Anxiety type modulates immediate versus delayed engagement of attention‐related brain regions

Brain and Behavior

Jeffrey M. Spielberg¹  Angeline A. De Leon²  Keith Bredemeier²  Wendy Heller²  Anna S. Engels²  Stacie L. Warren²  Laura D. Crocker²  Bradley P. Sutton² 

[1] University of California, Berkeley, California;University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois

关键词: Anxiety;    anxious apprehension;    anxious arousal;    attention;    fMRI;    habituation;    negative valence;   

DOI  :  10.1002/brb3.157

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Background

Habituation of the fear response, critical for the treatment of anxiety, is inconsistently observed during exposure to threatening stimuli. One potential explanation for this inconsistency is differential attentional engagement with negatively valenced stimuli as a function of anxiety type.

Methods

The present study tested this hypothesis by examining patterns of neural habituation associated with anxious arousal, characterized by panic symptoms and immediate engagement with negatively valenced stimuli, versus anxious apprehension, characterized by engagement in worry to distract from negatively valenced stimuli.

Results

As predicted, the two anxiety types evidenced distinct patterns of attentional engagement. Anxious arousal was associated with immediate activation in attention-related brain regions that habituated over time, whereas anxious apprehension was associated with delayed activation in attention-related brain regions that occurred only after habituation in a worry-related brain region.

Conclusions

Results further elucidate mechanisms involved in attention to negatively valenced stimuli and indicate that anxiety is a heterogeneous construct with regard to attention to such stimuli.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.