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Depth of processing and anxiety in facial recognition
British Journal of Psychology (London, England : 1953)
|November 1, 1979
Summary
Test anxiety negatively impacts memory recall, especially when evaluating abstract traits. Lower anxiety levels correlate with better recognition performance, particularly for abstract information.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Test anxiety is a common issue affecting academic performance.
- Understanding how anxiety influences cognitive processes like memory is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of test anxiety on facial recognition memory.
- To examine how different orienting tasks (abstract vs. physical traits) and decision reference points (absolute vs. self-reference) interact with test anxiety.
Main Methods:
- Participants were selected based on high or low test anxiety scores.
- Subjects performed orienting tasks judging faces based on abstract or physical traits, using absolute or self-referential criteria.
- A subsequent recognition test assessed memory performance.
Main Results:
- Low-anxiety subjects and those evaluating abstract features showed superior recognition.
- No significant interaction was found between depth of processing and anxiety levels.
- The reference point for decisions had minimal overall impact, though the anxiety deficit was more pronounced with an absolute reference.
Conclusions:
- Lower test anxiety is associated with enhanced facial recognition memory.
- Processing abstract features during encoding improves memory performance, irrespective of anxiety levels.
- The detrimental effect of anxiety on memory is more evident when using an absolute decision criterion.
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