Attention Bias to Threat Faces in Severe Mood Dysregulation

Abstract

Background We used a dot-probe paradigm to examine attention bias toward threat (i.e., angry) and happy face stimuli in Severe Mood Dysregulation (SMD) vs. healthy comparison (HC) youth. The tendency to allocate attention to threat is well established in anxiety and other disorders of negative affect. SMD is characterized by the negative affect of irritability, and longitudinal studies suggest childhood irritability predicts adult anxiety and depression. Therefore, it is important to study pathophysiologic connections between irritability and anxiety disorders. Methods SMD patients (N=74) and HC youth (N=42) completed a visual probe paradigm to assess attention bias to emotional faces. Diagnostic interviews were conducted and measures of irritability and anxiety were obtained in patients. Results SMD youth differed from HC youth in having a bias toward threatening faces (p<0.01). Threat bias was positively correlated with the severity of the SMD syndrome and depressive symptoms; degree of threat bias did not differ between SMD youth with and without co-occurring anxiety disorders or depression. SMD and HC youth did not differ in bias toward or away from happy faces. Conclusions SMD youth demonstrate an attention bias toward threat, with greater threat bias associated with higher levels of SMD symptom severity. Our findings suggest that irritability may share a pathophysiological link with anxiety and depressive disorders. This finding suggests the value of exploring further whether attention bias modification treatments that are effective for anxiety are also helpful in the treatment of irritability.

Functional connectivity of negative emotional processing in adolescent depression

“…Lastly, the results of our cognitive behavioral model are in line with evidence that both depressed adults (Foland-Ross and Gotlib, 2012; Foland-Ross et al, 2013; Gotlib et al, 2004) and adolescents (Hankin et al, 2012; Hommer et al, 2013) show biased processing to affectively negative material compared to healthy controls. We observed greater drift rates in depressed individuals on both correct and error responses (see Figure 2 and Table 2).…”

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD): An RDoC perspective

“…This is particularly true during development when the integrity of these pathways is not yet fully formed. Such attentional deficits are reflected in a recent study showing that youth with SMD have an attentional bias to threatening faces compared to controls, and that this bias to threat is associated with higher levels of irritability and symptoms of depression (Hommer et al, 2014). Researchers have also found that children who were rated temperamentally high in anger proneness by parents and teachers, had difficulty moving attention away from rewarding stimuli (He et al, 2013).…”

Longitudinal Associations Between Preschool Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder Symptoms and Neural Reactivity to Monetary Reward During Preadolescence

“…A small body of research shows that SMD is associated with aberrant emotion-attention interactions, particularly in the context of threat (e.g., Hommer et al 2013). Other studies have shown that SMD is associated with abnormal patterns of neural activation to angry, fearful, and neutral faces compared with that of healthy controls, although findings are contradictory, supporting both hypo-and hyperactivation of the amygdala (Thomas et al 2013(Thomas et al , 2014.…”