A modified version of the probe detection task was used to investigate
the effect of stimulus exposure duration on attentional bias for thre
at stimuli in a non-clinical sample of subjects. Stimulus duration was
manipulated in order to examine different components of the anxiety-r
elated attentional bias, i.e. initial orienting versus maintenance of
attention to threat. Word pairs were presented on a computer screen fo
r 100, 500 or 1500 msec, and immediately after the termination of the
display of each pair, a dot probe appeared in the position of one of t
he words. Higher levels of state anxiety were associated with faster r
esponse latencies for probes that replaced threat words, rather than n
eutral words (i.e. attentional vigilance for threat). This bias was no
t significantly affected by the exposure duration of the word stimuli.
Thus, the attentional bias for threat does not appear to vary signifi
cantly over this range (100-1500 msec) in non-clinical anxiety; it is
recommended that the time course of the attentional bias be investigat
ed further in clinical anxiety. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.