title: Effects of anxiety on task switching: evidence from the mixed antisaccade task.
abstract: According to the attentional control theory of anxiety (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007), anxiety impairs performance on cognitive tasks that involve the shifting function of working memory. This hypothesis was tested using a mixed antisaccade paradigm, in which participants performed single-task and mixed-task versions of the paradigm. The single task involved the completion of separate blocks of anti- and prosaccade trials, whereas in the mixed task, participants completed anti- and prosaccade trials in a random order within blocks. Analysis of switch costs showed that high-anxious individuals did not exhibit the commonly reported paradoxical improvement in saccade latency, whereas low-anxious individuals did. The findings are discussed within the framework of attentional control theory.
authors.affiliation: Attention and Emotion Lab, School of Psychology, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, England.
authors.forename: Tahereh L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.forename: Nazanin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Derakshan
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Richards
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*