{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T21:45:50Z","timestamp":1785447950717,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,16]],"date-time":"2025-05-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1747353600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Growing evidence suggests a relationship between deficits in cognitive control and anxiety. However, studies examining cognitive control within affective contexts (affective control) are limited, and the specific characteristics of affective control in patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) remain unclear. This study investigated whether differences exist in cognitive control under affective contexts.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We conduct our research in a population of GAD patients (n = 50) and a healthy control group (n = 50). The affective flanker task measured affective inhibition, while the affective flexibility task assessed affective shifting capabilities.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>GAD patients exhibited abnormal affective inhibition, characterized by reduced proactive control related to target stimulus processing and enhanced reactive control associated with distractor resolution. Additionally, GAD patients demonstrated deficits in affective shifting, as indicated by significantly higher shifting costs in both non-affective and affective tasks compared to the healthy control group.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>The findings reveal that GAD patients display poorer emotion recognition abilities, indicating deficits in affective control compared to healthy individuals. Our study underscores the importance of measuring affective control by delineating it into distinct components.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1506239","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,23]],"date-time":"2025-05-23T10:20:48Z","timestamp":1747995648000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Generalized anxiety disorder patients' cognitive control in affective contexts"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Yuqi","family":"Shen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shasha","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shiqi","family":"Liao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuqing","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zihan","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ke","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenjing","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinhua","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"26","DOI":"10.1007\/s11920-018-0885-z","article-title":"Suicidality in subjects with anxiety or obsessive-compulsive and related disorders: recent advances","volume":"20","author":"De La Vega","year":"2018","journal-title":"Curr Psychiatry Rep"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2018.02.012","article-title":"Generalized anxiety disorder in urban China: Prevalence, awareness, and disease burden","volume":"234","author":"Yu","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Affect Disord"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(09)60660-7","article-title":"Prevalence, treatment, and associated disability of mental disorders in four provinces in China during 2001-05: an epidemiological survey","volume":"373","author":"Phillips","year":"2009","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/1528-3542.7.2.336","article-title":"Anxiety and cognitive performance: attentional control theory","volume":"7","author":"Eysenck","year":"2007","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/cercor\/bhl070","article-title":"Neural processing of fearful faces: effects of anxiety are gated by perceptual capacity limitations","volume":"17","author":"Bishop","year":"2007","journal-title":"Cereb Cortex"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpsycho.2020.05.004","article-title":"Attentional threat biases and their role in anxiety: A neurophysiological perspective","volume":"153","author":"Wieser","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int J Psychophysiol"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"298","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2014.03.006","article-title":"The cognitive psychology of Internet gaming disorder","volume":"34","author":"King","year":"2014","journal-title":"Clin Psychol Rev"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"44","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2017.03.007","article-title":"Meta-analysis of time perception and temporal processing in schizophrenia: Differential effects on precision and accuracy","volume":"54","author":"Thoenes","year":"2017","journal-title":"Clin Psychol Rev"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"108814","DOI":"10.1016\/j.heares.2023.108814","article-title":"Cognitive control in age-related hearing loss: A narrative review","volume":"436","author":"Shende","year":"2023","journal-title":"Hear Res"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1006\/cogp.1999.0734","article-title":"The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex \"Frontal Lobe\" tasks: a latent variable analysis","volume":"41","author":"Miyake","year":"2000","journal-title":"Cognit Psychol"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-444-64150-2.00020-4","article-title":"Executive functions","volume":"173","author":"Diamond","year":"2020","journal-title":"Handb Clin Neurol"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2017.11.048","article-title":"Test anxiety effects, predictors, and correlates: A 30-year meta-analytic review","volume":"227","author":"von der Embse","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Affect Disord"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.paid.2010.08.019","article-title":"New perspectives in attentional control theory","volume":"50","author":"Eysenck","year":"2011","journal-title":"Pers Individ Differ"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5938","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-018-23686-8","article-title":"Emotion and anxiety potentiate the way attention alters visual appearance","volume":"8","author":"Barbot","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci Rep"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpsychires.2022.05.023","article-title":"The dysregulation of top-down control in individuals with high test anxiety: A resting state fMRI study","volume":"151","author":"Huang","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Psychiatr Res"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"102577","DOI":"10.1016\/j.janxdis.2022.102577","article-title":"Avoidance of mild threat observed in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) using eye tracking","volume":"88","author":"Nelson","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Anxiety Disord"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"128","DOI":"10.1186\/s13034-023-00668-x","article-title":"Cognitive and affective control for adolescents in care versus their peers: implications for mental health","volume":"17","author":"McGuire","year":"2023","journal-title":"Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0954579419000099","article-title":"Age-related differences in affective control and its association with mental health difficulties","volume":"32","author":"Schweizer","year":"2020","journal-title":"Dev