Anxiety
Conditions
Brief summary
This study examines the way attention may be linked to temperamental risk for anxiety, social behavior and brain processes. The study aims to see if temperamentally at risk youth display an attention bias towards threat, and if anxiety symptoms can be reduced through attentional bias modification training.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALAttention Bias Modification
This is a modification of the dot-probe task (placebo task) designed to train attention away from threat
BEHAVIORALDot-probe task
This is the active control placebo condition that simply measures levels of attention to threat
Sponsors
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Penn State University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Caregiver)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
9 Years to 12 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* 9-12 year olds who do not meet exclusionary criteria (split into groups based on high and low temperamental shyness)
Exclusion criteria
* presence or permanent metal orthodontics or implanted metal devices * severe psychiatric diagnosis * IQ under 70 as assessed by the WISC
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Anxiety Symptoms | 8 weeks | parent and child report of child's anxiety symptoms |
| Attention bias levels | 8 weeks | performance on computerized attention task |
| Electrophysiological and neural correlates of attention bias | 8 weeks | EEG and fMRI measures |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed