistency. Comparing across attentional bias measures could help capture patterns of behavior that have implications for anxiety. This study examines the patterns of attentional bias across two related measures in a sample of children at temperamental risk for anxiety. Children (Meanage = 10.19 ± 0.96) characterized as behaviorally inhibited (N = 50) or non-inhibited (N = 64) via parent-report completed the dot-probe and affective Posner tasks to measure attentional bias to threat. Parent-report diagnostic interviews assessed children's social anxiety. Behavioral inhibition was not associated with performance in the dot-probe task, but was associated with increased attentional bias to threat in the affective Posner task. Cross-task convergence was dependent on temperament, such that attention bias across the two tasks was only related in behaviorally inhibited children. Finally, children who were consistently biased across tasks (showing high or low attentional bias scores in both tasks, rather than high in one but low in the other) had higher levels of anxiety. Convergence across attention bias measures may be dependent on individuals' predispositions (e.g. temperament). Moreover, convergence of attention bias across measures may be a stronger marker of information processing patterns that shape socioemotional outcomes than performance in a single task.

SUBMITTER: Morales S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4955713 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Vigilant attention to threat is commonly observed in anxiety, undergoes developmental changes in early adolescence, and has been proposed to interfere with sleep initiation and maintenance. We present one of the first studies to use objective measures to examine associations between vigilant attention to threat and difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep in an early adolescent anxious sample. We also explore the moderating role of development (age, puberty) and sex. METHODS:Participants were 66 peripubertal youth (ages 9-14) with a primary anxiety disorder and 24 healthy control subjects. A dot-probe task was used to assess attentional bias to fearful relative to neutral face stimuli. Eye-tracking indexed selective attentional bias to threat, and reaction time bias indexed action readiness to threat. Sleep was assessed via actigraphy (e.g. sleep onset delay, wake after sleep onset, etc.), parent report (Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire), and child report (Sleep Self-Report). The Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale assessed anxiety severity. RESULTS:Eye-tracking initial threat fixation bias (? = .33, p = .001) and threat dwell time bias (? = .22, p = .041) were positively associated with sleep onset latency. Reaction time bias was positively associated with wake after sleep onset (? = .24, p = .026) and parent-reported sleep disturbance (? = .25, p = .019). Anxiety (severity, diagnosis) was not associated with these outcomes. Sex (? = -.32, p = .036) moderated the relation between initial threat fixation bias and sleep onset latency, with a positive association for males (p = .005), but not for females (p = .289). Age and pubertal status did not moderate effects. CONCLUSIONS:Vigilant attention to threat is related to longer sleep onset and reduced sleep maintenance. These associations are not stronger in early adolescents with anxiety. Implications for early intervention or prevention that targets vigilant attention to threat to impact sleep disturbance, and vice versa, are discussed.

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Patterns of attention to threat across tasks in behaviorally inhibited children at risk for anxiety.

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