A cognitive structure for maintaining attentional bias for threat in anxiety: A model comparison approach

By Charlotte Coussement, Alexandre Heeren
English

Researchers have recently started to investigate the causal nature of attentional bias for threat (AB) in the maintenance of anxiety disorders, by experimentally manipulating it. They have found that training anxious individuals to pay attention to non-threat stimuli reduces AB, which, in turn, reduces anxiety. This effect supports the hypothesis that AB can causally impact the maintenance of anxiety. At a fundamental level, however, uncertainty still abounds on the nature of the processes that underlie AB and its plasticity. According to one approach, the maintenance of AB is the result of the activation of a valence evaluation system. According to another approach, AB involves an impaired recruitment of top-down control. The main aim of this theoretical paper is to compare these two approaches. Specifically, the article is structured around three major issues. First, we will debate the possibility that AB may also result from an impaired valence evaluation system. Then, we will discuss the hypothesis that the reduction of AB requires top-down executive control. Finally, we will explore the potential interactions between these two contrasting approaches in the onset and the maintenance of AB. We will also discuss the potential impact of these two approaches in the understanding of other types of cognitive biases.

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