Behavioural and ERP Correlates of Hypervigilance and Inhibitory Control in Spider Fear

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Behavioural and ERP Correlates of Hypervigilance and Inhibitory Control in Spider Fear Monique E. Williams1* and Allison J. Matthews1 1 University of Tasmania, Psychology, Australia AIMS Attentional Control Theory posits that attentional biases to threat (preferential attention allocation to threatening stimuli) arise as a result of anxiety promoting automatic attentional processing, while disrupting voluntary attentional processing (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007). Given little support for the latter in specific fear, the current study examined whether high spider fear individuals exhibit increased hypervigilance (rapid attention allocation to threat) and decreased inhibitory control (suppression of responses or distraction). METHOD Fifteen high and low spider fear females aged 18-40 years completed a modified flanker go/nogo task. Behavioural (reaction time/RT and accuracy) and electrophysiological correlates of hypervigilance (P1 amplitude) and inhibitory control (N2 amplitude) were measured. On go trials, participants responded to flowers or spiders, flanked by either opposite image or neutral dash distractors. On nogo trials, participants withheld responses to a mushroom flanked by either spiders or flowers. RESULTS High fears did not demonstrate hypervigilance via faster RTs and greater P1 amplitude in response to spiders on go trials as hypothesised, with both groups showing faster RTs to spiders, and high fears showing greater P1 amplitude in response to both flowers and spiders in the left hemisphere only. Contrary to predictions, high fears did not demonstrate decreased inhibitory control via slowed RTs to flowers flanked by spiders, or reduced N2 amplitude on nogo trials with spider distractors. Rather, they showed decreased accuracy on all trials with spider or flower distractors compared to low fears, and a trend towards increased N2 amplitude on trials with spider relative to flower distractors. CONCLUSIONS Findings indicate preliminary evidence of a compensatory inhibitory mechanism in response to feared stimuli. However, fear-related responses and automatic attentional processing may not have been adequately elicited by the paradigm. There is a need for future research utilising paradigms that adequately engage both automatic and voluntary attentional processing. References Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion, 7, 336-353. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.336 Keywords: attentional bias, hypervigilance, Inhibitory Control, specific fear, flanker go/nogo task, Attentional networks, spider fear Conference: ASP2016 - The 26th Annual Meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Adelaide Australia, Adelaide,SA, Australia, 12 Dec - 14 Dec, 2016. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Abstract (student award) Citation: Williams ME and Matthews AJ (2016). Behavioural and ERP Correlates of Hypervigilance and Inhibitory Control in Spider Fear. Conference Abstract: ASP2016 - The 26th Annual Meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Adelaide Australia. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2016.221.00004 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 21 Nov 2016; Published Online: 05 Dec 2016. * Correspondence: Miss. Monique E Williams, University of Tasmania, Psychology, Hobart, TAS, 7005, Australia, monique.williams@utas.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Monique E Williams Allison J Matthews Google Monique E Williams Allison J Matthews Google Scholar Monique E Williams Allison J Matthews PubMed Monique E Williams Allison J Matthews Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.