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Attention control and attention to emotional stimuli in anxious children before and after cognitive behavioural therapy

Attention control and attention to emotional stimuli in anxious children before and after cognitive behavioural therapy
Attention control and attention to emotional stimuli in anxious children before and after cognitive behavioural therapy
This study investigated attention control and attentional bias for emotional stimuli in children with anxiety disorders, compared with disorder-free children. Furthermore, it examined the effect of individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on these attentional variables in anxious children. Participants included 22 anxious and 20 control children (aged 7-12 years; 50% female). Attention control was measured using a partial report-by-color task based on the Theory of Visual Attention, which assesses ability to focus on task-relevant information and resist distraction by non-emotional task-irrelevant information. Attentional bias for emotional faces was assessed using a visual probe task with angry, happy, and neutral faces. Anxious and control children were assessed at baseline (pre-treatment) and, in addition, anxious children were re-assessed post-treatment and at six months following treatment. Before treatment, children with clinical anxiety showed poorer attention control and greater attentional bias for emotional faces in comparison to control children. Following treatment, anxious children showed a significant reduction in attentional bias for emotional faces, and a trend for improvement in attention control. There was no significant change in attentional bias or attention control between post-treatment and 6-months follow-up assessments. Findings contribute to prior research by showing that clinically anxious children exhibit both increased attention to emotional information and impaired attention control, and that following treatment their attentional bias and attention control are comparable with those of control children. Further research is required to clarify the extent to which changes in attentional functioning relate to the maintenance of anxiety disorders and responsiveness to treatment.
0147-5916
785–796
Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie-Louise
4504d8c8-2ff7-444f-9f34-c6abbd61bf81
Mogg, Karin
5f1474af-85f5-4fd3-8eb6-0371be848e30
Vangkilde, Signe A.
4892eaf0-f5ff-4466-8f87-41b601413e65
Bradley, Brendan P.
bdacaa6c-528b-4086-9448-27ebfe463514
Esbjørn, Barbara Hoff
03ecbe60-efc0-4c06-9a9f-6922ad4fcdaf
Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie-Louise
4504d8c8-2ff7-444f-9f34-c6abbd61bf81
Mogg, Karin
5f1474af-85f5-4fd3-8eb6-0371be848e30
Vangkilde, Signe A.
4892eaf0-f5ff-4466-8f87-41b601413e65
Bradley, Brendan P.
bdacaa6c-528b-4086-9448-27ebfe463514
Esbjørn, Barbara Hoff
03ecbe60-efc0-4c06-9a9f-6922ad4fcdaf

Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie-Louise, Mogg, Karin, Vangkilde, Signe A., Bradley, Brendan P. and Esbjørn, Barbara Hoff (2015) Attention control and attention to emotional stimuli in anxious children before and after cognitive behavioural therapy. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 39 (6), 785–796. (doi:10.1007/s10608-015-9708-2).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This study investigated attention control and attentional bias for emotional stimuli in children with anxiety disorders, compared with disorder-free children. Furthermore, it examined the effect of individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on these attentional variables in anxious children. Participants included 22 anxious and 20 control children (aged 7-12 years; 50% female). Attention control was measured using a partial report-by-color task based on the Theory of Visual Attention, which assesses ability to focus on task-relevant information and resist distraction by non-emotional task-irrelevant information. Attentional bias for emotional faces was assessed using a visual probe task with angry, happy, and neutral faces. Anxious and control children were assessed at baseline (pre-treatment) and, in addition, anxious children were re-assessed post-treatment and at six months following treatment. Before treatment, children with clinical anxiety showed poorer attention control and greater attentional bias for emotional faces in comparison to control children. Following treatment, anxious children showed a significant reduction in attentional bias for emotional faces, and a trend for improvement in attention control. There was no significant change in attentional bias or attention control between post-treatment and 6-months follow-up assessments. Findings contribute to prior research by showing that clinically anxious children exhibit both increased attention to emotional information and impaired attention control, and that following treatment their attentional bias and attention control are comparable with those of control children. Further research is required to clarify the extent to which changes in attentional functioning relate to the maintenance of anxiety disorders and responsiveness to treatment.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 19 July 2015
Published date: December 2015
Organisations: Psychology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 407738
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/407738
ISSN: 0147-5916
PURE UUID: 36d5eefa-d05a-4005-a56a-4b7891174b21
ORCID for Brendan P. Bradley: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2801-4271

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Date deposited: 25 Apr 2017 01:05
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:19

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Contributors

Author: Marie-Louise Reinholdt-Dunne
Author: Karin Mogg
Author: Signe A. Vangkilde
Author: Barbara Hoff Esbjørn

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