Aims:

To investigate sources for individual variation in emotional face processing during state anxiety.

The majority of research has examined the association between trait anxiety and emotional processing. In contrast, the effects of state anxiety have been understudied. Our laboratory is experienced in the use of anxiogenic challenges that safely and transiently increase anxiety. This involves short (up to 20 minutes) inhalation of air that has higher levels of CO2 than normal air (7.5%). There is substantial individual variation in anxiety sensitivity and emotional processing, and in this study we would investigate whether effects differ on the basis of DNA methlyation patterns, which have recently been identifed as biological markers of early life stress. DNA methylation profiles have already been generated from the peripheral blood of approximately 1000 ALSPAC mothers and children as part of the Accessible Resource for Integrated Epigenomics Studies (ARIES).