When does anxiety help or hinder cognitive test performance? The role of working memory capacity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5267920 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marissa Owens (0000-0001-7407-6540, University of Cambridge, corresponding author), Matthew Owens, Jim Stevenson (0009-0001-9280-1571, University of Southampton), Julie A Hadwin (0000-0002-1776-7940, University of Southampton), Roger Norgate (Hampshire Educational Psychology Service, Winchester, UK) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 105 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 92-101 |
| Publication date | 2014-02-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-1269 • E-ISSN: 2044-8295 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/bjop.12009 |
| PMID | 24387098 |
| OpenAlex | W2151722155 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 23 |
| References cited | 34 |
Cognitive interference theories (e.g. attentional control theory, processing efficiency theory) suggest that high levels of trait anxiety predict adverse effects on the performance of cognitive tasks, particularly those that make high demands on cognitive resources. We tested an interaction hypothesis to determine whether a combination of high anxiety and low working memory capacity (WMC) would predict variance in demanding cognitive test scores. Ninety six adolescents (12- to 14-years-old) participated in the study, which measured self-report levels of trait anxiety, working memory, and cognitive test performance. As hypothesized, we found that the anxiety-WMC interaction explained a significant amount of variance in cognitive test performance (ΔR2 .07, p .10). In contrast, trait anxiety was negatively related to test performance in adolescents with low WMC (β = −.35, p < .05) and positively related to test performance in those with high WMC (β = .49, p < .01). The results of this study suggest that WMC moderates the relationship between anxiety and cognitive test performance and may be a determinant factor in explaining some discrepancies found in the literature. Further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms involved
Anxiety · Cognition · Cognitive test · Developmental psychology · Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance · Psychiatry · Test (biology) · Test anxiety · Trait · Trait anxiety · Working memory · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Cognitive Abilities and Testing · Early Childhood Education and Development · Psychology
Children's mathematical achievement and how it relates to working memory, test anxiety and self-regulation
Do temperament trajectories from late childhood through adolescence predict success in school? Findings from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth
Genetics of Personality
The mediating roles of academic self-efficacy and academic emotions in the relation between basic psychological needs satisfaction and learning engagement among Chinese adolescent students
The role of uncertainty tolerance in lowering test anxiety and enhancing English achievement
The benefits of successive relearning on multiple learning outcomes
Variation in Incoming Academic Preparation
Association of High Levels of Bullying and Cyberbullying with Test Anxiety in Boys and Girls Aged 10 to 16 Years
Impact of social media addiction on college students’ academic performance
Intolerance of uncertainty, digital stress, emotion dysregulation
Linking classroom environment to writing feedback literacy
State- and trait-math anxiety and their relation to math performance in children
EEG evidences of emotional working memory deficits in test anxiety individuals across cognitive load conditions
High verbal working memory load impairs gesture-speech integration
Perceptions of Writing Anxiety and Self-Efficacy Among Spanish Heritage Language Learners
Multidimensional influences of anxiety and assessment type on task performance
Test Anxiety and the Americans With Disabilities Act
Parent–child negative emotion reciprocity and children's school success
The link between math anxiety and performance does not depend on working memory
Working memory content guides attention
The Reflective Mind of the Anxious in Action
Anxiety and verbal learning in typically developing primary school children
L2 anxiety and the foreign language reading anxiety scale
Models of Working Memory
New perspectives in attentional control theory
Correlates, Causes, Effects, and Treatment of Test Anxiety
Working memory, math performance, and math anxiety
Mental disorders and subsequent educational attainment in a US national sample
Anxiety and Performance
A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship between Anxiety toward Mathematics and Achievement in Mathematics
Anxiety and depression in academic performance
Working memory skills and educational attainment
Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis
Species Richness of Parasite Assemblages
The relation of depression and anxiety to life-stress and achievement in students
Intelligence, personality, and interests
| Citations per year | 1.64 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2012 - 2026 (15) |
| Highly cited | No |