Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026

The Emotional Stroop Task: Assessing Cognitive Performance under Exposure to Emotional Content
Published on: June 29, 2016
Hemisphere asymmetry and the processing of emotional words in anxiety
A Richards1, C C French, R Dowd
1Birkbeck College, University of London, U.K.
Abstract:
High- and low-trait anxious subjects participated in a divided visual field emotional Stroop task. Subjects identified the colour of unilaterally presented threat-related, positive and neutral words. The high- and low-trait groups differed in terms of their accuracy scores but not in their reaction times. Analysis of the accuracy data revealed that the high-trait group exhibited right hemisphere interference for emotional relative to neutral trials whereas the low-trait showed right hemisphere interference for threat-related trials only. The idea that the right hemisphere is differentially specialised for the processing of emotional information was supported.
Related Concept Videos
Anxiety: Overview
Individuals with anxiety often experience a range of physical and emotional symptoms, including sweating, trembling, tachycardia, and disturbances in sleep patterns. These symptoms vary in intensity and frequency but are generally disruptive and distressing.
Lateralization
Physiology of Emotion
Autonomic Nervous System
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a critical role in emotional responses by regulating involuntary physiological functions. It consists of two main components: the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. The sympathetic system...
Labeling Emotion
Cognitive Theories: Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion
Physiological Arousal and Cognitive Labeling
According to this theory, when an individual experiences physiological...
Social Anxiety Disorder

