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Although several efficacious treatments exist for social anxiety disorder (SAD), less research has been devoted to identifying specific mechanisms involved in the etiology of SAD using high-risk, longitudinal designs. Given the high prevalence and personal and societal burden associated with a diagnosis of SAD, research is needed to elucidate causal factors at play in the development of SAD to inform innovative prevention programs for at-risk individuals. Theoretical models and empirical research suggest that biased attention toward threat-relevant information is an important factor in the maintenance of SAD. However, relatively little is known about the role of attention bias to threat in the development of SAD, and evidence is inconclusive with regard to whether attention biases lead to increases in anxiety over time. Also, only one study has examined attentional control as a potential factor moderating this relationship despite long-held assertions that "control over cognitive processes" may be an important individual difference factor determining the strength of the relationship between attention bias and development of excessive anxiety. Finally, a few studies have shown that attention bias to threat predicts stress reactivity, but these studies have only been conducted in unselected samples rather than with individuals at risk for developing SAD. Thus, the aims of this study were to examine the moderating effects of risk for SAD and attentional control on the relationships between attention bias to threat and (1) psychological and biological social stress reactivity and (2) development of SAD. The primary aim of the study was to examine the aforementioned relationships using attention bias to threat as assessed using the modified probe detection task (MPDT). In an exploratory analysis, the relationships were examined using an index of attention disengagement bias assessed with the Posner spatial cueing task (PSCT). Attentional control was represented by four indices, analyzed in separate regression analyses given their weak bivariate associations (i.e., Antisaccade task reaction time and accuracy rate, Attention Network Test executive control score, and total score on the Attentional Control Scale). First-year college students at low or high risk for developing SAD completed assessments of attention bias, attentional control, and anxiety during their first month of college. Approximately four months later, they completed a social stressor task and the same self-report measures of social anxiety. At the end of their first year in college, they completed the self-report measures of social anxiety once more, as well as a diagnostic interview for SAD. Correlational analyses indicated that attention bias to threat on the MPDT was associated with concurrent self-reported social anxiety but did not prospectively predict psychological or biological social stress reactivity, self-reported social anxiety, or SAD diagnostic status at the end of the first year in college. Hierarchical regression analyses supported the hypothesized double moderation for concurrent social anxiety, such that high levels of attentional control weakened the association between attention bias toward threat and social anxiety, only among the individuals at high risk for SAD. However, analyses did not support this relationship in predicting prospective outcomes, and several unexpected patterns emerged in which interactions between attention bias and attentional control were observed to predict prospective outcomes, but only among individuals at low risk for developing SAD. Likewise, exploratory analyses using the PSCT index of attention bias revealed unexpected interactions between risk group, attention bias, and attentional control. Considered together, results of the current study highlight the importance of considering individual differences in attention bias and attentional control in the maintenance and development of SAD. / Psychology

Fearful temperament represents one of the robust predictors of the development of child and adolescent anxiety. Not all children with fearful temperament unvaryingly develop anxiety, however. Diverse processes resulting from the interplay among attention, cognitive control, and motivational system drive the trajectories toward more adaptive or maladaptive directions. In this study, I examined various factors that underlie the association between fearful temperament at age 9 and adolescent anxiety symptoms including attention biases, different components of effortful control, and frontal EEG asymmetry. 78 children participated in this study. Results indicate that fearful temperament at age 9 significantly predicted adolescent anxiety symptoms. This association, however, was moderated by children's effortful control and frontal EEG asymmetry at age 9. Specifically, fear at 9 years predicted adolescent anxiety only when children had low attentional control, low inhibitory control, low activation control, and exhibited greater right activation from baseline to task. The associations between AB and fearful temperament as well as anxiety were not significant. The association between fear at 9 years and sustained AB during adolescence, however, was moderated by children's attentional control, inhibitory control, and frontal EEG asymmetry at age 9. Specifically, fear predicted attention biases away from threat when children had high attentional control, high inhibitory control, and showed greater left activation. The findings will be discussed in terms of the roles of attention biases in the development of anxiety and how different components of effortful control and frontal EEG asymmetry contribute to the resilience process. / Doctor of Philosophy / Anxiety disorders represent one of the most commonly occurring mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Children who tend to show wariness and distress to negative stimuli are more likely to have anxiety. Not all children with fearful temperament develop anxiety, however. Certain individual characteristics can protect fearful children from having anxiety symptoms. In this study, I examined the roles of attentional biases toward threat (AB), different components of self-regulation (EC), and the asymmetrical frontal brain activation (FA) in changing the relation between fearful temperament and anxiety. 78 children participated in this study. Results indicated that adolescents were at higher risk for anxiety if they showed high fearful temperament at age 9. However, the risk could be attenuated if children were better able to control their attention and behaviors, and exhibited greater left activation from resting to a mildly stressful situation at age 9. In addition, fearful children were better able to direct attention away from threat during adolescence if they were better able to control their attention and behaviors, and exhibited greater left activation from resting to a mildly stressful situation at age 9. The findings provide suggestions for early identification and intervention of children who are more vulnerable to anxiety during adolescence.

