Fearful faces drive gaze-cueing and threat bias effects in children on the lookout for danger

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Dawel ◽  
Romina Palermo ◽  
Richard O'Kearney ◽  
Jessica Irons ◽  
Elinor McKone
Keyword(s):  
Threat Bias ◽  
Gaze Cueing ◽  
Fearful Faces

scholarly journals Neurocognitive mechanisms of d-cycloserine augmented single-session exposure therapy for anxiety

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Reinecke ◽  
Alecia Nickless ◽  
Michael Browning ◽  
Catherine J. Harmer
Keyword(s):  
Panic Disorder ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Clinical Effects ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Threat Bias ◽  
Fearful Faces

AbstractObjectiveDrugs targeting the N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) system and the ability to learn new associations have been proposed as potential adjunct treatments to boost the success of exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. However, the effects of the NMDA partial agonist d-cycloserine on psychological treatment have been mixed. We investigated potential neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the clinical effects of d-cycloserine-augmented exposure, to inform the optimal combination of this and similar agents with psychological treatment.MethodsUnmedicated patients with panic disorder were randomised to single-dose d-cycloserine (250mg; N=17) or matching placebo (N=16) 2hrs before one session of exposure therapy. Neurocognitive markers were assessed one day after treatment, including reaction-time based threat bias for fearful faces and amygdala response to threat. Clinical symptom severity was measured using self-report and clinician-rated scales the day before and after treatment, and at 1- and 6-months follow-up. Analysis was by intention-to-treat.ResultsOne day after treatment, threat bias for fearful faces and amygdala threat response were attenuated in the drug compared to the placebo group. Lower amygdala magnitude predicted greater clinical improvement during follow-up across groups. D-cycloserine led to greater clinical recovery at 1-month follow-up (d-cycloserine 71% versus placebo 25%).DiscussionD-cycloserine-augmented single-session exposure therapy reduces amygdala threat response, and this effect predicts later clinical response. These findings highlight a neurocognitive mechanism by which d-cycloserine may exert its augmentative effects on psychological treatment and bring forward a marker that may help understand and facilitate future development of adjunct treatments with CBT for anxiety disorders. (D-cycloserine Augmented CBT for Panic Disorder; clinicaltrials.gov;NCT01680107)

scholarly journals Face processing in adolescents with positive and negative threat bias

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 800-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Sylvester ◽  
S. E. Petersen ◽  
J. L. Luby ◽  
D. M. Barch
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Lower Activity ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
Threat Bias ◽  
Novel Treatments ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
Threat Avoidance

BackgroundIndividuals with anxiety disorders exhibit a ‘vigilance-avoidance’ pattern of attention to threatening stimuli when threatening and neutral stimuli are presented simultaneously, a phenomenon referred to as ‘threat bias’. Modifying threat bias through cognitive retraining during adolescence reduces symptoms of anxiety, and so elucidating neural mechanisms of threat bias during adolescence is of high importance. We explored neural mechanisms by testing whether threat bias in adolescents is associated with generalized or threat-specific differences in the neural processing of faces.MethodSubjects were categorized into those with (n = 25) and without (n = 27) threat avoidance based on a dot-probe task at average age 12.9 years. Threat avoidance in this cohort has previously been shown to index threat bias. Brain response to individually presented angry and neutral faces was assessed in a separate session using functional magnetic resonance imaging.ResultsAdolescents with threat avoidance exhibited lower activity for both angry and neutral faces relative to controls in several regions in the occipital, parietal, and temporal lobes involved in early visual and facial processing. Results generalized to happy, sad, and fearful faces. Adolescents with a prior history of depression and/or an anxiety disorder had lower activity for all faces in these same regions. A subset of results replicated in an independent dataset.ConclusionsThreat bias is associated with generalized, rather than threat-specific, differences in the neural processing of faces in adolescents. Findings may aid in the development of novel treatments for anxiety disorders that use attention training to modify threat bias.

scholarly journals Look out! Gaze-cueing is greater from fearful faces in a dangerous context for children and adults

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 595-595
Author(s):  
A. Dawel ◽  
E. McKone ◽  
J. Irons ◽  
R. O'Kearney ◽  
R. Palermo
Keyword(s):  
Gaze Cueing ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
Dangerous Context

Mindfulness training reduces stress and amygdala reactivity to fearful faces in middle-school children.

