title: Eye movements reveal mechanisms underlying attentional biases towards threat.
abstract: Mechanisms underlying attentional biases towards threat (ABTs), such as attentional avoidance and difficulty of disengagement, are still unclear. To address this issue, we recorded participants' eye movements during a dot detection task in which threatening or neutral stimuli served as peripheral cues. We evaluated response times (RTs) in trials where participants looked at the central fixation cross (not at the cues), as they were required, and number and duration of (unwanted) fixations towards threatening or neutral cues; in all analyses trait anxiety was treated as a covariate. Difficulty in attentional disengagement (longer RTs) was found when peripheral threatening stimuli were presented for 100 ms. Moreover, we observed significantly shorter (unwanted) fixations on threatening than on neutral peripheral stimuli, compatible with an avoidance bias, for longer presentation times. These findings demonstrate that, independent of trait anxiety levels, disengagement bias occurs without eye movements, whereas eye movements are implied in threat avoidance.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Second University of Naples , 81100 Caserta , Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sagliano
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Second University of Naples , 81100 Caserta , Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Olimpio
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Second University of Naples , 81100 Caserta , Italy.|b Laboratory of Experimental Psychology , Università Suor Orsola Benincasa , 80135 Naples , Italy.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Taglialatela Scafati
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Second University of Naples , 81100 Caserta , Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trojano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000070379:Attentional Bias / Q000502:physiology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attentional bias; covert attention; eye movements; overt attention; threat