Anxiety symptoms and children's eye gaze during fear learning

Michalska, Kalina J.; Machlin, Laura; Moroney, Elizabeth; Lowet, Daniel S.; Hettema, John M.; Roberson‐Nay, Roxann; Averbeck, Bruno B.; Brotman, Melissa A.; Nelson, Eric E.; Leibenluft, Ellen; Pine, Daniel S.

doi:10.1111/jcpp.12749

Cited by 31 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 61 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There are less empirical findings relating the effects of fear conditioning on gaze behavior. Michalska et al (2017) showed that children hold their gaze more often and longer toward the area of the eyes of a CS+ than a CS−. The authors used two neutral faces as conditioned stimuli (CS+ and CS−).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gaze Behavior in Social Fear Conditioning: An Eye-Tracking Study in Virtual Reality

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The vigilance-avoidance hypothesis of selective attention assumes that socially anxious persons initially direct their attention toward fear-related stimuli and subsequently avoid these social stimuli to reduce emotional distress. New technical developments provide tools to implicit measure overt attention on fear-related stimuli via eyetracking in ecological valid virtual environments presented via a head-mounted display. We examined in 27 low (LSA) and 26 high socially anxious (HSA) individuals fear ratings, physical behavior (duration of approach), hypervigilance (time to first fixation), and attentional avoidance (count of fixations) toward virtual female and male agents (CS) during social fear conditioning (SFC) and extinction in virtual reality (VR). As hypothesized, generally SFC was successfully induced and extinguished concerning the fear ratings. Our findings partly support the vigilance-avoidance hypothesis as HSA directed especially at the first half of the fear acquisition their initial attention more at CS+ than CS− agents, and avoided subsequently the CS+ more than the CS− agents during the fear acquisition. In contrast, in LSA participants initial and sustained attention did not differ between CS+ and CS− agents during fear acquisition. We conclude that HSA individuals guide their initial attention to emotionally threatening stimuli and subsequently avoid the threatening stimuli to possibly reduce their emotional distress, whereas LSA individuals regulate themselves less in their (fear) responses during SFC. Measuring implicit gaze behavior within a well-controlled virtual environment is an interesting innovative tool to in deeply investigate the impact of attention on emotional learning processes.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gaze Behavior in Social Fear Conditioning: An Eye-Tracking Study in Virtual Reality

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Total scores were calculated by summing all item-level scores. Total scores from each parent–youth dyad were averaged (Guyer et al ., 2008; Michalska et al ., 2017; Shechner et al ., 2017) to create a mean score reflecting current symptom severity for each participant.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Levels of early-childhood behavioral inhibition predict distinct neurodevelopmental pathways to pediatric anxiety

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundAnxiety symptoms gradually emerge during childhood and adolescence. Individual differences in behavioral inhibition (BI), an early-childhood temperament, may shape developmental paths through which these symptoms arise. Cross-sectional research suggests that level of early-childhood BI moderates associations between later anxiety symptoms and threat-related amygdala–prefrontal cortex (PFC) circuitry function. However, no study has characterized these associations longitudinally. Here, we tested whether level of early-childhood BI predicts distinct evolving associations between amygdala–PFC function and anxiety symptoms across development.MethodsEighty-seven children previously assessed for BI level in early childhood provided data at ages 10 and/or 13 years, consisting of assessments of anxiety and an fMRI-based dot-probe task (including threat, happy, and neutral stimuli). Using linear-mixed-effects models, we investigated longitudinal changes in associations between anxiety symptoms and threat-related amygdala–PFC connectivity, as a function of early-childhood BI.ResultsIn children with a history of high early-childhood BI, anxiety symptoms became, with age, more negatively associated with right amygdala–left dorsolateral-PFC connectivity when attention was to be maintained on threat. In contrast, with age, low-BI children showed an increasingly positive anxiety–connectivity association during the same task condition. Behaviorally, at age 10, anxiety symptoms did not relate to fluctuations in attention bias (attention bias variability, ABV) in either group; by age 13, low-BI children showed a negative anxiety–ABV association, whereas high-BI children showed a positive anxiety–ABV association.ConclusionsEarly-childhood BI levels predict distinct neurodevelopmental pathways to pediatric anxiety symptoms. These pathways involve distinct relations among brain function, behavior, and anxiety symptoms, which may inform diagnosis and treatment.

show abstract

“…Additionally, extant work demonstrates that the ability to manage emotion is needed to maintain healthy relationships (Blair & Raver, ) and foster social competence (Calkins, Gill, Johnson, & Smith, ). On the other hand, certain developmental disorders are marked by deficits in emotion reactivity and regulation, which influence the motivation and ability to respond to others’ needs (Michalska et al, ; Michalska, Zeffiro, & Decety, ). Failure to acquire the skills required to manage emotional responses may lead to difficulties in social interaction (Calkins, ; Cicchetti, Ackerman, & Izard, ; Rubin, Coplan, Fox, & Calkins, ).…”

Section: Emotion Reactivity and Regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, certain developmental disorders are marked by deficits in emotion reactivity and regulation, which influence the motivation and ability to respond to others' needs (Michalska et al, 2017;Michalska, Zeffiro, & Decety, 2016). Failure to acquire the skills required to manage emotional responses may lead to difficulties in social interaction (Calkins, 1994;Cicchetti, Ackerman, & Izard, 1995;Rubin, Coplan, Fox, & Calkins, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The psychobiology of emotional development: The case for examining sociocultural processes

Michalska

Davis

2018

Developmental Psychobiology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Psychobiological techniques to assess emotional responding have revolutionized the field of emotional development in recent decades by equipping researchers with the tools to quantify children's emotional reactivity and regulation more directly than behavioral approaches allow. Knowledge gained from the incorporation of methods spanning levels of analysis has been substantial, yet many open questions remain. In this prospective review, we (a) describe the major conceptual and empirical advances that have resulted from this methodological innovation, and (b) lay out a case for what we view as the most pressing challenge for the next decades of research into the psychobiology of emotional development: focusing empirical efforts toward understanding the implications of the broader sociocultural contexts in which children develop that shape the psychobiology of emotion. Thus, this review integrates previous knowledge about the psychobiology of emotion with a forward‐looking set of recommendations for incorporating sociocultural processes into future investigations.

show abstract

Anxiety symptoms and children's eye gaze during fear learning

Abstract: Anxiety symptoms in children relate to face-viewing strategies deployed in the context of a fear learning experiment. This relationship may inform attempts to understand the relationship between pediatric anxiety symptoms and learning.

Cited by 31 publications

References 61 publications

Gaze Behavior in Social Fear Conditioning: An Eye-Tracking Study in Virtual Reality

Gaze Behavior in Social Fear Conditioning: An Eye-Tracking Study in Virtual Reality

Levels of early-childhood behavioral inhibition predict distinct neurodevelopmental pathways to pediatric anxiety

The psychobiology of emotional development: The case for examining sociocultural processes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About