title: Trait anxiety and the dynamics of attentional control.
abstract: According to recent theoretical approaches dispositional anxiety is fundamentally linked to neural mechanisms of cognitive control (Braver et al., 2007; Eysenck et al., 2007). The present study was conducted to further investigate this topic by focusing on the relation between trait anxiety, conflict-processing and dynamic adjustments in attentional allocation. Participants completed a modified version of the face-word Stroop task while an electroencephalogram was recorded. We analyzed behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of conflict processing and conflict-driven modulations in target and distractor processing. Anxiety was not related to general conflict-sensitivity but to individual differences in conflict-driven adjustments in attentional allocation: following a high level of stimulus-response conflict, highly anxious participants allocated more attentional resources to the processing of predominantly task-relevant information and withdrew attention from the processing of predominantly task-irrelevant information. Thus, trait anxiety appears to be closely related to individual differences in dynamic adjustments of attentional control.
authors: Institute of Psychology, Julius Maximilians University, Marcusstr. 9-11, 97070 Würzburg, Germany. roman.osinsky@uni-wuerzburg.de
authors: Roman
authors: R
authors: Osinsky
authors: Helge
authors: H
authors: Gebhardt
authors: Nina
authors: N
authors: Alexander
authors: Jürgen
authors: J
authors: Hennig
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult