Background and objectives

Current theories of health anxiety and a growing body of empirical literature suggest that those high in health anxiety symptoms might find uncertainty itself threatening and demonstrate attentional biases for uncertainty-related information (ABU). Moreover, a dual processes model of attention would suggest that individual differences in attentional control might modify such a relationship. The present study was designed to explore this proposed health anxiety-ABU relationship and also to consider attentional control as a moderator of theoretical and clinical relevance.

Methods

Undergraduate participants (N = 148) completed a self-report measure of health anxiety symptoms and two performance-based tasks to assess ABU and attentional control.

Results

Hierarchical regression analyses showed a significant interaction between health anxiety and attention control in predicting attentional disengagement from, but not engagement with, uncertainty-related words. Specifically, results of the simple slopes analysis suggested that those with elevated health anxiety symptoms and better attentional control may use top-down attentional control processes to disengage their attention from distressing uncertainty-related stimuli faster than those with worse attentional control.

Limitations

The analogue sample is a study limitation.

Conclusions

Results provide new insights into the nature of attentional biases within health anxiety. Results are discussed in light of recent work on attentional control and avoidance-based psychopathology.

中文翻译：

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健康焦虑和注意力控制相互作用以预测与不确定性相关的注意力偏差

背景和目标

当前的健康焦虑理论和越来越多的实证文献表明，那些健康焦虑症状高的人可能会发现不确定性本身具有威胁性，并表现出对不确定性相关信息 (ABU) 的注意力偏差。此外，注意力的双重过程模型表明，注意力控制中的个体差异可能会改变这种关系。本研究旨在探索这种提出的健康焦虑-ABU 关系，并将注意力控制视为理论和临床相关性的调节剂。

方法

本科生参与者 ( N  = 148) 完成了一项健康焦虑症状的自我报告测量和两项基于绩效的任务，以评估 ABU 和注意力控制。

结果

分层回归分析表明，健康焦虑和注意力控制之间存在显着的交互作用，可以预测与不确定性相关的词的注意力脱离，而不是参与。具体来说，简单斜率分析的结果表明，与注意力控制较差的人相比，那些健康焦虑症状升高和注意力控制较好的人可能会使用自上而下的注意力控制过程来更快地将他们的注意力从令人痛苦的不确定性相关刺激中解脱出来。

限制

模拟样本是一个研究限制。

结论

结果为健康焦虑中注意力偏差的性质提供了新的见解。根据最近关于注意力控制和基于回避的精神病理学的工作讨论了结果。