Influence of anxiety, depression and looming cognitive style on auditory looming perception

Previous studies show that individuals with an anticipatory auditory looming bias over-estimate the closeness of a sound source that approaches them. Our present study bridges cognitive clinical and perception research, and provides evidence that anxiety symptoms and a particular putative cognitive style that creates vulnerability for anxiety (looming cognitive style, or LCS) are related to how people perceive this ecologically fundamental auditory warning signal. The effects of anxiety symptoms on the anticipatory auditory looming effect synergistically depend on the dimension of perceived personal danger assessed by the LCS (physical or social threat). Depression symptoms, in contrast to anxiety symptoms, predict a diminution of the auditory looming bias. Findings broaden our understanding of the links between cognitive-affective states and auditory perception processes and lend further support to past studies providing evidence that the looming cognitive style is related to bias in threat processing.