Cognitive theories postulate that attention toward threatening information and away from neutral cues plays an etiological role in anxiety. The present study examines whether a preconscious attentional bias (AB) toward threatening stimuli exists in individuals with public speaking anxiety. Participants included 61 undergraduates with high and low speech anxiety. AB was measured using a dot-probe paradigm with threatening and neutral words. Reaction times to dot-probes on threatening and neutral trials were compared between the two groups. Results indicated that, contrary to expectations, high and low speech anxious participants did not differ in their mean reaction times to threat words. Thus, AB may not be measurable in individuals with public speaking anxiety using the method that the current study employed. / Master of Science

Shyness is highly related to internalizing problems. However, not all shy children develop serious internalizing problems (IP). The aim of the current study was to identify the endogenous factors that might contribute to the resilience process from a self-regulation perspective. Participants included 73 children (33 boys; 40girls) who visited the lab at 6 and 9 years of age. Shyness, attentional control (AC), inhibitory control (IC), frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry were measured at both 6 and 9 years using age appropriate questionnaires and tasks. Results indicated that age 6 shyness did not directly predict age 9 IP; instead it indirectly predicted IP through age 9 shyness. Neither AC, IC, frontal EEG asymmetry, nor the stability of frontal EEG asymmetry moderated the association between age 6 shyness and age 9 IP. However, there was a positive concurrent association between shyness and IP at 9 years. In addition, AC and IC moderated the shyness-IP association at age 9. Shyness was significantly associated with IP only when children had low AC or IC, but not when children had high AC or IC. / Master of Science / Shyness is highly related to internalizing problems. However, not all shy children develop serious internalizing problems (IP). The aim of the current study was to identify the within-individual factors that might protect children away from having IP from a self-regulation perspective. Participants included 73 children (33 boys; 40girls) who visited the lab at 6 and 9 years of age. Shyness, attentional control (AC), inhibitory control (IC), frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry were measured at both 6 and 9 years using age appropriate questionnaires and tasks. Results indicated that children who are shy at 6 years old may not have IP at 9 years old. Instead children who are shy at 6 years old tend to be shy at 9 years old. And those who are shy at 9 years old are more likely to have IP at the same period of time. Neither AC, IC, frontal EEG asymmetry, nor the stability of frontal EEG asymmetry affect the direction or degree of the association between age 6 shyness and age 9 IP. In addition, AC and IC affect the concurrent shyness-IP association at age 9. Shyness was significantly associated with IP only when children had low AC or IC, but not when children had high AC or IC.

y / The α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) have been highlighted as a target for cognitive enhancement in schizophrenia. Adult female hooded Lister rats received sub-chronic phencyclidine (PCP) (2mg/kg) or vehicle i.p. twice daily for 7 days, followed by 7 days’ washout. PCP-treated rats then received PNU-120596 (10mg/kg; s.c.) or saline and were tested in the attentional set-shifting task. Sub-chronic PCP produced a significant cognitive deficit in the extra-dimensional shift (EDS) phase of the task (p < 0.001, compared with vehicle). PNU-120596 significantly improved performance of PCP-treated rats in the EDS phase of the attentional set-shifting task (p < 0.001). In conclusion, these data demonstrate that PNU-120596 improves cognitive dysfunction in our animal model of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia, most likely via modulation of α7 nACh receptors. / This work was partially funded by Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development.

