Abstract
ObjectivesCannabis is now the most widely used illicit substance in the world. Previous research demonstrates that cannabis use is associated with dysfunctional affect regulation and anxiety. Anxiety is characterised by attentional biases in the presence of emotional information. This novel study therefore examined the attentional bias of cannabis users when presented with anxiety-related stimuli. The aim was to establish whether cannabis users respond to anxiety-related stimuli differently to control participants. MethodsA dot-probe paradigm was utilised using undergraduate students. Trials contained anxiety-related stimuli and neutral control stimuli. Eye-tracking was used to measure attention for the stimuli. ResultsResults indicated that cannabis users demonstrated attentional-avoidance behaviour when presented with anxiety-related stimuli. ConclusionsThe findings suggest a difference in processing of emotional information in relation to neutral information between groups. It would appear that cannabis users avoid anxiety provoking stimuli. Such behaviour could potentially have motivational properties that could lead to exacerbating anxiety disorder-type behaviour.
Highlights
ObjectivesCannabis is the most widely used illicit substance in the world. Previous research demonstrates that cannabis use is associated with dysfunctional affect regulation and anxiety
The dot-probe attentional bias variables were analysed in order to establish whether there were any differences in AB within the participant groups; considered first are the reaction time (RT) and error variables before the eye-tracking variables
The results may indicate that cannabis users demonstrate attentional avoidance for anxiety-related stimuli. During this experiment we performed an anxiety-related dot-probe task in order to investigate whether cannabis users differed from control participants with regard to their attention toward anxiety-related cues
Summary
Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance in the world. Previous research demonstrates that cannabis use is associated with dysfunctional affect regulation and anxiety. Anxiety is characterised by attentional biases in the presence of emotional information. This novel study examined the attentional bias of cannabis users when presented with anxiety-related stimuli. The aim was to establish whether cannabis users respond to anxiety-related stimuli differently to control participants. Trials contained anxiety-related stimuli and neutral control stimuli. Results: Results indicated that cannabis users demonstrated attentional-avoidance behaviour when presented with anxiety-related stimuli. Conclusions: The findings suggest a difference in processing of emotional information in relation to neutral information between groups. It would appear that cannabis users avoid anxiety provoking stimuli. Such behaviour could potentially have motivational properties that could lead to exacerbating anxiety disorder-type behaviour
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