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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Published on: July 19, 2017

Anxiety, cognitive self-evaluation and performance: ERP correlates.

Stefania Righi¹, Luciano Mecacci, Maria Pia Viggiano

¹Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy. srighi@unifi.it

Journal of Anxiety Disorders

|August 22, 2009

Summary

High anxiety and low self-confidence in sustained attention tasks are linked to specific brain activity patterns. These findings suggest cognitive strategies are activated to maintain performance despite anxiety.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Psychophysiology
Affective Neuroscience

Background:

Anxiety and cognitive self-evaluation impact performance on attention tasks.
Event-related potentials (ERPs) offer insights into cognitive processes during attention.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between anxiety, cognitive self-evaluation, and brain activity (ERPs) during sustained attention.
To explore how anxiety and self-evaluation influence cognitive strategies and performance.

Main Methods:

18 participants completed a sustained attention task (Go/NoGo; SART).
State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) assessed anxiety and self-evaluation.
N2 and P3 ERP components were analyzed in relation to performance and self-report measures.

Main Results:

No significant correlation between reaction times and anxiety/cognitive self-evaluation.
N2 amplitude increased with higher trait and state anxiety.
P3 amplitude decreased with increased cognitive failures, indicating reduced self-confidence.

Conclusions:

Anxiety and cognitive self-evaluation modulate electrophysiological responses during sustained attention.
Individuals with higher anxiety and lower self-confidence may employ cognitive strategies to maintain performance.
Frontal areas and the anterior cingulate cortex are implicated in this affective-cognitive interaction.