Unfolding the complex dynamic interplay between attentional processes and anxiety: A commentary on Ghassemzadeh, Rothbart, and Posner

Theories about the involvement of attention in fear and anxiety feelings have been in philosophical circles long before the foundation of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Ghassemzadeh, Rothbart, and Posner (2019, this issue) provided a much-needed historical and conceptual review of the relations between attention and anxiety disorders. Throughout their paper, they argue that insights from the study of brain networks of attention can prompt a particularly viable prospect for best clarifying the complex relations between attentional processes and anxiety. We fully share this view. Moreover, we believe that the computational and conceptual tools of network analysis (aka graph theory) can even enable us to move closer to elucidating the complex dynamic interplay between those phenomena. In this commentary, we explain why and how to do so