Anxiety and working memory capacity

Abstract Two experiments were conducted to measure the comparative working memory capacities of highly anxious and low anxiety subjects. Experiment 1 employed a traditional digit span measure of capacity requiring storage only. The measure utilised in Experiment 2 required subjects to both process and store information. Highly anxious subjects exhibited significantly smaller measures of capacity in relation to the low anxiety groups in both experiments. It is concluded that high levels of anxiety reduces both the storage and processing capacity of working memory.

[1]  J. Quarter,et al.  Drive level and the audience effect: a test of Zajonc's theory. , 1971, The Journal of social psychology.

[2]  H. Kucera,et al.  Computational analysis of present-day American English , 1967 .

[3]  R. E. Walker,et al.  The Effect of Subjectively Reported Anxiety on Intelligence Test Performance. , 1970 .

[4]  W. Davis,et al.  Deficit in Digit Span performance: state anxiety or aroused emotions state? , 1974, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[5]  L. Chassin,et al.  Cognitions of test-anxious children. , 1983, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[6]  Subjectively Reported Anxiety as a Discriminator of Digit Span Performance , 1971, Psychological reports.

[7]  John H. Mueller.  The Effects of Individual Differences in Test Anxiety and Type of Orienting Task on Levels of Organization in Free Recall. , 1978 .

[8]  J. Deffenbacher.  Relationship of worry and emotionality to performance on the Miller Analogies Test. , 1977, Journal of educational psychology.

[9]  D. Nelson,et al.  Anxiety and encoding strategy , 1979 .

[10]  J. Spence,et al.  RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIGIT SPAN AND ANXIETY. , 1964, Journal of consulting psychology.

[11]  M. Eysenck.  Anxiety, learning, and memory: A reconceptualization , 1979 .

[12]  K. Holroyd,et al.  Performance, cognition, and physiological responding in test anxiety. , 1978, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[13]  P. Carpenter,et al.  Individual differences in working memory and reading , 1980 .

[14]  L. Morris,et al.  Relationship of cognitive and emotional components of test anxiety to physiological arousal and academic performance. , 1970, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[15]  J. Deffenbacher,et al.  Worry, emotionality, and task-generated interference in test anxiety: an empirical test of attentional theory. , 1978, Journal of educational psychology.

[16]  A. Baddeley.  The concept of working memory: A view of its current state and probable future development , 1981, Cognition.

[17]  Alan D. Baddeley,et al.  Working Memory and Reading , 1979 .

[18]  V J Ganzer,et al.  Effects of audience presence and test anxiety on learning and retention in a serial learning situation. , 1968, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[19]  L. Chassin,et al.  Cognitions of test-anxious children under naturalistic test-taking conditions. , 1985, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[20]  K. J. Kennelly,et al.  Test Anxiety and Ineffective Test Taking: Different Names, Same Construct?. , 1984 .

[21]  C. Spielberger,et al.  Digit span: An indicant of trait or state anxiety? , 1969 .

[22]  M. Eysenck,et al.  Attention and Arousal , 1982 .

[23]  M. Eysenck.  Attention And Arousal, Cognition And Performance , 1982 .