Several researchers have proposed a causal relation between biased attention to threat and the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in both children and adults. However, despite the widely documented correlation between attention bias to threat and anxiety, developmental research in this domain is limited. In this review, we highlight the importance of taking a developmental approach to studying attention biases to threat and anxiety. First, we discuss how recent developmental work on attention to threat fits into existing theoretical frameworks for the development of anxiety and how attention biases might interact with other risk factors across development. Then we review the developmental literature on attention bias to threat and anxiety and describe how classic methodologies can be modified to study attention biases in even the youngest infants. Finally, we discuss limitations and future directions in this domain, emphasizing the need for future longitudinal research beginning in early infancy that tracks concurrent developments in both biased attention and anxiety. Altogether, we hope that by highlighting the importance of development in the study of attention bias to threat and anxiety, we can provide a road map for how researchers might implement developmental approaches to studying a potential core mechanism in anxiety.

几位研究人员提出了偏向威胁的注意力与儿童和成人焦虑症的发生和维持之间的因果关系。然而，尽管有广泛文献记载注意力集中在威胁和焦虑之间，但在这一领域的发展研究仍然有限。在这篇综述中，我们强调了采用发展性方法研究对威胁和焦虑的注意力偏差的重要性。首先，我们讨论关于关注威胁的最新开发工作如何适合现有的焦虑发展理论框架，以及关注偏见如何与整个发展过程中的其他风险因素相互作用。然后，我们回顾了有关威胁和焦虑的注意力偏向的发展文献，并描述了如何修改经典方法以研究甚至最小的婴儿的注意力偏向。最后，我们讨论了该领域的局限性和未来发展方向，强调了对从婴儿早期开始的未来纵向研究的需求，该研究追踪偏向注意力和焦虑的同时发展。总之，我们希望通过强调发展在研究对威胁和焦虑的注意偏见中的重要性，可以为研究人员如何实施发展方法来研究焦虑的潜在核心机制提供一个路线图。强调需要从婴儿早期开始的未来纵向研究，以追踪偏见和焦虑的同时发展。总之，我们希望通过强调发展在研究对威胁和焦虑的注意偏见中的重要性，可以为研究人员如何实施发展方法来研究焦虑的潜在核心机制提供一个路线图。强调需要从婴儿早期开始的未来纵向研究，以追踪偏见和焦虑的同时发展。总之，我们希望通过强调发展在研究对威胁和焦虑的注意偏见中的重要性，可以为研究人员如何实施发展方法来研究焦虑的潜在核心机制提供一个路线图。