Neurophysiological correlates of reward and punishment feedback processing in individuals with test anxiety

Understanding how individuals with high test anxiety (HTA) process evaluative feedback is essential to clarifying their responses in evaluative situations. This study examined how individuals with HTA differ from those with low test anxiety (LTA) in processing positive and negative outcomes presented in reward and punishment contexts. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) and a probabilistic learning task, we implemented separate reward and punishment blocks with test-related and test-unrelated images. Behavioral results indicated that, across reward and punishment blocks, both HTA and LTA individuals responded more quickly and accurately as the task progressed, with no significant performance differences between the groups. ERP findings revealed no deficits in reward processing for individuals with HTA. However, during punishment processing, HTA individuals showed smaller feedback-related negativity (FRN) and larger late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes in response to negative feedback for test-related stimuli. They also exhibited larger FRN amplitudes after positive feedback for test-related stimuli, while no significant group differences were observed in P3 or LPP amplitudes. These findings suggest altered neural responses to evaluative feedback in individuals with HTA, particularly under punitive conditions, which may reflect differences in expectancy and emotional engagement.