The influence of media exposure on anxiety and working memory during lockdown period in Italy.
Open accessAbstract
The rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic has caused anxiety around the world. During lockdown, the media became a point of reference for people seeking information. However, little is known on the relationships between anxiety resulting from persistent media exposure to coronavirus-related programs and the effects produced on working memory. In this work, a total of 101 Italian citizens (53.7% female) aged between 18 and 45 years old, who were from 14 provinces in Italy, participated in an online survey. Participants were presented with media exposure and anxiety questionnaires and they were instructed to carry out working memory tasks (visual and auditory n-back). The results showed that media exposure is related to anxiety. It was also found that high levels of anxiety have a negative influence on the performance of both visual and auditory working memory tasks in terms of increased reaction times of responses and decreased accuracy. The results were critically discussed in the light of the Social Compensation Hypothesis.
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COVID-19-related anxiety is associated with poorer cognitive performance.
“some studies have shown that COVID-19-related anxiety is associated with poorer cognitive performance (54, 55)”
From The Evolution of Psychological and Behavioral Consequences of Self-Isolation During Lockdown: A Longitudinal Study Across United Kingdom and Italy (2022) · cites this paper as [54]
The discrepancy between our findings and previous literature showing poorer cognitive performance and increased attention toward social cues likely reflects the specific components investigated and the measures used.
“Previous literature showed that the COVID-19 lockdown was associated with poorer cognitive performance (54, 55) and increased attention toward social cues (56). Our findings seem to go against these results; this discrepancy likely reflects the specific components investigated and the measures used, since previous studies primarily focused on working memory (especially using n-back tasks) or gaze”
From The Evolution of Psychological and Behavioral Consequences of Self-Isolation During Lockdown: A Longitudinal Study Across United Kingdom and Italy (2022) · cites this paper as [54]
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- Authors
- Fabio, R. A., & Suriano, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Messina (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Fabio, Rosa Angela
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-09-02
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 17
- Pages
- 9279
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8430792
- OpenAlex
- W3197218752
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 2.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- media exposure, anxiety, working memory, COVID-19 lockdown, COVID-19 pandemic, n-back task, reaction time, information seeking, Italian citizens
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adolescent, Adult, Anxiety, Female, Humans, Italy, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Young Adult
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