Deficits of proactive control in individuals with test anxiety: Evidence from ERPs

Proactive control in cognitive control is characterized by an individual's ability to maintain representations of goal-relevant information prior to responding to prevent conflicts. Text anxiety is a situation-specific personality trait characterized by excessive fear and worry about exams, accompanied by emotional issues. Individuals with high test anxiety exhibit deficiencies in cognitive control capabilities, but whether there is a defect in proactive control remains unclear. In this study, ERP technology was used to record the brain electrical activity of participants with high and low test anxiety during the performance of the AX-CPT task, and the difference in proactive control ability between the two groups of participants was examined. Behaviorally, individuals with high test anxiety(HTA) exhibited significantly lower accuracy rates in all three conditions compared to those with low test anxiety, and also showed a lower d' Context index. In terms of neural indicators, participants with HTA showed a significantly lower CNV component in the BX pairs than those with low test anxiety, HTA individuals lack the ability to actively maintain cues. Additionally, higher amplitudes of the N2 and P3 were generated in the AY and BX pairs, high test anxiety individuals require more cognitive resources to inhibit cognitive conflict. Results suggests that individuals with HTA exhibit deficiencies in proactive control abilities. This study explores the relationship between such deficits and test anxiety.