Anxiety and the span of apprehension

Previous research using the visual span of apprehension procedure has interpreted the performance deficits commonly demonstrated by schizophrenic subjects as indicative of a core, central processing deficit. Gjerde recently suggested that the attentional problems of schizophrenic subjects may be associated with excessive levels of arousal. The present study was designed to explore the relationship between arousal level in normal subjects and their performance on the span of apprehension task. Consistent with Gjerde's proposals, the normal subjects who expressed high levels of trait anxiety were significantly and selectively impaired on the more complex conditions of the task, a performance pattern similar to that exhibited by schizophrenic subjects in previous research. These data illustrate the influence that arousal level may exert on tasks purporting to reflect attentional abnormalities among schizophrenic subjects.