scholarly journals Attentional Control in Bilingualism: An Exploration of the Effects of Trait Anxiety and Rumination on Inhibition

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Ouzia ◽  
Peter Bright ◽  
Roberto Filippi
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Performance Effectiveness ◽  
Attentional Control Theory ◽  
Accuracy Performance ◽  
Control Accuracy

Bilingual individuals have been reported to show enhanced executive function in comparison to monolingual peers. However, the role of adverse emotional traits such as trait anxiety and rumination in bilingual cognitive control has not been established. Attentional Control Theory holds that anxiety disproportionately impacts processing efficiency (typically measured via reaction time) in comparison to accuracy (performance effectiveness). We administered eye tracking and behavioural measures of inhibition to young, healthy monolingual and highly proficient bilingual adults. We found that trait anxiety was a reliable risk factor for decreased inhibitory control accuracy in bilingual but not monolingual participants. These findings, therefore, indicate that adverse emotional traits may differentially modulate performance in monolingual and bilingual individuals, an interpretation which has implications both for ACT and future research on bilingual cognition.

Anxiety, Processing Efficiency, and Cognitive Performance

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazanin Derakshan ◽  
Michael W. Eysenck
Keyword(s):  
Control Theory ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Performance Effectiveness ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Attentional Control Theory ◽  
Efficiency Theory ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Switching Attention

There have been many attempts to account theoretically for the effects of anxiety on cognitive performance. This article focuses on two theories based on insights from cognitive psychology. The more recent is the attentional control theory ( Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007 ), which developed from the earlier processing efficiency theory ( Eysenck & Calvo, 1992 ). Both theories assume there is a fundamental distinction between performance effectiveness (quality of performance) and processing efficiency (the relationship between performance effectiveness and use of processing resources), and that anxiety impairs processing efficiency more than performance effectiveness. Both theories also assume that anxiety impairs the efficiency of the central executive component of the working memory system. In addition, attentional control theory assumes that anxiety impairs the efficiency of two types of attentional control: (1) negative attentional control (involved in inhibiting attention to task-irrelevant stimuli); and (2) positive attentional control (involved in flexibly switching attention between and within tasks to maximize performance). Recent (including unpublished) research relevant to theoretical predictions from attentional control theory is discussed. In addition, future directions for theory and research in the area of anxiety and performance are presented.

Anxiety, Inhibition, Efficiency, and Effectiveness

2009 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazanin Derakshan ◽  
Tahereh L. Ansari ◽  
Miles Hansard ◽  
Leor Shoker ◽  
Michael W. Eysenck
Keyword(s):  
Control Theory ◽  
Error Rate ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Antisaccade Task ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Performance Effectiveness ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
High Anxious ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Attentional Control Theory

Effects of anxiety on the antisaccade task were assessed. Performance effectiveness on this task (indexed by error rate) reflects a conflict between volitional and reflexive responses resolved by inhibitory processes (Hutton, S. B., & Ettinger, U. (2006). The antisaccade task as a research tool in psychopathology: A critical review. Psychophysiology, 43, 302–313). However, latency of the first correct saccade reflects processing efficiency (relationship between performance effectiveness and use of resources). In two experiments, high-anxious participants had longer correct antisaccade latencies than low-anxious participants and this effect was greater with threatening cues than positive or neutral ones. The high- and low-anxious groups did not differ in terms of error rate in the antisaccade task. No group differences were found in terms of latency or error rate in the prosaccade task. These results indicate that anxiety affects performance efficiency but not performance effectiveness. The findings are interpreted within the context of attentional control theory (Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion, 7 (2), 336–353).

Examining the effects of musical type and intensity in performing the flanker task: A test of attentional control theory applied to non-emotional distractions

2020 ◽  
pp. 030573562092259
Author(s):  
Michael D Oliver ◽  
Jacob J Levy ◽  
Debora R Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Control Theory ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Sound Intensity ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Attentional Control Theory ◽  
And Performance

Music alters the interplay between components of cognition and performance; however, there are inconclusive findings on how. One explanation may be Attentional Control Theory, which states that anxiety places demands on cognitive resources producing adverse effects on cognitive performance. Similarly, characteristics of music alter cognitive faculties resulting in poor performance. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate effects on cognition specific to influences of music through the lens of Attentional Control Theory. In an attempt to explain how music impacts cognitive performance, we asked 141 college students (63.1% female) to complete the flanker task while listening to either lyrical or non-lyrical music at differing sound intensities. Results revealed a significant main effect of music type on flanker performance; however, no significant differences emerged with sound intensity. Findings suggest music with lyrics, rather than intensity, impairs cognition in adults, thereby elucidating the importance of avoiding music with lyrics during active tasks. Moreover, musical lyrics worsen performance by either interfering with selective attention processing of goal-relevant information or altering working memory capacity resulting in decreases in processing efficiency and performance effectiveness. Therefore, findings support the use of attentional control theory as a means of explaining differences in cognitive performance due to characteristics of music.

