Test anxiety shapes theta band activity linked to elevated working memory load during the encoding phase

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Test anxiety commonly affects students, impairing working memory via attentional resource depletion.
• The specific neural mechanisms linking test anxiety to working memory deficits are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how test anxiety influences neural oscillations in working memory.
• To examine the effects of varying cognitive loads on these neural patterns.

Main Methods:

• Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record brain activity.
• Participants completed a Sternberg working memory task with cognitive loads of 2, 4, and 8 letters.
• High test anxiety (HTA) and low test anxiety (LTA) groups were compared.

Main Results:

• HTA individuals showed reduced top-down attentional control under a medium cognitive load (4 letters), evidenced by decreased theta activity during encoding.
• LTA individuals demonstrated increased theta activity with cognitive load up to 4 letters, which then plateaued.
• HTA individuals exhibited no significant theta activity modulation across cognitive loads.

Conclusions:

• Test anxiety impairs working memory encoding, particularly under moderate cognitive load, due to insufficient attentional control.
• The relationship between cognitive load and theta band activity during working memory encoding is moderated by an individual's level of test anxiety.