Hypervigilance‐avoidance in children with anxiety disorders: magnetoencephalographic evidence

Abstract

These results support the hypothesis of early sensory hypervigilance followed by later avoidance of threat in anxiety disordered children, presumably modulated by early reduced and later enhanced prefrontal inhibition. This neuronal hypervigilance-avoidance pattern unfolds gradually with increasing trait anxiety, reflecting a progressively biased allocation of attention to threat.

Reduced early fearful face processing during perceptual distraction in high trait anxious participants

“…Therefore, high trait anxious participants may have tried to avoid and disengage in stimulus processing during conditions allowing them to focus on non‐facial features. This finding can be related to the vigilance‐avoidance hypothesis which implies an initial vigilance toward aversive stimuli, followed by avoidance of threatening information (Mathews, 1990; Wessing et al., 2017). Previous studies suggest that avoidance of threatening information is a core deficit in anxiety, explained by inhibition mechanisms of later processing stages (Foa & Kozak, 1986; Mogg et al., 2004).…”

How the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Controls Affective Processing in Absence of Visual Awareness – Insights From a Combined EEG-rTMS Study

“…However, as Liddell et al (2004) did not employ source reconstruction approaches, the neuronal generators were not revealed in this particular study and thus remained speculative. Yet, there is ample evidence that distributed neuronal sources in visual processing areas and frontal regions contribute to the LPP ( Olofsson et al, 2008 ; Wessing et al, 2016 ). Several authors have argued that stronger late-latency brain activation in visual processing areas reflects an ongoing, increasingly elaborate perceptual evaluation of emotional stimuli based on reentrant processing ( Schupp et al, 2004a ; Wessing et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Yet, there is ample evidence that distributed neuronal sources in visual processing areas and frontal regions contribute to the LPP ( Olofsson et al, 2008 ; Wessing et al, 2016 ). Several authors have argued that stronger late-latency brain activation in visual processing areas reflects an ongoing, increasingly elaborate perceptual evaluation of emotional stimuli based on reentrant processing ( Schupp et al, 2004a ; Wessing et al, 2016 ). The strength of this effect can be modulated by several factors including the use of voluntary regulatory strategies (e.g., reappraisal, Hajcak and Nieuwenhuis, 2006 ), as well as rDLPFC inhibition and excitation ( Notzon et al, 2017 ).…”

“…The strength of this effect can be modulated by several factors including the use of voluntary regulatory strategies (e.g., reappraisal, Hajcak and Nieuwenhuis, 2006 ), as well as rDLPFC inhibition and excitation ( Notzon et al, 2017 ). In passive viewing tasks, where an active regulation of emotional material via prefrontal structures is not instructed, stronger emotion effects in visual processing areas can temporally co-occur with reduced activation to emotional material in frontal regions ( Wessing et al, 2016 ). Thus, overall, the direction and localization of the observed interaction of valence and exposure is in line with previous findings.…”

“…Typically, negative–neutral dissociations at late processing stages are supported by distributed posterior and frontal brain networks ( Olofsson et al, 2008 ). Functionally, they have been associated with elaborate processes, including ongoing (perceptual) stimulus evaluation ( Leyman et al, 2009 ; Wessing et al, 2016 ; for review, see Schupp et al, 2006 ) and top-down emotion regulation ( Kozel and George, 2002 ; Siegle et al, 2007 ; Poldrack et al, 2008 ; Guse et al, 2010 ; Ochsner et al, 2012 ; Ironside et al, 2016 ; Wessing et al, 2016 ).…”