Neither State or Trait Anxiety Alter the Response to Distracting Emotionally Neutral Sounds

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Hoskin ◽  
Mike D. Hunter ◽  
Peter W. R. Woodruff
Keyword(s):  
Control Theory ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Emotional State ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Attentional Control Theory ◽  
Audiovisual Stimuli ◽  
The Impact

Attentional control theory suggests that heightened anxiety, whether due to trait or state factors, causes an increased vulnerability to distraction even when the distracters are emotionally neutral. Recent passive oddball studies appear to support this theory in relation to the distraction caused by emotionally neutral sounds. However such studies have manipulated emotional state via the content of task stimuli, thus potentially confounding changes in emotion with differences in task demands. To identify the effect of anxiety on the distraction caused by emotionally neutral sounds, 50 participants completed a passive oddball task requiring emotionally neutral sounds to be ignored. Crucially, state anxiety was manipulated independent of the task stimuli (via unrelated audiovisual stimuli) thus removing confounds relating to task demands. Neither state or trait anxiety was found to influence the susceptibility to distraction by emotionally neutral sounds. These findings contribute to the ongoing debate concerning the impact of emotion on attention.

scholarly journals Trait Anxiety Modulates the Neural Efficiency of Inhibitory Control

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 3132-3145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Basten ◽  
Christine Stelzel ◽  
Christian J. Fiebach
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
High Anxious ◽  
The Face ◽  
Neural Efficiency ◽  
High Trait ◽  
High Trait Anxiety

An impairment of attentional control in the face of threat-related distracters is well established for high-anxious individuals. Beyond that, it has been hypothesized that high trait anxiety more generally impairs the neural efficiency of cognitive processes requiring attentional control—even in the absence of threat-related stimuli. Here, we use fMRI to show that trait anxiety indeed modulates brain activation and functional connectivities between task-relevant brain regions in an affectively neutral Stroop task. In high-anxious individuals, dorsolateral pFC showed stronger task-related activation and reduced coupling with posterior lateral frontal regions, dorsal ACC, and a word-sensitive area in the left fusiform gyrus. These results support the assumption that a general (i.e., not threat-specific) impairment of attentional control leads to reduced neural processing efficiency in anxious individuals. The increased dorsolateral pFC activation is interpreted as an attempt to compensate for suboptimal connectivity within the cortical network subserving task performance.

scholarly journals The role of trait anxiety in induction of state anxiety

Psihologija ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Snezana Tovilovic ◽  
Zdenka Novovic ◽  
Ljiljana Mihic ◽  
Veljko Jovanovic
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
Mood Induction ◽  
Video Clip ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Psychometric Characteristics ◽  
New Instrument

The reported study had the following goals: to determine psychometric characteristics of a new instrument purpoting to measure trait anxiety - AT29, to explore the effectiveness of a mood induction procedure in eliciting state anxiety, and to determine the role of trait anxiety, as measured by AT29, in responding to mood induction. AT29 was administered as a part of a larger test battery to 232 psychology students during a mass testing session. After three weeks, 90 students were randomly selected to participate in the second, experimental phase of the study. These selected participants were randomly assigned to two groups: experimental (mood-induction group) in which participants watched a video clip with a fear-inducing content and control group in which participants watched a neutral video clip of the same duration as the fear-inducing clip. State anxiety was measured in both groups using the STAI-S questionnaire right before and after mood induction. It was demonstrated that there is a significant association between trait anxiety as measured by AT29 and state anxiety obtained at both measurement occasionsbefore and after mood induction. Following fear induction, the experimental group demonstrated higher state anxiety scores. However, the interaction between group membership and trait anxiety was not significant. Potential explanations regarding the lack of effect of trait anxiety on state anxiety in this mood induction experiment were discussed as well as some recommendations for future research. Additionally, the results suggested that AT29 has very good psychometric characteristics: high internal consistency and test-retest reliability (.96 and .86 respectively), as well as good divergent and convergent validity.

scholarly journals Attentional control in bilingualism: An exploration of the effects of trait anxiety and rumination on inhibition

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Ouzia ◽  
Peter Bright ◽  
roberto filippi
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Executive Processing ◽  
Attentional Control Theory ◽  
Multilingual Research ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds ◽  
Behavioural Sciences

Bilingual and multilingual research has largely focussed on the effects of linguistic experience on general cognitive control abilities, such as inhibitory control and selective attention. However, there is a dearth of studies investigating the possible effect of emotions on executive processing. In this current study we aimed to investigate how trait anxiety and rumination may affect executive function by using behavioural and eye-tracking methods, as well as specific questionnaire used in the field of cognitive and affective sciences. Within the framework of the Attentional Control Theory (ACT), we compared a group of English monolinguals with a group of multilinguals from different linguistic backgrounds. We found that trait anxiety is a reliable predictor of decreased inhibitory control performance in bilingual but not monolingual speakers. This article has been submitted for publication in Behavioural Sciences, Special Issue: Individual Variation and the Bilingual Advantage - Factors that Modulate the Effect of Bilingualism and Cognitive Control, edited by Prof. Dr. Maurits van den Noort, Dr. Peggy Bosch, and Prof. Dr. Esli Struys. We hope this research will open new avenues for investigations that will indeed include an important dimension of our human make up: emotions.

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