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Randomized trial highlights potential focus task to improve anxiety

Results from a randomized trial indicate distraction by salient, non-emotional stimuli can increase state anxiety, and training individuals with anxiety to focus on specific shape features may be a useful attention modification intervention.

“Anxious individuals have difficulty inhibiting attention to salient, but non-emotional, distracting stimuli. The exact nature of this relationship remains unclear, however. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that increasing attention to salient, but non-emotional, distracting stimuli would lead to increases in state anxiety by manipulating attentional strategies during a visual search task,” Jason S. Moser, PhD, of Michigan State University, and colleagues wrote.

Jason S. Moser

Researchers randomly assigned 62 undergraduate students to either a one-session singleton detection training task or a feature search group task. Twenty-nine participants scored at or below the 50^th percentile on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and were classified as having average to low levels of anxiety; 33 scored in the upper 20^th percentile and represented individuals with high anxiety levels.

Singleton detection training involved searching for a single unique shape among similar non-target shapes, while feature search training involved searching for a specific target shape in a varied series of shapes.

Researchers found that in addition to increasing distraction by salient, non-emotional stimuli, singleton detection training increased state anxiety. This increase was more prominent among participants with high anxiety levels.

However, feature search training protected attention from distracting stimuli and did not increase state anxiety, particularly among participants with high anxiety levels.

“The current study represents a first step in evaluating the influence of attentional search strategies for non-emotional stimuli on anxiety. Findings were supportive of the hypothesis that adopting a singleton detection mode leads to increases in anxiety symptoms, especially in high trait anxious individuals. There was also some evidence that adopting a feature search strategy protects against such increases or leads to slight reductions in anxiety among high trait anxious individuals,” the researchers wrote. “Further examination of the causal role of search strategies in the development of later anxiety and the potential therapeutic effects of computerized feature search training in anxious patients are exciting new avenues for future research to explore.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: Moser reports receiving funding from the NIH. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.