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Effects of anxiety on attentional allocation and task performance: an information processing analysis
P M Dibartolo1, T A Brown, D H Barlow
1Clark Science Center, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, USA.
Behaviour Research and Therapy
|February 18, 1998
Summary
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) impairs attention on vigilance tasks with neutral distractors but not negative feedback. Anxious individuals reported more worry but less physical arousal, supporting cognitive theories of anxiety.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychophysiology
Background:
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive worry and often impacts cognitive functions.
- Attentional allocation is crucial for task performance and can be disrupted by anxiety.
- Information processing theories provide frameworks for understanding anxiety's cognitive effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate attentional allocation in individuals with GAD using a signal detection methodology.
- To examine the impact of neutral distractors and negative feedback on an attention vigilance task in GAD and normal comparison (NC) groups.
- To explore the relationship between subjective anxiety, worry, negative affectivity, and physiological arousal.
Main Methods:
- Employed an information processing signal detection methodology.
- Assessed performance on an attention vigilance task under conditions with neutral distractor cues and negative feedback cues.
- Measured subjective reports of worry, negative affectivity, and physical arousal (e.g., muscle tension).
- Compared performance and self-reported experiences between 15 GAD participants and 15 NC participants.
Main Results:
- GAD participants showed impaired performance on the vigilance task with neutral distractors compared to NC participants.
- No performance differences were observed between groups when negative feedback cues were presented.
- GAD participants improved during the task with negative feedback, matching NC performance.
- GAD participants reported significantly higher worry and negative affectivity but not increased physical arousal.
Conclusions:
- Attentional allocation in GAD is differentially affected by distractor types, with neutral distractors posing a greater challenge.
- The findings challenge predictions regarding negative feedback's impact, suggesting GAD individuals may adapt or reallocate resources.
- Results support processing efficiency theory and conceptualizations of anxiety involving cognitive schemas and physiological arousal, highlighting a potential dissociation between cognitive and physical anxiety symptoms.