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This work was supported by ANPIR under Grant to EF (BA3/2016); PROMOSAM Investigacion en procesos, mecanismos y tratamientos psicologicos para la promocion de la salud mental under Grant to MT-F (PSI2014- 56303-RED); and Carlos III Health Institute/FEDER under Grant to MF (PI16/00144).

Analysis of institutional authors

Fullana, Miquel ACorresponding Author

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November 8, 2024
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Attentional Control and Fear Extinction in Subclinical Fear: An Exploratory Study

Publicated to:Frontiers In Psychology. 8 1654- - 2017-09-26 8(), DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01654

Authors: Forcadell, Eduard; Torrents-Rodas, David; Treen, Devi; Fullana, Miquel A; Tortella-Feliu, Miquel

Affiliations

Hosp del Mar, IMIM, Med Res Inst, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Hosp del Mar, Inst Neuropsychiat & Addict, Anxiety Unit, CIBERSAM, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Parc Hosp Marti & Julia, IAS, Inst Invest Biomed Girona, Specialized Dept Mental Hlth & Intellectual Disab, Salt, Spain - Author
Parc Salut Mar, Inst Neuropsychiat & Addict, Barcelona, Spain - Author
PROMOSAM Red Invest Proc Mecanismos & Tratamiento, Mallorca, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Inst Invest & Innovacio Parc Tauli I3PT, Parc Tauli Hosp Univ, Dept Mental Hlth, Sabadell, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Sch Med, Dept Psychiat & Forens Med, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Illes Balears, Univ Res Inst Hlth Sci IUNICS, Mallorca, Spain - Author
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Abstract

Attentional control (AC) and fear extinction learning are known to be involved in pathological anxiety. In this study we explored whether individual differences in non-emotional AC were associated with individual differences in the magnitude and gradient of fear extinction (learning and recall). In 50 individuals with fear of spiders, we collected measures of non-emotional AC by means of self-report and by assessing the functioning of the major attention networks (executive control, orienting, and alerting). The participants then underwent a paradigm assessing fear extinction learning and extinction recall. The two components of the orienting network functioning (costs and benefits) were significantly associated with fear extinction gradient over and above the effects of trait anxiety. Specifically, participants with enhanced orienting costs (i.e., difficulties in disengaging attention from cues not relevant for the task) showed faster extinction learning, while those with enhanced orienting benefits (i.e., attention facilitated by valid cues) exhibited faster extinction recall as measured by fear-potentiated startle and Unconditioned Stimulus expectancies, respectively. Our findings suggest that, in non-emotional conditions, the orienting component of attention may be predictive of fear extinction. They also show that the use of fear extinction gradients and the exploration of individual differences in non-emotional AC (using performance-based measures of attentional network functioning) can provide a better understanding of individual differences in fear learning. Our findings also may help to understand differences in exposure therapy outcomes.

Keywords

Anxiety disorderAnxiety disordersAnxious childreAnxious childrenAttentional controlAttentional network functioningBias modificationCognitive-behavioral therapyConditioned fearEmotion regulationExecutive function impairmentsExtinction learningExtinction recallFear extinctionNeural mechanismsSocial anxiety disorderTraining techniqueTrait anxiety

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Frontiers In Psychology due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2017, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Psychology (Miscellaneous).

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-07-16:

  • WoS: 3

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-16:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 48.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 51 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.75.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 2 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Fullana Rivas, Miquel Àngel.