title: Attention bias in adults with anorexia nervosa, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and social anxiety disorder.
abstract: Attention bias to threat (selective attention toward threatening stimuli) has been frequently found in anxiety disorder samples, but its distribution both within and beyond this category is unclear. Attention bias has been studied extensively in social anxiety disorder (SAD) but relatively little in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), historically considered an anxiety disorder, or anorexia nervosa (AN), which is often characterized by interpersonal as well as body image/eating fears.
  
  
  
  Medication-free adults with SAD (n = 43), OCD (n = 50), or AN (n = 30), and healthy control volunteers (HC, n = 74) were evaluated for attention bias with an established dot probe task presenting images of angry and neutral faces. Additional outcomes included attention bias variability (ABV), which summarizes fluctuation in attention between vigilance and avoidance, and has been reported to have superior reliability. We hypothesized that attention bias would be elevated in SAD and associated with SAD severity.
  
  
  
  Attention bias in each disorder did not differ from HC, but within the SAD group attention bias correlated significantly with severity of social avoidance. ABV was significantly lower in OCD versus HC, and it correlated positively with severity of OCD symptoms within the OCD group.
  
  
  
  Findings do not support differences from HC in attention bias to threat faces for SAD, OCD, or AN. Within the SAD sample, the association of attention bias with severity of social avoidance is consistent with evidence that attention bias moderates development of social withdrawal. The association of ABV with OCD diagnosis and severity is novel and deserves further study.
authors.affiliation: New York State Psychiatric Institute, Division of Clinical Therapeutics, USA; Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, USA. Electronic address: fschneier@nyspi.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Franklin R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Schneier
authors.affiliation: New York State Psychiatric Institute, Division of Clinical Therapeutics, USA.
authors.forename: Marcia B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kimeldorf
authors.affiliation: Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, USA.
authors.forename: Tse Hwei
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Choo
authors.affiliation: New York State Psychiatric Institute, Division of Clinical Therapeutics, USA; Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, USA.
authors.forename: Joanna E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Steinglass
authors.affiliation: Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, USA.
authors.forename: Melanie M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.affiliation: New York State Psychiatric Institute, Division of Clinical Therapeutics, USA; Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, USA.
authors.forename: Abby J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Fyer
authors.affiliation: New York State Psychiatric Institute, Division of Clinical Therapeutics, USA; Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, USA.
authors.forename: H Blair
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D000070379:Attentional Bias; D000066499:Facial Recognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012938:Social Perception
keywords: Anorexia nervosa; Attention bias; Dot probe; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Social anxiety disorder; Threat bias