Training anxious children to disengage attention from threat: a randomized controlled trial

Threat-related attention biases have been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders. As a result, attention bias modification (ABM) protocols have been employed as treatments for anxious adults. However, they have yet to emerge for children. A randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial was conducted to examine the efficacy of an ABM protocol designed to facilitate attention disengagement from threats, thereby reducing anxiety and stress vulnerability in children.

Participants were 34 chronically high-anxious 10-year-olds. An emotional attention spatial cueing task was used. In the ABM condition (n=18), threat faces never cued the targets' locations, such that the valid-invalid ratio was 0%/100%, respectively. The valid-invalid ratio on neutral cue trials was 25%/75%, respectively. In the control condition, the valid-invalid ratio was 25%/75% for both neutral and threat faces. Anxiety and depression were measured pre- and post-training and pre- and post-stress induction.

ABM facilitated attention disengagement from threat. In response to the stressor task, children in the ABM condition reported less state anxiety relative to controls.

Computerized attention training procedures may be beneficial for reducing stress vulnerability in anxious children.