The influence of anxiety on processing capacity for threat detection
The influence of anxiety on processing capacity for threat detection
In the present study, we explored the proposition that an individual’s capacity for threat detection is related to his or her trait anxiety. Using a redundant signals paradigm with concurrent measurements of reaction times and eye movements, participants indicated the presence or absence of an emotional target face (angry or happy) in displays containing no targets, one target, or two targets. We used estimates of the orderings on the hazard functions of the RT distributions as measures of processing capacity (Townsend & Ashby, 1978; Wenger & Gibson, Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance, 30,708–719, 2004) to assess whether self-reported anxiety and the affective state of the face interacted with the level of perceptual load (i.e., the number of targets). Results indicated that anxiety was associated with fewer eye movements and increased processing capacity to detect multiple (vs. single) threatening faces. The data are consistent with anxiety influencing threat detection via a broadly tuned attentional mechanism (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, Emotion, 7,336–353, 2007).
eye movements and visual attention, reaction time methods, attention
883-889
Richards, Helen J.
e4d20ed7-1efd-4310-8f9c-440e5eed78f5
Hadwin, Julie A.
a364caf0-405a-42f3-a04c-4864817393ee
Benson, Valerie
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Wenger, Michael J.
af117fc0-610a-460e-bd72-57978ffcf61b
Donnelly, Nick
05c83b6b-ee8d-4c9d-85dc-c5dcd6b5427b
October 2011
Richards, Helen J.
e4d20ed7-1efd-4310-8f9c-440e5eed78f5
Hadwin, Julie A.
a364caf0-405a-42f3-a04c-4864817393ee
Benson, Valerie
4827cede-6668-4e3d-bded-ade4cd5e5db5
Wenger, Michael J.
af117fc0-610a-460e-bd72-57978ffcf61b
Donnelly, Nick
05c83b6b-ee8d-4c9d-85dc-c5dcd6b5427b
Richards, Helen J., Hadwin, Julie A., Benson, Valerie, Wenger, Michael J. and Donnelly, Nick
(2011)
The influence of anxiety on processing capacity for threat detection.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18 (5), .
(doi:10.3758/s13423-011-0124-7).
Abstract
In the present study, we explored the proposition that an individual’s capacity for threat detection is related to his or her trait anxiety. Using a redundant signals paradigm with concurrent measurements of reaction times and eye movements, participants indicated the presence or absence of an emotional target face (angry or happy) in displays containing no targets, one target, or two targets. We used estimates of the orderings on the hazard functions of the RT distributions as measures of processing capacity (Townsend & Ashby, 1978; Wenger & Gibson, Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance, 30,708–719, 2004) to assess whether self-reported anxiety and the affective state of the face interacted with the level of perceptual load (i.e., the number of targets). Results indicated that anxiety was associated with fewer eye movements and increased processing capacity to detect multiple (vs. single) threatening faces. The data are consistent with anxiety influencing threat detection via a broadly tuned attentional mechanism (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, Emotion, 7,336–353, 2007).
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Accepted/In Press date: 2011
Published date: October 2011
Keywords:
eye movements and visual attention, reaction time methods, attention
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Local EPrints ID: 191447
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/191447
PURE UUID: 26e63417-1003-4aa1-9562-06b0958b4949
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Date deposited: 21 Jun 2011 13:14
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 03:44
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Contributors
Author:
Helen J. Richards
Author:
Valerie Benson
Author:
Michael J. Wenger
Author:
Nick Donnelly
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