Depuis une vingtaine d’années, la littérature scientifique traitant de la capture attentionnelle a mis en évidence, à l’aide de paradigmes expérimentaux testés en laboratoire, un certain nombre de processus attentionnels fondamentaux. Bien que les résultats obtenus « en laboratoire » à partir de stimuli visuellement « simples » méritent encore d’être investigués, depuis quelques années se pose la question de la « transposabilité » de ces observations à des objets et des situations issus du monde réel. Les phénomènes observés en laboratoire à partir d’un matériel visuellement simple sont-ils transposables à des situations, complexes, de la vie quotidienne ? Afin de répondre à cette question, nous avons créé et testé différentes conditions proches de celles du monde réel,notamment en expérimentant en situation de double-tâche, en utilisant un matériel visuellement complexe extrait du monde réel (c.-à-d. des photographies de conduite automobile), en faisant varier la fréquence d’apparition de l’élément distracteur ou bien encore en testant une nouvelle caractéristique du distracteur, la dimension sémantique. Nos résultats révèlent les conditions d’apparition du phénomène de capture attentionnelle dans des situations s’approchant de celles du monde réel. Nous avons tout particulièrement détaillé dans cet ouvrage le cas de l’effet de capture attentionnelle contingente, phénomène majeur et robuste de la capture attentionnelle, y compris dans des situations visuellement complexes. / During the last two decades, studies about attentional capture revealed some major basic attentional processes by using several experimental paradigms. While further investigations need to be conducted by using simple visual stimuli, a raising question concerns the possibility to generalize laboratory findings to much more complex real-world situations. Indeed, basic attentional capture studies usually use simple stimuli while real-world displays are generally rich in visual information. To answer this issue, we conducted several experiments under close to real-world conditions, such as testingdual task situations, using complex visual stimuli from real-world situations (e.g. driving-scenes photographs), modulating the distractor frequency or testing attentional capture at a semantic and conceptual dimension. Our results revealed the conditions in which the attentional capture phenomenon occurs in close to real-world situations. We particularly discussed in our work the contingent attentional capture phenomenon which appears to be a strong and robust effect, in both laboratory and close to real-world situations.

Hälso- och sjukvården befinner sig under ett allt större tryck av patienter som söker hjälp på grund av utmattningssyndrom. Kognitiva nedsättningar är en kärnkomponent i utmattningssyndrom och effektiva och korta screeninginstrument för att upptäcka dessa behövs för identifiera tillståndet tidigt. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att utveckla ett modifierat Symbol Digit Modalities Test. De totalt 90 deltagarna bestående av studenter delades in i två grupper efter självskattad utmattning. Tjugofyra individer identifierades i gruppen med låg utmattning och trettiofyra i gruppen med hög utmattning. De två grupperna jämfördes med prestation på testet. Testet bestod av tre block bestående av symboler, neutrala ord och hotfulla ord och vardera blocks testtid var 90 sekunder. Resultatet visade inga signifikanta skillnader mellan låg och hög utmattningsgrupp och prestation på testet. Däremot fanns signifikanta skillnader mellan blocken när samtliga deltagares prestation jämfördes. Det modifierade testet lyckas inte att differentiera mellan deltagare med låg och hög utmattning. Resultatet som visade att det fanns skillnader mellan blocken är intressant och visar på att det kan finnas en effekt av uppmärksamhetsvridning som framtida forskning kan bygga vidare på. / The Swedish healthcare system is under increasing pressure from patients seeking help due to fatigue syndrome. Cognitive impairments are a core symptom of the syndrome; effective screening tools to detect cognitive impairment related to fatigue are warranted to identify the condition. The aim of the present study was to develop a modified Symbol Digit Modalities. A total of 90 participants consisting of undergraduate students were divided into two groups after self-assessed fatigue. Twenty-four individuals were identified in the low fatigue group and thirty-four in the high fatigue group. The two groups’ test performance were compared. The test consisted of three blocks consisting of symbols, neutral words, and threat words; the duration of each test block was 90 seconds. The results showed no significant differences between low and high fatigue in terms of performance on the tests. However, there were significant differences across the blocks when comparing all participants' performance. The modified test failed to differentiate between low and high fatigue participants. The result indicating significant differences across the blocks is interesting and shows that there may be an effect of attentional bias that future research can build upon.