TIME-COURSE OF ATTENTIONAL BIAS FOR THREAT INFORMATION IN NONCLINICALANXIETY

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.