Attentional bias away from positive social information mediates the link between social anxiety and anxiety vulnerability to a social stressor

作者：Taylor Charles T; Bomyea Jessica; Amir Nader^*

来源：Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2010, 24(4): 403-408.

DOI：10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.02.004

• Social anxiety
• Attention
• Positive
• Anxiety vulnerability
• Information processing

Accumulating evidence suggests that social anxiety is associated with biased processing of positive social information. However, it remains to be determined whether those biases are simply correlates of, or play a role in maintaining social anxiety. The current study examined whether diminished attentional allocation for positive social cues mediates the link between social anxiety and anxiety reactivity to a social-evaluative task. Forty-three undergraduate students ranging in severity of social anxiety symptoms completed a baseline measure of attentional bias for positive social cues (i.e., modified probe detection task) and subsequently delivered an impromptu videotaped speech. Mediation analyses revealed that the tendency to allocate attention away from positive social stimuli mediated the effect of social anxiety on change in state anxiety in response to the stressor. The current findings add to a nascent empirical literature suggesting that aberrant processing of positive social information may contribute to the persistence of excessive social anxiety.

• 出版日期2010-5