2019 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
pp. 569-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens C. C. Bauer ◽  
Camila Caballero ◽  
Ethan Scherer ◽  
Martin R. West ◽  
Michael D. Mrazek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Mindfulness Training ◽  
Middle School Children ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
Amygdala Reactivity

In the "I" of the beholder: Family enmeshment effects on emotional gaze cueing

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Petrican ◽  
Christopher Burris ◽  
Morris Moscovitch
Keyword(s):  
Gaze Cueing ◽  
Family Enmeshment

Conscious access to fear-relevant information is mediated by threshold

2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remigiusz Szczepanowski
Keyword(s):  
Present Report ◽  
Intrinsic Property ◽  
Roc Curves ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Perceptual Processing ◽  
High Threshold ◽  
Operating Characteristics ◽  
Emotional Perception ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
The Subject

Conscious access to fear-relevant information is mediated by thresholdThe present report proposed a model of access consciousness to fear-relevant information according to which there is a threshold for emotional perception beyond that the subject makes hits with no false alarm. The model was examined by having the participants performed a confidence-ratings masking task with fearful faces. Measures of the thresholds for conscious access were taken by looking at the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves generated from a three-state low- and high-threshold (3-LHT) model by Krantz. Indeed, the analysis of the masking data revealed that the ROCs had threshold-like-nature (a two-limb shape) rather continuous (a curvilinear shape) challenging in this fashion the classical signal-detection view on perceptual processing. Moreover, the threshold ROC curve exhibited the specific y-intercepts relevant to conscious access performance. The study suggests that the threshold can be an intrinsic property of conscious access, mediating emotional contents between perceptual states and consciousness.

Aff_Faces

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz G Gawryszewski ◽  
Mikael Cavallet
Keyword(s):  
Compatibility Effect ◽  
Negative Stimulus ◽  
Positive Stimulus ◽  
Spatial Compatibility ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Affective Stimuli ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Avoidance Reactions

Conde et al (2011) reported a modulation of the spatial compatibility effect by the affective valence of soccer team figures. For Favorite team, it was faster to respond by pressing the key located on the stimulus side than the opposite key (ipsi- and contralateral keys, respectively). For Rival team, this pattern was reversed. These findings were interpreted as being due to approach and avoidance reactions which facilitate both the ipsilateral response to a positive stimulus and the contralateral response to a negative one and vice-versa. This hypothesis was challenged by arguing that there is no spatial compatibility effect when a mixed-rule task was used and that approach/avoidance reactions are not elicited when a keyboard was employed to execute the responses. Alternatively, it was proposed that Conde et al. (2011) results were due to task-set effects. Here, emotional faces (Happy, Angry and Fearful) faces were used to test the generality of effects elicited by affective stimuli and to disentangle task-set and approach/avoidance reactions hypotheses. We found that there is no task-set effect when the Happiness-Anger pair was used. Moreover, for the Happiness/Fear pair, there was an interaction between valence and spatial compatibility within a block of trials. These results suggest that: (i) the interaction between valence and spatial compatibility in the Affective SC task modulates the spatial compatibility effect; (ii) this modulation elicits a task-set effect that varies according to the pair of affective stimuli and (iv) the task-set effect may be due to an automatic orientation of the visual attention to the positive stimulus which facilitates the ipsilateral response conjoined with an inhibition of the ipsilateral response to the aversive stimulus, simulating a reversed compatibility effect to the negative stimulus.

Eyes Gaze Cueing Effect: Endogenous or Exogenous Processing Mechanism?

2009 ◽  
Vol 41 (12) ◽  
pp. 1133-1142
Author(s):  
Ya-Jun ZHAO ◽  
Zhi-Jun ZHANG
Keyword(s):  
Gaze Cueing ◽  
Cueing Effect ◽  
Processing Mechanism
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