Abstract
Attention bias towards emotionally salient or threatening information has been well documented across various populations, and it has been thought to contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety. While previous research has identified early-stage attentional differences in individuals reporting elevated anxiety symptoms, less is known about how worry might impact later-stage processes involving sustained attentional engagement and visual working memory. The present study examined behavioral and electrophysiological indices of attentional processing during a modified visual search task in individuals reporting high compared to low levels of worry. Sixty-eight participants were recruited and classified into high and low worry groups using scores on the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, while controlling for anhedonic depression symptoms. Participants completed a visual search task (VST) that used emotional word stimuli while electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded. Behavioral measures included response time (RT), and event related potentials (ERPs) included P100, an index of early visual attention, and the sustained posterior contralateral negativity (SPCN, an index of attentional engagement and visual working memory maintenance. Behavioral analyses revealed no significant group differences in RT. Similarly, no significant effects emerged for P100 amplitude, indicating high and low worry groups had similar early visual processing of emotional information. SPCN analyses, conversely, revealed a significant Emotion x Group interaction. Individuals reporting high levels of worry exhibited reduced SPCN amplitude compared to low worry controls specifically when threatening targets were presented among neutral distractors. Findings suggest that high levels of worry disrupt sustained attention when threat is required to be maintained as the target representation amidst non-competing emotional stimuli (i.e., emotionally neutral). Moreover, this interpretation gives emphasis to an interference in late-stage control and/or information maintenance as opposed to early hypervigilance or enhanced visual perception patterns.
Date of publication
Fall 10-4-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Language
english
Persistent identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/5195
Committee members
Sarah Sass, Ph.D, Olga Berkout, Ph.D, Dennis Combs, Ph.D
Degree
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology
Recommended Citation
Mathew, Jinu J., "Differences in Sustained Attentional Engagement with Emotional Targets in Individuals Reporting High and Low Worry" (2026). Clinical Psychology Dissertations. Paper 9.
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/5195
Included in
Clinical Psychology Commons, Cognition and Perception Commons, Cognitive Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons