Distributed and Multifaceted Effects of Threat and Safety

In the present fMRI study, we examined how anxious apprehension is processed in the human brain. A central goal of the study was to test the prediction that a subset of brain regions would exhibit sustained response profiles during threat periods, including the anterior insula, a region implicated in anxiety disorders. A second important goal was to evaluate the responses in the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminals, regions that have been suggested to be involved in more transient and sustained threat, respectively. A total of 109 participants performed an experiment in which they encountered “threat” or “safe” trials lasting approximately 16 sec. During the former, they experienced zero to three highly unpleasant electrical stimulations, whereas in the latter, they experienced zero to three benign electrical stimulations (not perceived as unpleasant). The timing of the stimulation during trials was randomized, and as some trials contained no stimulation, stimulation delivery was uncertain. We contrasted responses during threat and safe trials that did not contain electrical stimulation, but only the potential that unpleasant (threat) or benign (safe) stimulation could occur. We employed Bayesian multilevel analysis to contrast responses to threat and safe trials in 85 brain regions implicated in threat processing. Our results revealed that the effect of anxious apprehension is distributed across the brain and that the temporal evolution of the responses is quite varied, including more transient and more sustained profiles, as well as signal increases and decreases with threat.

Rejection Sensitivity in Intimate Relationships

The goal of the study was to investigate whether and how perceptions of rejection are predictive of perceptions of the partner’s responsiveness, and the intimacy felt with a romantic partner, daily. Moreover, we examined whether people who are more anxious and sensitive to rejection perceived more rejection in daily life and whether this foreshadowed perception of the partner to be less responsive. Analyses of daily data from a sample of 75 couples ( N = 150) who reported on their daily relational experiences suggest that rejection sensitivity and rejection experiences play a significant role in couples’ felt intimacy in daily life, and specifically for perceptions of responsiveness. Results also indicate that for women, rejection sensitivity is associated with more rejection experiences. We discuss the current results from a clinical and from a social psychological perspective, and we highlight how anxious apprehension and experience of rejection, and its interpersonal consequences, can be further considered in clinical practice.

Separate contributions of autistic traits and anxious apprehension, but not alexithymia, to emotion processing in faces

Reduced eye fixation has been commonly reported in autistic samples but may be at least partially explained by alexithymia (i.e., difficulty understanding and describing one’s emotional state). Because anxiety is often elevated in autism, and emotion-processing differences have also been observed in anxious samples, anxiety traits may also influence emotion processing within autism. This study tested the contribution of dimensional traits of autism, anxious apprehension, and alexithymia in mediating eye fixation during face processing. Participants included 105 adults from three samples: autistic adults (AS; n = 30), adults with clinically elevated anxiety and no autism (HI-ANX; n = 29), and neurotypical adults without elevated anxiety (NT; n = 46). Experiment 1 used an emotion identification task with dynamic stimuli, while Experiment 2 used a static luminance change detection task with emotional- and neutral-expression static photos. The emotions of interest were joy, anger, and fear. Dimensional mixed-effects models showed that autism traits, but not alexithymia, predicted reduced eye fixation across both tasks. Anxious apprehension was negatively related to response time in Experiment 1 and positively related to eye fixation in Experiment 2. Attentional avoidance of negative stimuli occurred at lower levels of autism traits and higher levels of worry traits. The results highlight the contribution of autism traits to emotional processing and suggest additional effects of worry-related traits.

Hope and Anxiety

This chapter compares and contrasts two current theories of hope, as operationalized by the Snyder Hope Scale and the Herth Hope Scale. The primary focus is on theoretical and empirical relationships between hope and anxiety. The differences between panic-related and anxious apprehension (general anxiety) as per Barlow’s model are described, and it is argued that hope has stronger theoretical links to general anxiety than to panic-related anxiety. Specifically, linkages between the goal pursuit feedback loops described by hope theory and Barlow’s anxious apprehension model are highlighted, illustrating how hope may be negatively related to anxious apprehension and how anxious apprehension may interfere with hope during pursuit of a goal. The current empirical literature relating hope to anxiety is critically reviewed, and suggestions for future research are discussed.