Examining self-report and behavioral measure of attentional control in anxiety disorders

Abstract

Attention is a fundamental cognitive process which shapes the way an individual sees and interacts with their environment. Anxiety disorders disrupt normal cognitive functioning by interfering with top-down (i.e., goal driven) and bottom-up (i.e., stimulus driven) attentional control processes, such that individuals with high anxiety have distinct attentional biases toward threatening stimuli. Attentional control can be assessed through self-report measures such as the Attentional Control Scale, or through behavioral measures such as a dot-probe task, both of which are used commonly in cognitive research. The current study sought to examine if levels of worry and social anxiety symptoms predict self-reported and behavioral indicators of attentional control abilities, as this relationship has not been well documented in existing literature. Participants completed self-report measures of worry, social anxiety, and attentional control, followed by a modified emotional dot-probe task designed to provide behavioral indicators of attentional control. Results found that those in the high social anxiety group expressed low self- reported attentional control and displayed low responding accuracy across dot-probe trials. No significant relationship was found among worry groups, possibly due to anxiety related deficits in attentional efficiency but not performance. This study expands on current research by documenting the relationship between self-report and behavioral measures of attentional control across levels of anxiety and social anxiety.