Rights statement: Copyright © 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Accepted author manuscript, 132 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC-ND: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Heavy cannabis use and attentional avoidance of anxiety-related stimuli
AU - Wilcockson, Thomas
AU - Sanal, Nilihan
PY - 2016/6
Y1 - 2016/6
N2 - ObjectivesCannabis is now the most widely used illicit substance in the world. Previous research demonstrates that cannabis use is associated with dysfunctional affect regulation and anxiety. Anxiety is characterised by attentional biases in the presence of emotional information. This novel study therefore examined the attentional bias of cannabis users when presented with anxiety-related stimuli. The aim was to establish whether cannabis users respond to anxiety-related stimuli differently to control participants.MethodsA dot-probe paradigm was utilised using 40 undergraduate students. Trials contained anxiety-related stimuli and neutral control stimuli. Eye-tracking was used to measure attention for the stimuli.ResultsResults indicated that cannabis users demonstrated attentional-avoidance behaviour when presented with anxiety-related stimuli.ConclusionsThe findings suggest a difference in processing of emotional information in relation to neutral information between groups. It would appear that cannabis users avoid anxiety provoking stimuli. Such behaviour could potentially have motivational properties that could lead to exacerbating anxiety disorder-type behaviour.
AB - ObjectivesCannabis is now the most widely used illicit substance in the world. Previous research demonstrates that cannabis use is associated with dysfunctional affect regulation and anxiety. Anxiety is characterised by attentional biases in the presence of emotional information. This novel study therefore examined the attentional bias of cannabis users when presented with anxiety-related stimuli. The aim was to establish whether cannabis users respond to anxiety-related stimuli differently to control participants.MethodsA dot-probe paradigm was utilised using 40 undergraduate students. Trials contained anxiety-related stimuli and neutral control stimuli. Eye-tracking was used to measure attention for the stimuli.ResultsResults indicated that cannabis users demonstrated attentional-avoidance behaviour when presented with anxiety-related stimuli.ConclusionsThe findings suggest a difference in processing of emotional information in relation to neutral information between groups. It would appear that cannabis users avoid anxiety provoking stimuli. Such behaviour could potentially have motivational properties that could lead to exacerbating anxiety disorder-type behaviour.
KW - Attentional bias
KW - anxiety
KW - cannabis
U2 - 10.1016/j.abrep.2016.02.004
DO - 10.1016/j.abrep.2016.02.004
M3 - Journal article
VL - 3
SP - 38
EP - 42
JO - Addictive Behaviors Reports
JF - Addictive Behaviors Reports
SN - 2352-8532
ER -