Abstract
Psychological theories of anxiety are increasingly referring to information processing paradigms in order to understand the
cognitive processes which underlie these disorders. Numerous studies of anxiety have demonstrated an attentional bias towards
anxiety relevant stimuli. In addition, there is consistent evidence that it is more difficult to process absent than present
information. Prior research has suggested that both these processing biases contribute to the maintenance of health anxiety.
The present study investigated differences in attentional processing between participants high and low in health anxiety,
using two visual search tasks. The visual search tasks used either letters (domain free stimuli), or words (anxiety-related
stimuli). Both low and high health anxious participants demonstrated poorer performance for target absent than target present
trials. In addition, all participants showed an attentional bias towards ill-health words over good-health, negative, positive,
or neutral words. These results suggest that concern about health is relevant to all people regardless of level of health
anxiety.
cognitive processes which underlie these disorders. Numerous studies of anxiety have demonstrated an attentional bias towards
anxiety relevant stimuli. In addition, there is consistent evidence that it is more difficult to process absent than present
information. Prior research has suggested that both these processing biases contribute to the maintenance of health anxiety.
The present study investigated differences in attentional processing between participants high and low in health anxiety,
using two visual search tasks. The visual search tasks used either letters (domain free stimuli), or words (anxiety-related
stimuli). Both low and high health anxious participants demonstrated poorer performance for target absent than target present
trials. In addition, all participants showed an attentional bias towards ill-health words over good-health, negative, positive,
or neutral words. These results suggest that concern about health is relevant to all people regardless of level of health
anxiety.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-12
- DOI 10.1007/s10608-011-9351-5
- Authors
- Cassandra Shields, Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Griffith Institute of Health, School of Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Gold Coast, QLD Australia
- Karen Murphy, Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Griffith Institute of Health, School of Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Gold Coast, QLD Australia
- Journal Cognitive Therapy and Research
- Online ISSN 1573-2819
- Print ISSN 0147-5916