Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of trait anxiety in children, on attentional biases to emotional facial expressions (angry, happy, neutral). Method: 30 children with high trait anxiety and 30 children with low trait anxiety were selected using Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and a semi-structured interview. The participants completed the Pictorial Version of the Modified Dot-probe Task. Data were analyzed using multifactor analysis of variance and repeated measures analysis of variance. Results: This study showed that the interaction between trait anxiety and scores of attentional bias, are significant only for angry facial expressions (p<0.001) and are not significant for other facial expressions. Also, the level of trait anxiety has a positive significant correlation with scores of attentional bias toward angry faces (p<0.001). Conclusion: Children with high anxiety traits show a significant vigilance toward angry faces, while children with low anxiety traits show an attentional bias away from the same faces.