Intolerance of uncertainty is associated with reduced attentional inhibition in the absence of direct threat
Intolerance of uncertainty is associated with reduced attentional inhibition in the absence of direct threat
Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a dispositional tendency to find uncertain situations aversive. There is limited understanding as to how IU may bias attention to uncertainty in the absence of direct threat. Here we examined the extent to which uncertain distractors and individual differences in IU impacted eye-movements during an attentional capture task. Participants were asked to move their eyes towards a target, whilst ignoring an array of distractors. An additional distractor could appear before or after the target in a near or far location from the target. We observed high IU individuals to display fewer first saccades to the target in all conditions. The results were specific to IU, over trait anxiety. Overall, these results suggest that IU modulates attention to uncertainty in the absence of direct threat. Such findings inform the conceptualisation of IU and its relation to psychopathology.
1-6
Morriss, Jayne
a6005806-07cf-4283-8766-900003a7306f
McSorley, Eugene
e510da20-a293-4441-a94a-4cdea5c51619
1 July 2019
Morriss, Jayne
a6005806-07cf-4283-8766-900003a7306f
McSorley, Eugene
e510da20-a293-4441-a94a-4cdea5c51619
Morriss, Jayne and McSorley, Eugene
(2019)
Intolerance of uncertainty is associated with reduced attentional inhibition in the absence of direct threat.
Behaviour Research and Therapy, 118, .
(doi:10.1016/j.brat.2019.03.011).
Abstract
Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a dispositional tendency to find uncertain situations aversive. There is limited understanding as to how IU may bias attention to uncertainty in the absence of direct threat. Here we examined the extent to which uncertain distractors and individual differences in IU impacted eye-movements during an attentional capture task. Participants were asked to move their eyes towards a target, whilst ignoring an array of distractors. An additional distractor could appear before or after the target in a near or far location from the target. We observed high IU individuals to display fewer first saccades to the target in all conditions. The results were specific to IU, over trait anxiety. Overall, these results suggest that IU modulates attention to uncertainty in the absence of direct threat. Such findings inform the conceptualisation of IU and its relation to psychopathology.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 21 March 2019
Published date: 1 July 2019
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© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Local EPrints ID: 472473
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/472473
ISSN: 0005-7967
PURE UUID: 97620592-3fc1-4748-99b3-81b32dfb7e96
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Date deposited: 06 Dec 2022 17:36
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:14
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Author:
Jayne Morriss
Author:
Eugene McSorley
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