Action Goal–Dependent Attentional Bias: The Effect of Threat-of-Shock on the Perception of Affective Stimuli

Abstract

Abstract Attentional mechanisms that prioritise threat-related stimuli usually produce deleterious effects on the performance of perceptual and motor tasks. Viewing threatening stimuli generates defensive reactions, such as freezing and fight-or-flight–like responses. Additionally, the action goal of avoiding threatening stimuli is known to deteriorate task performance ironically. With these general issues in mind, the present study examined how the alteration of action goals affects attentional bias towards threat-related stimuli during induced anxiety. The participants performed a visual-probe task in which half of them responded to a probe stimulus in hit mode and the other half in avoidant mode. The participants’ anxiety levels were manipulated using a threat-of-shock method. We found that threat conditions increased the degree of attentional bias towards negative information compared to safe conditions for the avoidance goal but had no impact for the hit action goal. The difference in behavioural goals of fight or flight, represented by hit or avoidant actions, was found to interact with state anxiety, leading to different degrees of attentional bias. Avoidance may strengthen the link between attentional bias and anxiety. These findings suggest that treatments or instructions that encourage avoiding threatening stimuli as an action mode are not effective in reducing state anxiety, at least for healthy individuals.