Anxiety, a global health-related burden, is associated with preferential processing of threat, which is referred to as attention bias. Such bias is thought to be due to heightened attentional...Show moreAnxiety, a global health-related burden, is associated with preferential processing of threat, which is referred to as attention bias. Such bias is thought to be due to heightened attentional engagement to threat and/or difficulties in disengagement from threat, it can be altered through Attention Bias Modification (ABM) Training. Unfortunately, the predominantly used task in ABM training shows low effectiveness. Thus, this study aims to develop a new task that trains threat disengagement using a visual search task with emotionally valent faces. Thirty-four participants took part in an online experiment and completed a Go/ No-go-like Visual Search task designed to train disengagement from negative stimuli. Reaction time and accuracy were measured to examine the effect of the task while trait anxiety scores were gathered to examine the relationship between anxiety and attention bias. The results revealed no significant differences in threat disengagement as a function of training and no correlation between trait anxiety scores and threat disengagement. These findings may be attributable to the small sample size used or to the participants showing a lack of attention bias even before training commenced. Despite the study’s null findings, suggestions on how to improve the paradigm are presented and discussed to guide future studies to come up with an effective ABM training task.Show less
While fear of social situations is common, excessive social fears, as observed in social anxiety disorder (SAD), can have debilitating consequences on one’s life. Social fears increase from early...Show moreWhile fear of social situations is common, excessive social fears, as observed in social anxiety disorder (SAD), can have debilitating consequences on one’s life. Social fears increase from early to mid-adolescence, heightening vulnerability to developing SAD. Parents’ threatening verbal comments in a social context could influence children’s fear response, including attention, and lead to social fear acquisition. Additionally, children with higher behavioral inhibition (BI), who are more cautious and withdrawn in novel situations, can be more open to the effects of parental remarks than children with lower BI. Therefore, the current thesis aimed to investigate the effect of parental verbal threat versus safety about strangers on children’s attention to strangers, while looking at BI as a moderator. The children (age M = 11.62, SD = 1.18, range: 9.5-14) gave a presentation for two strangers after receiving either threatening or safe verbal descriptions of these strangers from their parents. Results showed that the child’s attention (i.e., looking duration) toward the stranger did not significantly differ between the threat and safe conditions. Furthermore, there was no significant moderation by BI. Thus, child attention was not influenced by parental verbal information irrespective of individual differences in child BI. Future studies could investigate children’s development of SAD further by focusing on the role of parental SAD, as well as the effects of repetitive exposure to parental verbal threat, other variables related to attention, and the developmental trajectories regarding BI.Show less
Non-verbal communication is an import social skill we humans have mastered. The eyes of others are of particular interest to us. Gaze direction in combination with the emotional expression on...Show moreNon-verbal communication is an import social skill we humans have mastered. The eyes of others are of particular interest to us. Gaze direction in combination with the emotional expression on someone’s face, provides a plethora of information about location and evaluation. Theory of mind is important in understanding this information. There is evidence that depression can cause a bias towards negative stimuli, however not all studies regarding this subject find similar results. To investigate whether depression influences attention in a negative matter a gaze cueing paradigm was used. The level of depression was measured using the BDI. Our findings indicated an effect of cue validity, but not of emotion. The level of depression did not influence attention.Show less
Conflicts do not naturally attract the interest of policy makers nor do they naturally garner international recognition and attention. It is therefore essential to understand, if conflicts are...Show moreConflicts do not naturally attract the interest of policy makers nor do they naturally garner international recognition and attention. It is therefore essential to understand, if conflicts are ignored, how inattention manifests itself in inaction, what are the consequences of inattention and why does inattention exist. This thesis will seek to answer these questions within the primary confines of the conflict(s) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It will be argued that attention is a commodity predominantly distributed by policymakers and media organisations who may choose to pay attention or not. The consequences of inattention, such as increased levels of severity and violence, can therefore be attributed to those purposefully ignoring conflict.Show less
