2-162 - Development and Amelioration of Attention Biases Related to Depression and Anxiety

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

According to cognitive models, individuals’ characteristic ways of attending to, interpreting, and remembering stimuli can contribute to the development and maintenance of various forms of psychopathology. The goal of this symposium is to present cutting-edge research on attentional biases related to depression and anxiety in youth. The first presentation describes the results of a study examining the development of attentional biases in children of depressed mothers. Using eye-tracking and a multi-wave longitudinal study, the authors show that the impact of maternal depression on children’s attentional biases (leading to preferential attention toward, versus attentional avoidance of, sad faces) may vary based on the child’s genotype. The second talk addresses the heterogeneity of attentional biases associated with fear-related versus distress-related anxiety, using ERPs to show that attentional avoidance of, compared to preferential attention toward, threat is associated with larger N2s and P3s to threat, which can then be modified with attention bias modification (ABM). The third talk describes a study that used ABM to reduce levels of anxiety in behaviorally inhibited children. The study showed that the efficacy of ABM varied as a function of children’s baseline level of attentional bias. Finally, the last talk focuses on a novel tool to assess attentional bias – patterns of gaze during a computer-based task involving acceptance or rejection from same-aged peers. This study shows that, following treatment for anxiety, youth with a history of anxiety disorders do not differ in their attentional biases from never disordered controls.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Psychopathology

Chair

• Brandon Gibb, Binghamton University (SUNY)

Individual Presentations

• HPA Polygenic Reactivity Score Moderates the Impact of Maternal Depression on Prospective Changes in Children’s Attentional Biases - Presenting Author: Brandon Gibb, Binghamton University (SUNY); Max Owens, University of South Florida St. Petersburg; Valerie S. Knopik, 3Division of Behavior Genetics, Rhode Island Hospital and Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University; John E. McGeary, Division of Behavior Genetics, Rhode Island Hospital and Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University & Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center

• Not All Threat Biases are Created Equal: Attention Bias Heterogeneity and Anxiety Symptom Profiles - Presenting Author: Tracy A. Dennis-Tiwary, Hunter College, The City University of New York & The Graduate Center, The City University of New York; Samantha Denefrio, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York; Sarah Myruski, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York

• Attention Bias to Threat as a Mechanism Shaping Anxiety in Children - Presenting Author: Koraly Perez-Edgar, The Pennsylvania State University; Bradley Taber-Thomas, Penn State University; Pan Liu, Penn State University; Santiago Morales, Pennsylvania State University; Eran Auday, The Pennsylvania State University

• Dwelling on the Adolescent Self: The Role of Peer Feedback on Attentional Mechanisms in Anxious and Healthy Youth - Presenting Author: Dana Rosen, University of Pittsburgh Psychology; Rebecca Price, University of Pittsburgh Psychiatry; Emily Anne Hutchinson, University of Pittsburgh Psychology; Greg Siegle, University of Pittsburgh Psychology and Psychiatry; Jennifer Silk, University of Pittsburgh