Inhibitory Control as a Risk Factor for Internalizing Behaviors in Behaviorally Inhibited Children: A Mobile Eye Tracking Investigation
Open Access
- Author:
- Gunther, Kelley
- Graduate Program:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- October 07, 2019
- Committee Members:
- Koraly Elisa Perez-Edgar, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Cynthia L Huang-Pollock, Committee Member
Kristin Ann Buss, Committee Member
Melvin Michael Mark, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- Behavioral Inhibition
Anxiety
Internalizing
mobile eye tracking
inhibitory control
executive functions - Abstract:
- Behavioral inhibition (BI) is a temperamental profile and a well-documented risk factor for internalizing behaviors like social anxiety. However, not all children go on to be highly anxious. Previous research suggests that levels of inhibitory control may moderate the relation between BI and maladaptive socioemotional trajectories, such as anxiety. However there are competing perspectives regarding whether high inhibitory control may act as a protective (Attentional Control Theory) or risk factor (Dual Processing Perspective) for internalizing behaviors, and whether this relation may vary as a function of BI. Furthermore, prior work suggests that naturalistic measures of inhibitory control and corresponding patterns of visual attention may further elucidate these relations. To test these perspectives, the present study examined both behavioral responses and patterns of naturalistic visual attention during an inhibitory control task, where a child took turns with an experimenter choosing blocks from a tower, as moderators in the relation between BI and internalizing behaviors. Participants included a sample of 37 children ranging from 5 to 7 years of age. The Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire (BIQ) was used to both over-sample for BI children as well as measure BI as a continuous variable in analyses. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was also used to measure count of internalizing behaviors in these children. We found that metrics of gaze and behavior were significantly related, suggesting interrelations between visual attention and overt behavior during a naturalistic inhibitory control task. Behavioral metrics computed did not significantly moderate the relation between BI and internalizing symptoms. While our naturalistic visual attention metrics also did not significantly moderate the relation between BI and internalizing behaviors, we did find a significant main effect of proportion of gaze to the blocks in the game, where allocation of gaze to the blocks was inversely related to reported count of internalizing symptoms. These findings provide support for both the Attentional Control Theory and the Dual Processing perspective, while also emphasizing the importance of ecologically valid measures of visual attention.