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Watch Out for the Beast: Fear Information and Attentional Bias in Children

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 13:32 authored by Andy FieldAndy Field
Although valenced information about novel animals changes the implicit and explicit fear beliefs of children (Field & Lawson, 2003), how it might lead to anxiety is unknown. One possibility, based on cognitive models of anxiety, is that fear information creates attentional biases similar to those seen in anxiety disorders. Children between 7 and 9 years old were given positive information about 1 novel animal, negative information about another, and no information about the 3rd. A pictorial dot-probe task was used, immediately or with a 24-hr delay, to test for attentional biases to the different animals. The results replicated the finding that fear information changes children's fear beliefs. Regardless of whether there was a delay, children acquired an attentional bias in the left visual field toward the animal about which they held negative beliefs compared to the control animal. These results imply a possible way in which fear information might contribute to acquired fear.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

ISSN

1537-4416

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Issue

3

Volume

35

Page range

431-439

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2006-11-23

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    University of Sussex (Publications)

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