Beginning of the Pandemic: COVID-19-Elicited Anxiety as a Predictor of Working Memory Performance
Increasing evidence indicates that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is associated with adverse psychological effects, including heightened levels of anxiety. This study examined whether COVID-19-related anxiety levels during the early stage of the pandemic predicted demanding working...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.576466/full |
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| author | Daniel Fellman Daniel Fellman Daniel Fellman Liisa Ritakallio Otto Waris Otto Waris Otto Waris Jussi Jylkkä Matti Laine Matti Laine |
| author_facet | Daniel Fellman Daniel Fellman Daniel Fellman Liisa Ritakallio Otto Waris Otto Waris Otto Waris Jussi Jylkkä Matti Laine Matti Laine |
| author_sort | Daniel Fellman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Increasing evidence indicates that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is associated with adverse psychological effects, including heightened levels of anxiety. This study examined whether COVID-19-related anxiety levels during the early stage of the pandemic predicted demanding working memory (WM) updating performance. Altogether, 201 healthy adults (age range, 18–50) mostly from North America and the British Isles were recruited to this study via the crowdsourcing site www.prolific.co. The results showed that higher levels of COVID-19-related anxiety during the first weeks of the pandemic outbreak were associated with poorer WM performance as measured by the n-back paradigm. Critically, the unique role of COVID-19-related anxiety on WM could not be explained by demographic factors, or other psychological factors such as state and trait anxiety or fluid intelligence. Moreover, across three assessment points spanning 5–6 weeks, COVID-19-related anxiety levels tended to decrease over time. This pattern of results may reflect an initial psychological “shock wave” of the pandemic, the cognitive effects of which may linger for some time, albeit the initial anxiety associated with the pandemic would change with habituation and increasing information. Our results contribute to the understanding of cognitive–affective reactions to a major disaster. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:31:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-136b862e16554693badb154bf2720975 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:31:57Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-136b862e16554693badb154bf27209752022-12-21T19:00:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-11-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.576466576466Beginning of the Pandemic: COVID-19-Elicited Anxiety as a Predictor of Working Memory PerformanceDaniel Fellman0Daniel Fellman1Daniel Fellman2Liisa Ritakallio3Otto Waris4Otto Waris5Otto Waris6Jussi Jylkkä7Matti Laine8Matti Laine9Department of Applied Educational Science, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenDepartment of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, FinlandDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, SwedenDepartment of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, FinlandDepartment of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, FinlandDepartment of Child Psychiatry, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, FinlandINVEST Research Flagship Center, University of Turku, Turku, FinlandDepartment of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, FinlandDepartment of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, FinlandTurku Brain and Mind Center, Turku, FinlandIncreasing evidence indicates that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is associated with adverse psychological effects, including heightened levels of anxiety. This study examined whether COVID-19-related anxiety levels during the early stage of the pandemic predicted demanding working memory (WM) updating performance. Altogether, 201 healthy adults (age range, 18–50) mostly from North America and the British Isles were recruited to this study via the crowdsourcing site www.prolific.co. The results showed that higher levels of COVID-19-related anxiety during the first weeks of the pandemic outbreak were associated with poorer WM performance as measured by the n-back paradigm. Critically, the unique role of COVID-19-related anxiety on WM could not be explained by demographic factors, or other psychological factors such as state and trait anxiety or fluid intelligence. Moreover, across three assessment points spanning 5–6 weeks, COVID-19-related anxiety levels tended to decrease over time. This pattern of results may reflect an initial psychological “shock wave” of the pandemic, the cognitive effects of which may linger for some time, albeit the initial anxiety associated with the pandemic would change with habituation and increasing information. Our results contribute to the understanding of cognitive–affective reactions to a major disaster.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.576466/fullCOVID-19working memoryanxietystate anxietytrait anxiety |
| spellingShingle | Daniel Fellman Daniel Fellman Daniel Fellman Liisa Ritakallio Otto Waris Otto Waris Otto Waris Jussi Jylkkä Matti Laine Matti Laine Beginning of the Pandemic: COVID-19-Elicited Anxiety as a Predictor of Working Memory Performance Frontiers in Psychology COVID-19 working memory anxiety state anxiety trait anxiety |
| title | Beginning of the Pandemic: COVID-19-Elicited Anxiety as a Predictor of Working Memory Performance |
| title_full | Beginning of the Pandemic: COVID-19-Elicited Anxiety as a Predictor of Working Memory Performance |
| title_fullStr | Beginning of the Pandemic: COVID-19-Elicited Anxiety as a Predictor of Working Memory Performance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Beginning of the Pandemic: COVID-19-Elicited Anxiety as a Predictor of Working Memory Performance |
| title_short | Beginning of the Pandemic: COVID-19-Elicited Anxiety as a Predictor of Working Memory Performance |
| title_sort | beginning of the pandemic covid 19 elicited anxiety as a predictor of working memory performance |
| topic | COVID-19 working memory anxiety state anxiety trait anxiety |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.576466/full |
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