Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026
08:25
Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults
Published on: October 19, 2014
Early attention processes and anxiety in children
V L Kallen1, R F Ferdinand, J H M Tulen
1Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam/Sophia Children's Hospital, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Dr. Molewaterplein 60, 3015 GJ Rotterdam, The Netherlands. vkallen@fsw.Leidenuniv.nl
Perceptual and Motor Skills
|April 25, 2007
Summary
This study found that non-referred children generally show an attentional bias away from threat pictures. Higher anxiety in children was linked to longer response times, not a bias towards threat.
Area of Science:
- Child psychology
- Cognitive science
- Developmental psychology
Background:
- Anxiety in children is hypothesized to correlate with attentional bias during early information processing.
- Attentional bias towards threat involves directing focus toward threatening stimuli.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine if high test-anxiety in non-referred children is linked to attentional bias towards threat pictures.
- To determine if low test-anxiety in non-referred children is linked to attentional bias away from threat pictures.
Main Methods:
- A probe-detection task was administered to 44 children aged 10–13 years.
- Participants were non-referred children to assess typical attentional patterns.
Main Results:
- Overall, children exhibited an attentional bias away from threatening pictures.
- No significant association was found between high anxiety and bias towards threat, nor between low anxiety and bias away from threat.
- Increased anxiety levels correlated with longer mean response times.
Conclusions:
- While children generally avoid threat cues, anxiety's specific impact on attentional bias remains unclear in this sample.
- Longer response times in anxious children may indicate over-interpretation of stimulus threat early in processing.
- Findings may inform improved treatment strategies for childhood anxiety symptoms.
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