Visual attention toward emotional stimuli: Anxiety symptoms correspond to distinct gaze patterns

Abstract

Decades of research have established a link between emotional disorders and attentional biases for emotional stimuli, but the relationship between symptom severity and visual attention is still not fully understood. Depression has been associated with increased attention towards dysphoric stimuli and decreased attention on positive stimuli (“negativity bias”), and some studies have also shown this trend in anxiety disorders. We examined eye fixation variables in 47 participants with emotional disorders completing an emotion recognition task. Results showed that depression severity was not associated with increased fixations on dysphoric stimuli, however, higher levels of generalized anxiety predicted increased fixations in the mouth region of sad and happy faces. Higher levels of social interaction anxiety predicted reduced fixations in the eye region of happy faces. While we did not replicate the negativity bias that has been shown in prior studies, our sample was highly comorbid, indicating the need to consider comorbidity, disorder severity, and the task itself when conducting research on visual attention in clinical samples. Additionally, more attention should be paid to the mouth region of emotional faces, as it may provide more specific information regarding the visual processing of emotions.

Correlating Eye-Tracking Fixation Metrics and Neuropsychological Assessment after Ischemic Stroke

“…Our study showed that first fixation duration is positively correlated with anxiety levels, as measured by the HADS-A test. This finding aligns with current research showing that distinct gaze patterns are associated with anxiety symptoms [ 30 ]. Specifically, individuals with higher levels of anxiety exhibited prolonged initial attention directed toward the presented stimulus.…”

A study on the association between prefrontal functional connectivity and non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents with depression

“…This study found decreased FC between the right frontal eye field and the right middle occipital gyrus in the adolescents with depression. Previous studies have indicated that various emotional disorders, such as depression and anxiety, often involve attention biases toward emotional visual stimuli ( 10 ). Individuals with these disorders tend to focus more on negative stimuli, rather than pleasant stimuli ( 11 ).…”