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The differential effect of anxiety and ADHD symptoms on inhibitory control and sustained attention for threat stimuli: A go/no-go eye-movement study

The differential effect of anxiety and ADHD symptoms on inhibitory control and sustained attention for threat stimuli: A go/no-go eye-movement study
The differential effect of anxiety and ADHD symptoms on inhibitory control and sustained attention for threat stimuli: A go/no-go eye-movement study
Objective: This study examined the synergistic effects of ADHD and anxiety symptoms on attention and inhibitory control depending on the emotional content of the stimuli. Method: Fifty-four typically developing individuals (27 children/adolescents and 27 adults) completed an eye-movement based emotional Go/No-Go task, using centrally presented (happy, angry) faces and neutral/symbolic stimuli. Sustained attention was measured through saccade latencies and saccadic omission errors (Go trials), and inhibitory control through saccadic commission errors (No-Go trials). ADHD and anxiety were assessed dimensionally. Results: Elevated ADHD symptoms were associated with more commission errors and slower saccade latencies for angry (vs. happy) faces. In contrast, angry faces were linked to faster saccade onsets when anxiety symptoms were high, and this effect prevailed when both anxiety and ADHD symptoms were high. Conclusion: Social threat impacted performance in individuals with sub-clinical anxiety and ADHD differently. The effects of anxiety on threat processing prevailed when both symptoms were high.
ADHD, anxiety, response inhibition, sustained attention
1087-0547
Manoli, Athina
bc3fb375-c2f8-47c8-b01f-a31cb9b9358a
Liversedge, Simon P.
3ebda3f3-d930-4f89-85d5-5654d8fe7dee
Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J. S.
bc80bf95-6cf9-4c76-a09d-eaaf0b717635
Hadwin, Julie A.
a364caf0-405a-42f3-a04c-4864817393ee
Manoli, Athina
bc3fb375-c2f8-47c8-b01f-a31cb9b9358a
Liversedge, Simon P.
3ebda3f3-d930-4f89-85d5-5654d8fe7dee
Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J. S.
bc80bf95-6cf9-4c76-a09d-eaaf0b717635
Hadwin, Julie A.
a364caf0-405a-42f3-a04c-4864817393ee

Manoli, Athina, Liversedge, Simon P., Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J. S. and Hadwin, Julie A. (2020) The differential effect of anxiety and ADHD symptoms on inhibitory control and sustained attention for threat stimuli: A go/no-go eye-movement study. Journal of Attention Disorders. (doi:10.1177/1087054720930809).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the synergistic effects of ADHD and anxiety symptoms on attention and inhibitory control depending on the emotional content of the stimuli. Method: Fifty-four typically developing individuals (27 children/adolescents and 27 adults) completed an eye-movement based emotional Go/No-Go task, using centrally presented (happy, angry) faces and neutral/symbolic stimuli. Sustained attention was measured through saccade latencies and saccadic omission errors (Go trials), and inhibitory control through saccadic commission errors (No-Go trials). ADHD and anxiety were assessed dimensionally. Results: Elevated ADHD symptoms were associated with more commission errors and slower saccade latencies for angry (vs. happy) faces. In contrast, angry faces were linked to faster saccade onsets when anxiety symptoms were high, and this effect prevailed when both anxiety and ADHD symptoms were high. Conclusion: Social threat impacted performance in individuals with sub-clinical anxiety and ADHD differently. The effects of anxiety on threat processing prevailed when both symptoms were high.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 4 May 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 June 2020
Additional Information: Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research project was funded by the University of Southampton’s Vice Chancellor Scholarship and the Solent NHS Trust. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.
Keywords: ADHD, anxiety, response inhibition, sustained attention

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 441415
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/441415
ISSN: 1087-0547
PURE UUID: b3f0009c-0884-4132-a604-165706bdefc4

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Date deposited: 11 Jun 2020 16:40
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 08:14

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Contributors

Author: Athina Manoli
Author: Simon P. Liversedge
Author: Edmund J. S. Sonuga-Barke
Author: Julie A. Hadwin

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