Malleability of attentional bias for positive emotional information and anxiety vulnerability

Recent research supports a causal link between attentional bias for negative emotional information and anxiety vulnerability. However, little is known about the role of positive emotional processing in modulating anxiety reactivity to stress. In the current study, we used an attentional training paradigm designed to experimentally manipulate the processing of positive emotional cues. Participants were randomly assigned to complete a computerized probe detection task designed to induce selective processing of positive stimuli or to a sham condition. Following training, participants were exposed to a laboratory stressor (i.e., videotaped speech), and state anxiety and positive affect in response to the stressor were assessed. Results revealed that individual variability in the capacity to develop an attentional bias for positive information following training predicted subsequent emotional responses to the stressor. Moreover, individual differences in social anxiety, but not depression, moderated the effects of the attentional manipulation, such that, higher levels of social anxiety were associated with diminished attentional allocation toward positive cues. The current findings point to the potential value of considering the role of positive emotional processing in anxiety vulnerability.