Modulation of executive attention by threat stimulus in test-anxious students
The study examined whether test anxiety (TA) is related to impaired attentional networks under emotional distraction. High and low test-anxious students completed a modified version of the Attention Network Test (ANT) in which emotional distracters, specifically threat-related or neutral words, were...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01486/full |
| _version_ | 1811197919015993344 |
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| author | Huan eZhang Huan eZhang Renlai eZhou Renlai eZhou Renlai eZhou Renlai eZhou Jilin eZou |
| author_facet | Huan eZhang Huan eZhang Renlai eZhou Renlai eZhou Renlai eZhou Renlai eZhou Jilin eZou |
| author_sort | Huan eZhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The study examined whether test anxiety (TA) is related to impaired attentional networks under emotional distraction. High and low test-anxious students completed a modified version of the Attention Network Test (ANT) in which emotional distracters, specifically threat-related or neutral words, were embedded in centrally presented hollow arrows in Experiment 1. Results showed a significant reduction in efficiency of the executive attention in test-anxious students compared to controls when the fillers were threat/test-related words. To evaluate the effect of the test adaption, the original ANT, which utilized no emotional distracter, was employed as a control task in Experiment 2. We then consolidated the data on efficiency of attentional networks, which were derived from both tasks. Contrasting the two tasks showed that TA reduced executive attention in the revised task only, suggesting an enhanced sensitivity provided by the adaption from the original task. Taken together, these findings indicate that the attentional deficit in test-anxious individuals represents a situation-related defect of a single component of attention rather than an underlying structural and universal attentional deficit. The results support the hypothesis of attentional control theory and contribute to the understanding of attentional mechanisms in individuals with TA. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:22:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c9047dbfa663498dbf8f369a694aa911 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:22:20Z |
| publishDate | 2015-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-c9047dbfa663498dbf8f369a694aa9112022-12-22T03:53:46ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-10-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.01486133387Modulation of executive attention by threat stimulus in test-anxious studentsHuan eZhang0Huan eZhang1Renlai eZhou2Renlai eZhou3Renlai eZhou4Renlai eZhou5Jilin eZou6Southeast UniversityWuhu Institute of TechnologySoutheast UniversityNanjing UniversityState Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing Normal UniversitySoutheast UniversityThe study examined whether test anxiety (TA) is related to impaired attentional networks under emotional distraction. High and low test-anxious students completed a modified version of the Attention Network Test (ANT) in which emotional distracters, specifically threat-related or neutral words, were embedded in centrally presented hollow arrows in Experiment 1. Results showed a significant reduction in efficiency of the executive attention in test-anxious students compared to controls when the fillers were threat/test-related words. To evaluate the effect of the test adaption, the original ANT, which utilized no emotional distracter, was employed as a control task in Experiment 2. We then consolidated the data on efficiency of attentional networks, which were derived from both tasks. Contrasting the two tasks showed that TA reduced executive attention in the revised task only, suggesting an enhanced sensitivity provided by the adaption from the original task. Taken together, these findings indicate that the attentional deficit in test-anxious individuals represents a situation-related defect of a single component of attention rather than an underlying structural and universal attentional deficit. The results support the hypothesis of attentional control theory and contribute to the understanding of attentional mechanisms in individuals with TA.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01486/fullAttention Network TestmodulationEmotional Distractionexecutive attentiontest anxiety |
| spellingShingle | Huan eZhang Huan eZhang Renlai eZhou Renlai eZhou Renlai eZhou Renlai eZhou Jilin eZou Modulation of executive attention by threat stimulus in test-anxious students Frontiers in Psychology Attention Network Test modulation Emotional Distraction executive attention test anxiety |
| title | Modulation of executive attention by threat stimulus in test-anxious students |
| title_full | Modulation of executive attention by threat stimulus in test-anxious students |
| title_fullStr | Modulation of executive attention by threat stimulus in test-anxious students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modulation of executive attention by threat stimulus in test-anxious students |
| title_short | Modulation of executive attention by threat stimulus in test-anxious students |
| title_sort | modulation of executive attention by threat stimulus in test anxious students |
| topic | Attention Network Test modulation Emotional Distraction executive attention test anxiety |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01486/full |
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