Abstract
Background: Cognitive psychology and neuroscience research suggests that attention may play a role in the experience of anxiety. In particular, the Attentional Control Theory (ACT) predicts that anxiety disrupts the efficiency, but not the effectiveness, of the central executive’s inhibition function. Although research with adults and older children supports this theory, no research has been conducted with young children in this area using a method that would allow for the distinction between the efficiency and effectiveness of the inhibition function.
Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between anxiety and inhibitory efficiency and effectiveness in preschool aged children.
Method: Secondary analysis was conducted on data of 128 3-4 year olds that had their anxiety measured using a parent-report questionnaire and attentional control measured using an anti-saccade paradigm.
Results: The study did not find a relationship between anxiety and inhibitory efficiency or effectiveness. However, all children appeared to have difficulties with inhibition irrespective of their levels of anxiety.
Conclusions: Anxiety-related attentional control difficulties were not observed in the sample of young children, suggesting the ACT may not be applicable to this age group. Instead, the results indicated all young children may have difficulties with attentional control which tentatively suggests these difficulties might be normative at this age.
Implications: As attentional control difficulties may not be involved in the presentation or development of anxiety in preschool children it would not be recommended that measures of attentional control be used in the assessment of anxiety, nor should early intervention protocols aim to increase attentional control in preschool aged children. Instead, future research may wish to focus on understanding the developmental trajectory of anxiety-related attentional control difficulties to explain why attentional control difficulties transform from a normative phenomenon in young children to something that is anxiety-related with increasing age.