Objective: There is literature to suggest that anxious individuals may be lonely. Attentional bias for threat (ABT), a mechanism implicated in the core symptoms of anxiety, has been linked to loneliness in a separate line of work. The primary aim of this study was to examine the role of loneliness in the association between ABT and anxiety.

Method: An unselected sample of 260 individuals (196 Female; Mean Age = 22.43) completed measures of loneliness, ABT (a dot probe task), and anxiety. Two possible models of the role of loneliness in the ABT-anxiety link were tested using hierarchical regression analysis: (1) A moderation model (the ABT-anxiety link is moderated by loneliness), and (2) A proxy model (the ABT-anxiety link is better explained by loneliness).

Results: In support of the latter model, ABT no longer predicted anxiety after the effects of loneliness had been accounted for. Additionally, ABT was associated with anxiety only when indexed using sadness-related scenes (but not fear-related scenes).

Conclusions: Loneliness may be one important source of exaggerated threat appraisals which underpin the association between ABT and anxiety. Different classes of negative stimuli may be differentially sensitive to anxiety and should be a point of consideration in future research.

目的：有文献表明焦虑的人可能很孤独。注意偏见威胁（ABT）是一种与焦虑症的核心症状有关的机制，已与另一项工作中的孤独感相关。这项研究的主要目的是检验孤独在ABT和焦虑之间的关系。

方法：一项未选择的260名个体（196名女性；平均年龄= 22.43）的样本完成了对孤独感，ABT（点探测任务）和焦虑症的测量。使用分层回归分析测试了孤独在ABT-焦虑链接中的两个可能模型：（1）调节模型（ABT-焦虑链接由孤独来调节），和（2）代理模型（ABT-孤独感可以更好地解释焦虑联系。

结果：为支持后一种模型，在考虑了孤独感后，ABT不再预测焦虑。此外，只有在使用悲伤相关场景（而不是恐惧相关场景）进行索引时，ABT才与焦虑相关。

结论：孤独可能是夸大的威胁评估的重要原因之一，这是ABT与焦虑之间关系的基础。不同类型的负面刺激可能对焦虑有不同的敏感性，应成为未来研究的重点。