The attentional processes underlying impaired inhibition of threat in anxiety: The remote distractor effect

Abstract

The current study explored the proposition that anxiety is associated with impaired inhibition of threat. Using a modified version of the remote distractor paradigm, we considered whether this impairment is related to attentional capture by threat, difficulties disengaging from threat presented within foveal vision, or difficulties orienting to task-relevant stimuli when threat is present in central, parafoveal and peripheral locations in the visual field. Participants were asked to direct their eyes towards and identify a target in the presence and absence of a distractor (an angry, happy or neutral face). Trait anxiety was associated with a delay in initiating eye movements to the target in the presence of central, parafoveal and peripheral threatening distractors. These findings suggest that elevated anxiety is linked to difficulties inhibiting task-irrelevant threat presented across a broad region of the visual field.

Keywords:

• Anxiety
• Eye movements
• Threat
• Attention
• Remote distractor
• Inhibition

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, UK (award number PTA-031-2006-00179).

We would like to thank Nick Donnelly and the members of the Developmental Brain-Behaviour Laboratory and the Centre for Visual Cognition at the University of Southampton for valuable comments and advice on this research.