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Attentional control deficits in trait anxiety: Why you see them and why you don't
Abstract
Attentional Control Theory (ACT; Eysenck et al., 2007; Derakshan and Eysenck, 2009) posits that trait anxiety interferes with the inhibition, shifting and updating processes of working memory. Consequently, high anxious individuals are predicted to perform worse on cognitively demanding tasks requiring efficient cognitive processing. Whilst a growing number of studies have provided support for this view, the possible underlying mechanisms of this deficiency are far less understood. In particular, there is conflicting neuroscientific evidence with some work showing associations between anxiety and increased neural activity over frontal areas, while others report reduced activity. We review recent evidence that has helped elucidate the cognitive hallmarks of trait anxiety, and suggest how previous discrepancies can be accommodated within ACT's prediction that reduced cognitive efficiency may be ameliorated by strategies such as compensatory effort. Finally, we discuss if ACT's distinction on efficiency and effectiveness can be applied to threat-related processing, often shown to additively override attentional control in anxiety.
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“Although findings are mixed, other research suggests that anxiety impairs cognitive flexibility (e.g., indexed by task-switching) and working memory functions, which may be modulated by task demands or presence of threat (Berggren & Derakshan, 2013;Snyder et al., 2015;Stout et al., 2013;2015).”
From Anxiety and attention to threat: cognitive mechanisms and treatment with attention bias modification (2016) · cites this paper as Berggren & Derakshan, 2013
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Metadata
- Authors
- Berggren, N., & Derakshan, N.
- Affiliations
- Birkbeck, University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Derakshan, Nazanin
- ORCID
- Berggren, Nick
- Venue
- Biological Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-03
- Volume
- 92
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 440-446
- ISSN
- 0301-0511 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2079769200
- Cited by
- 403
- References
- 73
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 68 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 12
- FWCI
- 2.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Biological Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (1013785)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- trait anxiety, attentional control theory, working memory, cognitive inhibition, cognitive flexibility, cognitive efficiency, compensatory effort, threat processing, cognitive control deficits
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Motivation
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