Trait anxiety and the alignment of attentional bias with controllability of danger

Abstract

Attentional bias to threat cues is most adaptive when the dangers they signal can readily be controlled by timely action. This study examined whether heightened trait anxiety is associated with impaired alignment between attentional bias to threat and variation in the controllability of danger, and whether this is moderated by executive functioning. Participants completed a task in which threat cues signalled money loss and an aversive noise burst (the danger). In 'high control' blocks, attending to the threat cue offered a high chance of avoiding this danger. In 'low control' blocks, attending to the threat cue offered little control over the danger. The task yielded measures of attentional monitoring for threat, and attentional orienting to threat. Results indicated all participants showed greater attentional orienting to threat cues in high control relative to low control blocks (indicative of proper alignment), however, high trait-anxious participants showed no difference in attentional monitoring for threat between block types, whereas low trait-anxious participants did. This effect was moderated by N-Back scores. These results suggest heightened trait anxiety may be associated with impaired alignment of attentional monitoring for threat cues, and that such alignment deficit may be attenuated by high executive functioning.

The relationship between worry and attentional bias to threat cues signalling controllable and uncontrollable dangers

“…Overall, these results are consistent with theories that implicate goal-directed attentional processes in attentional biases, as the findings show that individuals can alter their attentional bias in response to contextual changes [18,35,57,58]. The findings also provide support for theories suggesting that an attentional bias to threat may not be a stable phenomenon, and rather varies across time, context and threat stimuli [29,31]. Additional results assessing participants' response patterns to the shape identification component of the task are presented in S1 File.…”

“…While such research has established that a higher frequency of worry is associated with a heightened attentional bias to threat, it does not illuminate the possibility as to why in some people this bias to threat cues leads to disruptive worry, whereas in others it leads to non-disruptive worry. Recent theories suggest that worry may be characterised not by a stable attentional bias, but rather by biases that fluctuate across time, context, and threat stimuli [29][30][31]. Thus, one intriguing potential explanation is that this distinction between those who experience worry as disruptive, from those who experience worry as non-disruptive to everyday functioning, may reflect a difference in the flexible allocation of attention to particular types of threat cues.…”

“…As the ability to fulfil this adaptive function requires the upcoming danger to be controllable, optimal functioning requires increased attentional allocation to threats signalling more controllable dangers and decreased attentional allocation to threats signalling less controllable danger. This pattern of attention allocation is referred to as attentional bias alignment [ 31 ]. Several studies have now demonstrated that individuals in general indeed flexibly align their attentional bias to such variation in danger controllability, to show a greater attentional bias to threats signalling more controllable dangers relative to threats signalling less controllable dangers [ 31 , 34 ].…”

“…This pattern of attention allocation is referred to as attentional bias alignment [ 31 ]. Several studies have now demonstrated that individuals in general indeed flexibly align their attentional bias to such variation in danger controllability, to show a greater attentional bias to threats signalling more controllable dangers relative to threats signalling less controllable dangers [ 31 , 34 ]. In the current study, we propose that a decreased ability to show such attentional bias alignment contributes to experiencing disruptive worry in particular.…”

Dispositional negativity, cognition, and anxiety disorders: An integrative translational neuroscience framework

“…Hypervigilance in inappropriate or maladaptive settings is a core feature of extreme anxiety (Grupe & Nitschke, 2013; Notebaert et al., in press; Notebaert, Tilbrook, Clarke, & MacLeod, 2017). Persistent, contextually inappropriate vigilance or attentional biases to threat-related information may reflect stress-induced sensitization of the amygdala.…”