Anxiety-Linked Attentional Bias: Is it Reliable?

Posted: 24 May 2019

See all articles by Colin MacLeod

Colin MacLeod

The University of Western Australia - Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion

Ben Grafton

The University of Western Australia - Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion

Lies Notebaert

The University of Western Australia - Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion

Date Written: May 2019

Abstract

There is substantial evidence that heightened anxiety vulnerability is characterized by increased selective attention to threatening information. The reliability of this anxiety-linked attentional bias has become the focus of considerable recent interest. We distinguish between the potential inconsistency of anxiety-linked attentional bias and inconsistency potentially reflecting the psychometric properties of the assessment approaches used to measure it. Though groups with heightened anxiety vulnerability often exhibit, on average, elevated attention to threat, the evidence suggests that individuals are unlikely to each display a stable, invariant attentional bias to threat. Moreover, although existing assessment approaches can differentiate between groups, they do not exhibit the internal consistency or test-retest reliability necessary to classify individuals in terms of their characteristic pattern of attentional responding to threat. We discuss the appropriate uses of existing attentional bias assessment tasks and propose strategies for enhancing classification of individuals in terms of their tendency to display an attentional bias to threat.

Suggested Citation

MacLeod, Colin and Grafton, Ben and Notebaert, Lies, Anxiety-Linked Attentional Bias: Is it Reliable? (May 2019). Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, Vol. 15, pp. 529-554, 2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3392830 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050718-095505

Colin MacLeod (Contact Author)

The University of Western Australia - Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion ( email )

Australia

Ben Grafton

The University of Western Australia - Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion

Australia

Lies Notebaert

The University of Western Australia - Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion

Australia

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