The interaction of pathways to fear in childhood anxiety: A preliminary study

Recent research has shown that the verbal information pathway to fear creates long-term fear cognitions and can create cognitive biases and avoidance in children. However, the interaction between the verbal information pathway to fear and other pathways is untested. This experiment exposed children...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behaviour research and therapy 2007-12, Vol.45 (12), p.3051-3059
Main Authors: Field, Andy P., Storksen-Coulson, Hannah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety
Anxiety - psychology
Avoidance
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child development
Childhood anxiety
Children
Developmental psychology
Fear
Fear - psychology
Fears
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Information processing
London
Male
Narration
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Touch
Verbal Behavior
Verbal Information
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Summary:Recent research has shown that the verbal information pathway to fear creates long-term fear cognitions and can create cognitive biases and avoidance in children. However, the interaction between the verbal information pathway to fear and other pathways is untested. This experiment exposed children (aged 6–8) to threat information about a novel animal to see the impact on a measure of avoidance after a subsequent simulated direct negative encounter with that animal. Results showed that a direct negative experience (without prior information) or threat information (without a subsequent negative experience) produced similar effects, but in combination (verbal threat information followed by a direct negative experience) the effect was significantly magnified. These results support theories of fear acquisition that suppose that verbal information impacts on the strength of associations formed in subsequent conditioning episodes, and suggest that pathways to fear have interactive effects.
ISSN:0005-7967
1873-622X
DOI:10.1016/j.brat.2007.09.001