Threat-related attentional bias in subjects with different looming cognitive styles: Evidence based on eye-tracking study

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Although extensive research has investigated attentional biases based on the looming vulnerability model of anxiety, the characteristics of attentional biases in individuals with looming cognitive styles (LCS) remain incompletely elucidated. No prior eye-tracking studies have examined the spatiotemporal dynamics of their threat-related attentional preferences.

AIM

To investigate the nature and temporal pattern of attentional biases toward threat stimuli in individuals exhibiting different levels of LCS using eye-tracking technology.

METHODS

A total of 212 participants were stratified according to their Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire scores. From the high and low scoring subgroups, 35 participants were randomly selected for an eye-tracking experiment using a classic dot-probe paradigm featuring threat and neutral images. Four eye-tracking metrics, including first fixation latency, first fixation duration, total fixation duration, and fixation count, were analyzed to assess detection speed, attentional orienting, initial maintenance/avoidance, and overall engagement.

RESULTS

Distinct attentional bias patterns were observed between high and low LCS groups. High LCS individuals exhibited a vigilance-avoidance pattern characterized by initial vigilance toward threat stimuli (evidenced by faster detection and preferential orienting), followed by attentional avoidance, alongside sustained attention maintenance to threat.

CONCLUSION

These findings reveal a temporal dissociation between early vigilance and later avoidance during threat processing in high LCS individuals, providing novel empirical evidence to refine models of cognitive vulnerability and attentional dynamics in threat perception.

Keywords: Anxiety; Attentional bias; Looming cognitive styles; College students; Eye-tracking study

Core Tip: This eye-tracking study reveals a threat-related attentional bias in individuals with high looming cognitive style (LCS). High LCS individuals exhibited a vigilance-avoidance pattern characterized by initial vigilance toward threat stimuli, followed by attentional avoidance, alongside sustained attentional maintenance to threat. Paradoxically, they also showed prolonged overall attention to threat. This temporal dissociation between early vigilance and later avoidance, captured via precise eye-movement metrics, refines the Looming Vulnerability Model and provides crucial empirical evidence on the dynamic attentional mechanisms underlying threat perception in cognitive vulnerability.