ABSTRACT

The present paper looks into the attentional biases and their relation to non-clinical and clinical anxiety in order to offer an analysis of research as the field moves from discussing associative relations between the two variables to causal ones. Implicitly or explicitly, attentional biases are considered by most theoretical positions as an etiological factor of anxiety disorders. New research aiming at experimental manipulation of such biases has brought into attention the possibility of proving causal relations in the field of cognitive factors involved in anxiety. In this light we discuss the theoretical framework grounding the investigations, the research and the conclusions stemming from it; we also identify and critically analyze their implications, especially from the perspective of challenging data from studies with children

KEYWORDS: attentional biases, anxiety, causal relations.

PAGES:285-297