Biased Attention to Threat and Incompleteness in Youth with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety Disorders
(2023) PSPR14 20222Department of Psychology
- Abstract
- Biased attentional processes have been implicated in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders (ADs) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, existing research has yielded inconsistent results and there is limited research with samples of children and adolescents, especially in relation to OCD. Further, there is no study examining attentional bias connected to the Core Dimension Model (Summerfeldt et al., 2014), where harm/threat avoidance (HA) and incompleteness (INC) are considered the two key motivational factors in OCD. The aim of this study was to examine attentional bias and disengagement for threat- and incompleteness-related stimuli in youth with OCD (n = 85), ADs (n = 50) and no psychiatric disorders (n = 47).... (More)
- Biased attentional processes have been implicated in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders (ADs) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, existing research has yielded inconsistent results and there is limited research with samples of children and adolescents, especially in relation to OCD. Further, there is no study examining attentional bias connected to the Core Dimension Model (Summerfeldt et al., 2014), where harm/threat avoidance (HA) and incompleteness (INC) are considered the two key motivational factors in OCD. The aim of this study was to examine attentional bias and disengagement for threat- and incompleteness-related stimuli in youth with OCD (n = 85), ADs (n = 50) and no psychiatric disorders (n = 47). Participants completed a computerized dot-probe task designed to measure threat- and incompleteness-related attentional bias, engagement and disengagement. The study did not find attentional bias in any group, regardless of stimulus type. However, slow engagement and delayed disengagement (potentially indicating a general slowness) were detected in relation to threat in all groups, but not in relation to incompleteness. No group differences were detected for either attentional bias or disengagement, regardless of stimuli. Findings could either indicate that biased attentional processes are not linked to OCD and AD in youth or that the dot-probe task used in this study failed to alter underlying attentional processes. The present findings are unexpected and rather than informing clinical care, they generate recommendations for future research in the field of attentional processes in youth with OCD and ADs. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Uppmärksamhetsbias har föreslagits vara involverat i både utveckling och vidmakthållande av tvångs- och ångestsyndrom. Befintlig forskning har emellertid genererat motsägelsefulla resultat och forskning avseende barn och ungdomar är begränsad, särskilt relaterat till tvångssyndrom. Vidare finns det ingen studie där uppmärksamhetsbias har undersökts i relation till Core Dimension Modellen (Summerfeldt et al., 2014), där undvikande av hot (harm avoidance) och en känsla av ofullständighet (incompleteness), anses vara underliggande motiverande faktorer för tvångssyndrom. Syftet med studien var att undersöka uppmärksamhetsbias samt desengagemang (disengagement) för stimuli relaterade till hot eller ofullständighet hos unga med tvångssyndrom (n... (More)
- Uppmärksamhetsbias har föreslagits vara involverat i både utveckling och vidmakthållande av tvångs- och ångestsyndrom. Befintlig forskning har emellertid genererat motsägelsefulla resultat och forskning avseende barn och ungdomar är begränsad, särskilt relaterat till tvångssyndrom. Vidare finns det ingen studie där uppmärksamhetsbias har undersökts i relation till Core Dimension Modellen (Summerfeldt et al., 2014), där undvikande av hot (harm avoidance) och en känsla av ofullständighet (incompleteness), anses vara underliggande motiverande faktorer för tvångssyndrom. Syftet med studien var att undersöka uppmärksamhetsbias samt desengagemang (disengagement) för stimuli relaterade till hot eller ofullständighet hos unga med tvångssyndrom (n = 85), ångestsyndrom (n = 50) samt unga utan psykiatriska diagnoser (n = 47). Deltagarna genomförde ett datoriserat dot-probe test, som avsåg mäta uppmärksamhetsbias samt engagemang (engagement) och desengagemang av uppmärksamheten relaterat till hot- och ofullständighetsstimuli. Studien fann inte uppmärksamhetsbias i någon grupp, oavsett stimulustyp. Alla grupper uppvisade emellertid långsamt engagemang och fördröjt desengagemang av uppmärksamheten, (vilket möjligen kan indikera en generell förlångsamhet) relaterat till hot, men inte relaterat till ofullständighet. Gruppskillnader uppvisades varken gällande uppmärksamhetsbias eller desengagemang, oavsett stimulustyp. Resultaten skulle antingen kunna indikera att bias i uppmärksamhetsprocesser inte är kopplat till tvångs- eller ångestsyndrom hos unga, eller att dot-probe testet som användes i studien inte lyckades påverka underliggande uppmärksamhetsprocesser. Studiens resultat var oväntade och snarare än att generera kliniska implikationer bidrar studien med rekommendationer för framtida forskning gällande uppmärksamhetsbias hos unga med tvångs- eller ångestsyndrom. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9107047
- author
- Möttus, Annika LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- PSPR14 20222
- year
- 2023
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- attentional bias, delayed disengagement, slow engagement, harm avoidance, incompleteness, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, children, adolescents
- language
- English
- id
- 9107047
- date added to LUP
- 2023-01-17 08:46:01
- date last changed
- 2023-01-17 08:46:01
@misc{9107047,
abstract = {{Biased attentional processes have been implicated in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders (ADs) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, existing research has yielded inconsistent results and there is limited research with samples of children and adolescents, especially in relation to OCD. Further, there is no study examining attentional bias connected to the Core Dimension Model (Summerfeldt et al., 2014), where harm/threat avoidance (HA) and incompleteness (INC) are considered the two key motivational factors in OCD. The aim of this study was to examine attentional bias and disengagement for threat- and incompleteness-related stimuli in youth with OCD (n = 85), ADs (n = 50) and no psychiatric disorders (n = 47). Participants completed a computerized dot-probe task designed to measure threat- and incompleteness-related attentional bias, engagement and disengagement. The study did not find attentional bias in any group, regardless of stimulus type. However, slow engagement and delayed disengagement (potentially indicating a general slowness) were detected in relation to threat in all groups, but not in relation to incompleteness. No group differences were detected for either attentional bias or disengagement, regardless of stimuli. Findings could either indicate that biased attentional processes are not linked to OCD and AD in youth or that the dot-probe task used in this study failed to alter underlying attentional processes. The present findings are unexpected and rather than informing clinical care, they generate recommendations for future research in the field of attentional processes in youth with OCD and ADs.}},
author = {{Möttus, Annika}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Biased Attention to Threat and Incompleteness in Youth with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety Disorders}},
year = {{2023}},
}