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Open Access 01-06-2017 | Original Article

Automaticity of Attentional Bias to Threat in High and Low Worriers

Authors: Huw Goodwin, Claire Eagleson, Andrew Mathews, Jenny Yiend, Colette Hirsch

Published in: Cognitive Therapy and Research | Issue 3/2017

Abstract

Individuals with high levels of worry are more likely than others to attend to possible threats, although the extent of top-down attentional control processes on this bias is unknown. We compared the performance of high (n = 26) and low worriers (n = 26) on a probe discrimination task designed to assess attention to threat cues, under cognitive load or no-load conditions. The expected difference between groups was confirmed, with high worriers being more likely to attend to threat cues than low worriers. Importantly however, there were no significant effects involving condition (cognitive load vs. no-load), nor any significant association with self-perceived attentional control ability. These results suggest that pathological worriers are more likely to attend to threat than are individuals with low levels of worry, regardless of task demands on limited cognitive control resources. This finding is consistent with the dominance of habitual bottom-up influences over top-down control processes in biased attention to threat.

Separate 2 × 2 × 2 mixed-design repeated-measures ANOVAs were run for each mood rating (anxious, depressed, and happy). The anxiety ratings reported a significant main effect of group, with high worriers being more anxious than low worriers overall [F(1,50) = 59.85, p < .001; High M = 58.29, SD = 16.43; Low M = 19.38, SD = 19.69]; and a main effect of time, demonstrating a significant increase in anxiety between before worry inductions and after worry inductions [F(1,50) = 14.88, p < .001; Pre M = 35.79, SD = 25.48; Post M = 41.88, SD = 28.89]. There were no significant two-way or three-way interactions. A similar opposite pattern of results occurred for the happiness ratings as expected.

Depression ratings reported a significant main effect of group, with high worriers being significantly more depressed than low worriers overall [F(1,50) = 29.65, p < .001; High M = 33.54, SD = 18.20; Low M = 9.84, SD = 12.70]; and a main effect of time, demonstrating a significant increase in depression ratings between before worry inductions and after worry inductions [F(1,50) = 49.49, p < .001; Pre M = 17.91, SD = 17.88; Post M = 25.46, SD = 22.18]. There was also a significant group x time interaction [F(1,50) = 17.60, p < .001], with high worriers reporting a greater increase in depression ratings pre- to post-worry induction (M difference = 12.2) than low worriers (M difference = 2.9). There were no other significant two-way or three-way interactions.

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Title: Automaticity of Attentional Bias to Threat in High and Low Worriers
Authors: Huw Goodwin
Claire Eagleson
Andrew Mathews
Jenny Yiend
Colette Hirsch
Publication date: 01-06-2017
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Cognitive Therapy and Research / Issue 3/2017
Print ISSN: 0147-5916
Electronic ISSN: 1573-2819
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-016-9818-5

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Automaticity of Attentional Bias to Threat in High and Low Worriers

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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