Attentional impairment in anxiety: inefficiency in expanding the scope of attention

作者：Najmi Sadia; Kuckertz Jennie M; Amir Nader^*

来源：Depression and Anxiety, 2012, 29(3): 243-249.

DOI：10.1002/da.20900

• attention scope
• attention
• anxiety
• attention narrowing
• attention constriction

Background: The ability to attend to relevant visual information in a proficient manner is central to most day-to-day tasks. Research suggests, however, that this ability is compromised by anxiety such that anxiety results in narrowing the focus of visual attention. Method: In the current study (N=58), we used the Attention Scope Task [1999: Gerontology 45:102-109] to examine the hypothesis that low-anxious individuals would be more proficient than high-anxious individuals in their scope of attention, that is, high-anxious individuals would have a larger scope of visual attention than low-anxious individuals. Additionally, we hypothesized that low-anxious individuals would be more proficient than high-anxious individuals in their ability to expand their scope of attention. Results: Results revealed that, compared to low-anxious individuals, high-anxious individuals were impaired only in their ability to expand their scope of attention from a small area to a larger one. Inclusion of a depressed control group in the study revealed that our findings are specific to the effect of anxiety and not depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Thus, high-anxious individuals do not appear to have a smaller absolute scope of attention but instead seem to have difficulty expanding their attention scope dynamically. We discuss our results in relation to cognitive inflexibility in anxiety. Depression and Anxiety 29:243-249, 2012.

• 出版日期2012-3