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Effects of age and anxiety on processing threat cues in healthy children

Effects of age and anxiety on processing threat cues in healthy children
Effects of age and anxiety on processing threat cues in healthy children
This study investigated relationships between childhood anxiety, chronological age and threat processing biases. It used a cross-sectional design comparing younger and older children, separated using a median-split on trait anxiety scores into low-anxious versus moderately-anxious groups. Participants were 67 schoolchildren, aged 7–14 years, who completed emotional Stroop and visual probe tasks with angry, happy, and neutral faces. Results from both tasks showed (i) a main effect of age on emotion processing, i.e., increased bias for emotional relative to neutral faces in younger than older children, and (ii) a moderating effect of age on anxiety-related bias for threat. That is, on the modified Stroop task, an enhanced processing bias for angry faces, relative to neutral faces, was found only in the group of moderately-anxious younger children. This bias appeared to be specific to angry faces, as it was not found for happy faces. On the visual probe task, moderately-anxious younger children also showed an enhanced attentional bias for angry faces, relative to neutral faces; in addition, they also showed a similar bias for happy relative to neutral faces. Taken together, findings suggest that moderately-anxious younger children show enhanced processing of threat, relative to neutral information, and that this anxiety-related threat bias lessens with age.
2043-8087
Reinholdt-Dunne, M.L.
4504d8c8-2ff7-444f-9f34-c6abbd61bf81
Mogg, K.
5f1474af-85f5-4fd3-8eb6-0371be848e30
Esbjorn, B.H.
56e6f2c2-73ac-4493-b8d3-a8e15d7ba6dc
Bradley, B.P.
bdacaa6c-528b-4086-9448-27ebfe463514
Reinholdt-Dunne, M.L.
4504d8c8-2ff7-444f-9f34-c6abbd61bf81
Mogg, K.
5f1474af-85f5-4fd3-8eb6-0371be848e30
Esbjorn, B.H.
56e6f2c2-73ac-4493-b8d3-a8e15d7ba6dc
Bradley, B.P.
bdacaa6c-528b-4086-9448-27ebfe463514

Reinholdt-Dunne, M.L., Mogg, K., Esbjorn, B.H. and Bradley, B.P. (2012) Effects of age and anxiety on processing threat cues in healthy children. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology. (doi:10.5127/jep.019611).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This study investigated relationships between childhood anxiety, chronological age and threat processing biases. It used a cross-sectional design comparing younger and older children, separated using a median-split on trait anxiety scores into low-anxious versus moderately-anxious groups. Participants were 67 schoolchildren, aged 7–14 years, who completed emotional Stroop and visual probe tasks with angry, happy, and neutral faces. Results from both tasks showed (i) a main effect of age on emotion processing, i.e., increased bias for emotional relative to neutral faces in younger than older children, and (ii) a moderating effect of age on anxiety-related bias for threat. That is, on the modified Stroop task, an enhanced processing bias for angry faces, relative to neutral faces, was found only in the group of moderately-anxious younger children. This bias appeared to be specific to angry faces, as it was not found for happy faces. On the visual probe task, moderately-anxious younger children also showed an enhanced attentional bias for angry faces, relative to neutral faces; in addition, they also showed a similar bias for happy relative to neutral faces. Taken together, findings suggest that moderately-anxious younger children show enhanced processing of threat, relative to neutral information, and that this anxiety-related threat bias lessens with age.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 21 May 2011
Published date: 2012
Organisations: Clinical Neuroscience

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 190201
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/190201
ISSN: 2043-8087
PURE UUID: 89199851-4aee-43dc-99d4-58f62bfadbff
ORCID for B.P. Bradley: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2801-4271

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 10 Jun 2011 10:17
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:08

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Contributors

Author: M.L. Reinholdt-Dunne
Author: K. Mogg
Author: B.H. Esbjorn
Author: B.P. Bradley ORCID iD

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