Neural and psychophysiological markers of intolerance of uncertainty

Morriss, Jayne; Abend, Rany; Zika, Ondrej; Bradford, Daniel E.; Mertens, Gaëtan

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2023.01.003

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Intolerance of uncertainty is considered a key transdiagnostic dimension and treatment target for emotional disorders (Morriss et al, 2023). It refers to a negative dispositional orientation toward uncertainty and its consequences associated with a tendency to respond negatively at emotional, cognitive, and behavioral levels to uncertain and unpredictable situations (Dugas et al, 2004).…”

Section: Intolerance Of Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

Anxiety in Early Adolescents During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Dorčić

Živčić–Bećirević

Smojver‐Ažić

2023

European Journal of Psychology Open

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Introduction: Anxiety is one of the most common psychological problems in children, with an increasing trend during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines the mediating role of intolerance of uncertainty and cognitive emotion-regulation strategies in the relationship between stress and anxiety symptoms of children and early adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We conducted the study with 234 elementary school students (128 females) aged 11 to 15 years. The students completed the COVID-19 Stress Scale, Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale for Children, and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. To determine whether stress affects anxiety symptoms both directly and indirectly through intolerance of uncertainty and cognitive emotion-regulation strategies, we performed a mediation analysis with gender as a covariate. Results: Our results confirmed cognitive emotion regulation and intolerance of uncertainty as important cognitive vulnerability factors for anxiety in children and adolescents. A stressful experience contributes directly to anxiety and indirectly through higher intolerance of uncertainty and less adaptive strategies. The results serve to further improve prevention and intervention programs for children and adolescents which focus on correcting maladaptive cognitive emotion-regulation strategies and increasing tolerance of uncertainty.

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Section: Intolerance Of Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

Anxiety in Early Adolescents During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Dorčić

Živčić–Bećirević

Smojver‐Ažić

2023

European Journal of Psychology Open

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“…First, the study used a cross-sectional design, such that causality cannot be established, and relied solely on selfreport measures. Future research using experimental paradigms to manipulate IU (Morriss, Abend, Zika, Bradford, & Mertens, 2023) and paranoia (Ellett et al, 2023) would be useful.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between intolerance of uncertainty, paranoia, anxiety and depression: Evidence from an international multi-site sample

Morriss,

Gaudiano,

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Intolerance of uncertainty (IU: the tendency to find uncertainty aversive) and paranoia (e.g., excessive mistrust of others), are both associated with anxiety and depression symptoms. While previous research has primarily focused on IU and paranoia separately, there is recent evidence to suggest that IU and paranoia are linked and may interact to increase risk for anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia-spectrum conditions. The aims of the current study were to assess: (1) the extent to which IU (total score and subscales), paranoia, anxiety, and depression are associated and (2) whether the interaction between IU and paranoia is associated with greater anxiety and depression symptoms. To examine these aims, we conducted a survey on an international multi-site sample (n = 2510). Questionnaires included: IU (total score and subscales), paranoia (RGPTS persecution subscale), anxiety, and depression. The findings revealed that: (1) IU was positively associated with paranoia (r = .43), anxiety (r = .48) and depression (r = .49), and (2) People with high scores on IU and paranoia showed higher anxiety and depression symptoms. Importantly, these effects remained when controlling for negative beliefs about the self and others and demographic factors. Additionally, the inhibitory IU subscale (uncertainty paralysis) was related to paranoia, anxiety, and depression. However, the prospective IU subscale (desire for predictability) was only related to anxiety, but not paranoia and depression. Overall, these findings reliably demonstrate that IU and paranoia are linked, and that IU and paranoia interactions may synergistically work to affect current levels of anxiety and depression symptoms.

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“…Descriptive statistics were calculated for log-transformed reaction Fergus & Carleton, 2016;Jhang & Laing, 2023;Morriss et al, 2017;Wiese et al, 2023), even in the absence of direct threat (Fergus et al, 2013;Morriss et al, 2019). To establish the generalisability of attentional biases to uncertain-based information in those with anxious traits (for review see, Abado et al, 2020;Morriss et al, 2023) and to understand its usefulness for the diagnosis and treatment of emotional disorders (Shihata et al, 2016), further replication is warranted in diverse community and clinical samples.…”

Section: Visual Search Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attentional bias to uncertainty-based information: a conceptual replication of Fergus et al. (2013)

Morriss,

Lee,

Wood

et al. 2024

Curr Psychol

Self Cite

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Attentional biases to negative information are often observed in emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression. Recently, Fergus et al. (Cognitive Therapy and Research 37:735-741, 2013) demonstrated that participants scoring high in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU), a transdiagnostic risk factor for emotional disorders, were faster at identifying targets with uncertainty-based information (e.g., word stimuli such as ‘maybe’), relative to neutral information (e.g. word stimuli related to household items). Moreover, this effect was specific to IU over other anxious traits such as worry. This report aimed to conceptually replicate the results of Fergus et al. (Cognitive Therapy and Research 37:735-741, 2013). The current experiment was conducted with a student sample (n = 126). As in the original study, a visual search task with uncertainty-based and neutral information (e.g., word stimuli) was used. Reaction times were collected. IU and trait anxiety was measured via self-report. We partially replicated the results of Fergus et al. (Cognitive Therapy and Research 37:735-741, 2013). We found that higher IU was significantly associated with faster identification of uncertainty-based information, relative to neutral information. However, we also observed a similar pattern of results for trait anxiety. Additionally, we observed no specificity of IU or trait anxiety in predicting faster identification of uncertainty-based information, relative to neutral information. Despite the lack of specificity of IU or trait anxiety in predicting attentional bias to uncertainty-based information, these findings highlight that negative emotionality may be generally associated with attentional biases to uncertainty-based information in the absence of direct threat.

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Neural and psychophysiological markers of intolerance of uncertainty

Cited by 10 publications

References 63 publications

Anxiety in Early Adolescents During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Anxiety in Early Adolescents During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Associations between intolerance of uncertainty, paranoia, anxiety and depression: Evidence from an international multi-site sample

Attentional bias to uncertainty-based information: a conceptual replication of Fergus et al. (2013)

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