State anxiety and information processing: A 7.5% carbon dioxide challenge study

Easey, Kayleigh E.; Catling, Jon C.; Kent, Christopher; Crouch, Coral; Jackson, Sam; Munaf�, Marcus R.; Attwood, Angela S.

Abstract

We used the 7.5% carbon dioxide model of anxiety induction to investigate the effects of state anxiety on simple information processing. In both high- and low-anxious states, participants (n = 36) completed an auditory–visual matching task and a visual binary categorization task. The stimuli were either degraded or clear, so as to investigate whether the effects of anxiety are greater when signal clarity is compromised. Accuracy in the matching task was lower during CO2 inhalation and for degraded stimuli. In the categorization task, response times and indecision (measured using mouse trajectories) were greater during CO2 inhalation and for degraded stimuli. For most measures, we found no evidence of Gas × Clarity interactions. These data indicate that state anxiety negatively impacts simple information processing and do not support claims that anxiety may benefit performance in low-cognitively-demanding tasks. These findings have important implications for understanding the impact of state anxiety in real-world situations.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Feb 1, 2018
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 23, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 26, 2022
• Journal: Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
• Print ISSN: 1069-9384
• Electronic ISSN: 1531-5320
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 732-738
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1413-6
• Keywords: Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Developmental and Educational Psychology; Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Anxiety, Visual perception, Auditory perception, Human factors
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10003821
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-017-1413-6
• Additional Information: First Online: 1 February 2018