Psychopathol"},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"104257","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actpsy.2024.104257","article-title":"Examining attentional control deficits in adolescents with test anxiety: An evidential synthesis using self-report, behavioral, and resting-state EEG measures","volume":"246","author":"Wei","year":"2024","journal-title":"Acta Psychol (Amst)"},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/02699931.2011.645279","article-title":"Attentional capture by emotional faces is contingent on attentional control settings","volume":"26","author":"Barratt","year":"2012","journal-title":"Cognit Emot"},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12144-021-02695-3","article-title":"Meaning in life, psychological hardiness and death anxiety: individuals with or without generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)","volume":"41","author":"Dursun","year":"2022","journal-title":"Curr Psychol"},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"104401","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brat.2023.104401","article-title":"Boosting affective control with bifrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): a proof-of-concept study in healthy individuals","volume":"169","author":"De Smet","year":"2023","journal-title":"Behav Res Ther"},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/emo0000695","article-title":"The role of affective control in emotion regulation during adolescence","volume":"20","author":"Schweizer","year":"2020","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"key":"B24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3758\/BF03193146","article-title":"G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences","volume":"39","author":"Faul","year":"2007","journal-title":"Behav Res Methods"},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3760\/cma.j.issn.1671-7368.2018.09.020","article-title":"Application of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale in screening for generalized anxiety disorder","volume":"17","author":"Zhou","year":"2018","journal-title":"Chin J Gen Pract"},{"key":"B26","article-title":"Imaging manifestations and differential diagnosis of extramedullary plasmacytoma (with 4 case analyses)","volume":"30","author":"Huang","year":"2013","journal-title":"J Guangxi Med Univers"},{"key":"B27","article-title":"Hamilton depression scale (HAMD)","volume":"2","author":"Tang","year":"1984","journal-title":"Shanghai Arch Psychiatry"},{"key":"B28","volume-title":"The E-Primer: An Introduction to Creating Psychological Experiments in E-Prime","author":"Spap\u00e9","year":"2014"},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neulet.2009.05.025","article-title":"The course of visual searching to a target in a fixed location: electrophysiological evidence from an emotional flanker task","volume":"460","author":"Dong","year":"2009","journal-title":"Neurosci Lett"},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/02699931.2020.1843407","article-title":"Individual differences in affective flexibility predict future anxiety and worry","volume":"35","author":"Twivy","year":"2021","journal-title":"Cognit Emot"},{"key":"B31","article-title":"Native research of the International Affective Picture System: Assessment in university students","volume":"17","author":"Liu","year":"2009","journal-title":"Chin J Clin Psychol"},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"100100","DOI":"10.31234\/osf.io\/2w87x","article-title":"Anxiety disorders and executive functions: A three-level meta-analysis of reaction time and accuracy","volume":"3","author":"Majeed","year":"2023","journal-title":"Psychiatry Res Commun"},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4880","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-023-40666-3","article-title":"Anxious individuals shift emotion control from lateral frontal pole to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex","volume":"14","author":"Bramson","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"key":"B34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2018.02570","article-title":"State anxiety impairs proactive but enhances reactive control","volume":"9","author":"Yang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front Psychol"},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2011.12.010","article-title":"The variable nature of cognitive control: a dual mechanisms framework","volume":"16","author":"Braver","year":"2012","journal-title":"Trends Cognit Sci"},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/psyp.14598","article-title":"Connection of social anxiety to impaired pattern of cognitive control and underlying motivational deficiencies: Evidence from event-related potentials","volume":"61","author":"Zhao","year":"2024","journal-title":"Psychophysiology"},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S1092852923002237","article-title":"Impaired cognitive flexibility across psychiatric disorders","volume":"28","author":"Grant","year":"2023","journal-title":"CNS Spectr"},{"key":"B38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijchp.2019.07.006","article-title":"Cognitive flexibility and response inhibition in patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder","volume":"20","author":"Rosa-Alc\u00e1zar","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int J Clin Health Psychol"},{"key":"B39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/10615806.2019.1638684","article-title":"Affective flexibility and generalized anxiety disorder: valence-specific shifting difficulties","volume":"32","author":"Wen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Anxiety Stress Coping"},{"key":"B40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"103891","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brat.2021.103891","article-title":"The relationship between affective flexibility, spontaneous emotion regulation and the response to induced stress","volume":"143","author":"Grol","year":"2021","journal-title":"Behav Res Ther"},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0033291723002167","article-title":"Changes in affective control covary with changes in mental health difficulties following affective control training (AffeCT) in adolescents","volume":"54","author":"Schweizer","year":"2024","journal-title":"Psychol Med"},{"key":"B42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0033291721001781","article-title":"The relationship between cognitive functioning and psychopathology in patients with psychiatric disorders: a transdiagnostic network analysis","volume":"53","author":"Chavez-Baldini","year":"2023","journal-title":"Psychol Med"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychiatry"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1506239\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,24]],"date-time":"2025-05-24T16:33:38Z","timestamp":1748104418000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1506239\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,16]]},"references-count":42,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1506239"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1506239","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-0640"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-0640","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,16]]},"article-number":"1506239"}}