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Cited by 9Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesVisual Attention and Saliency Detection

A Disruption in the Balance of Attentional Systems Plays a Role in Trait Anxiety

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Minnick, Mark R., Pérez-Edgar, Koraly E., Soto, José A.·2020·Brain Sciences
DOI 10.3390/brainsci10100761PMC PMC7589342
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Abstract

Elevated levels of anxiety are associated with attentional threat biases and inefficient attentional control, with the latter requiring sustained cognitive effort. The current study assessed self-reported and behavioral evidence of attentional functioning, along with electrodermal activity (EDA; measured via changes in skin conductance level [SCL reactivity]) as an index of sympathetic arousal, to examine whether these vulnerabilities are evident among individuals with elevated trait anxiety (non-clinical). Fifty-nine participants completed a working memory span task measuring attentional control under high cognitive load. A visual change detection task assessed stimulus-driven attention as an indicator of vigilance to non-threatening visual information. Trait anxiety was self-reported. SCL was captured at rest and during the working memory task. Results revealed that trait anxiety was positively related to speed of visual change detection, without accuracy costs, suggesting enhanced vigilance for neutral visual information among those higher in trait anxiety. Trait anxiety also moderated the relation between change detection speed and attentional control, such that attentional vigilance was not associated with variation in attentional control for individuals higher in trait anxiety. However, for individuals lower in trait anxiety, vigilance was negatively associated with attention control. The relationship between vigilance and attentional control was also moderated by SCL reactivity such that the association was only significant at lower SCL reactivity levels. Taken together, results suggest that individuals higher in trait anxiety demonstrate greater attentional control in the service of visual detection, but greater attentional control may come at the cost of increased sympathetic arousal.

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  • Individuals with good attentional control ability can regulate top-down attention allocation and avoid bottom-up stimulus drive systems that are overly enhanced and more easily attracted to negative stimuli.

    “Individuals with good attentional control ability can regulate top-down attention allocation and avoid bottom-up stimulus drive systems that are overly enhanced and more easily attracted to negative stimuli.”

    From Media multitasking, depression, and anxiety of college students: Serial mediating effects of attention control and negative information attentional bias (2022) · cites this paper as [54]

    The Introduction (§1.1; page unavailable) describes attentional control as goal-directed regulation that can inhibit distracting stimuli. But the Discussion (§4; page unavailable) says better attentional control is associated with less vigilance only among people lower in trait anxiety; those higher in trait anxiety may experience attentional capture regardless of their control ability. The study assessed detection of neutral stimuli, not whether good control prevents attraction to negative stimuli. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The lower the attentional control, the more susceptible the individual is to the stimulus drive system, and the more attention is captured by negative stimuli, leading to anxiety and depression.

    “However, the lower the attentional control, the more susceptible the individual is to the stimulus drive system, and the more attention is captured by negative stimuli, leading to anxiety and depression (54–56).”

    From Media multitasking, depression, and anxiety of college students: Serial mediating effects of attention control and negative information attentional bias (2022) · cites this paper as [54]

    The Introduction (§1.1; page unavailable) links trait anxiety with stimulus-driven attention to threat and reduced resources for attentional control. But the Discussion (§4; page unavailable) says attentional capture in people higher in trait anxiety may occur regardless of their general attentional control and whether stimuli are threatening. The paper does not establish that low control causes negative-stimulus capture leading to anxiety and depression; depression is not addressed in the retrieved passages. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Minnick, M. R., Pérez-Edgar, K. E., & Soto, J. A.
Affiliations
  • Pennsylvania State University (US)
  • Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA
Corresponding author
Soto, José A.
ORCID
Soto, José A.
Venue
Brain Sciences
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2020-10-21
Volume
10
Issue
10
Pages
761
ISSN
2076-3425 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/brainsci10100761
PMC
PMC7589342
OpenAlex
W3094210347
Cited by
9
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1
FWCI
1.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Brain Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
McCourtney Professorship in Child Studies and the McCourtney Early Career Professorship (The Pennsylvania State University)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
Keywords
trait anxiety, attentional control, attentional vigilance, electrodermal activity, skin conductance level, sympathetic activation, working memory load, visual change detection, attentional networks

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