Master's theses

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Browsing Master's theses by Subject "Anxiety"

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    The role of attentional resources in facial expression processing among individuals with high trait anxiety: an event-related potential study.
    (2017-03-24) Gallant, Jennifer
    Previous research highlights a relationship between anxiety and emotional facial expression processing, particularly for fear, but the nature of this relationship remains unclear. The current study aimed to understand a possible underlying factor of this relationship—specifically, the role of attentional resources was explored using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants (N=67) were asked to identify target happy, fearful or neutral faces in a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation while ERPs and accuracy were recorded. Results suggest that such processing is largely affected by the degree of attentional resources available and by anxiety level, and are in line with the vigilance-avoidance hypothesis. Individuals with high anxiety showed an early perceptual bias to fearful faces followed by later cognitive avoidance, especially when attentional resources were limited. Results are discussed in terms of clinical interventions which might focus particularly on high pressure situations to anticipate and regulate this sensitivity to threat in highly anxious individuals.
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    The role of medication use and state anxiety on the cognitive components of emotional facial processing: An Event-Related Potentials Study
    (2020-06-05) Vaillancourt, Denis
    High levels of anxiety have been associated with a cognitive bias towards threat, impacting attention and emotional facial processes as evidenced at the electrophysiological level from EventRelated Potentials (ERP). This threat-bias can be attenuated by reducing anxiety with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI), but the relationship between anxiety, psychotropic medications, and attentional resources remains a relatively unexplored area. The current study therefore aimed to examine the impact of anxiety reducing SSRI medication on emotional facial processing by comparing individuals with high and low anxiety and differing medication levels. Participants (n = 50) completed a Rapid Serial Visualization Presentation and were asked to identify emotional facial expressions while ERP and accuracy were recorded. Results suggest SSRIs have an overall emotional attenuation on facial processing. ERP results revealed all participants displayed a dominant early positive bias, with the threat-bias associated with high anxiety originating exclusively in later cognitive components of facial processing.