BIROn - Birkbeck Institutional Research Online

    Trait susceptibility to worry modulates the effects of cognitive load on cognitive control: an ERP study

    Owens, Max J. and Derakhshan, Nazanin and Richards, Anne (2015) Trait susceptibility to worry modulates the effects of cognitive load on cognitive control: an ERP study. Emotion 15 (5), pp. 544-549. ISSN 1528-3542.

    [img]
    Preview
    Text
    13972.pdf - Author's Accepted Manuscript

    Download (662kB) | Preview

    Abstract

    According to the predictions of Attentional Control Theory of Anxiety (ACT; Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007) worry is a central feature of anxiety that interferes with the ability to inhibit distracting information necessary for successful task performance. However, it is unclear how such cognitive control deficits are modulated by task demands and by the emotionality of the distractors. A sample of 31 participants (25 female) completed a novel flanker task with emotional and neutral distractors under low and high cognitive load conditions. The negative going N2 event-related potential was measured to index participants’ level of top-down resource allocation in the inhibition of distractors under high and low load conditions. Results showed N2 amplitudes were larger under high compared to low load conditions. In addition, under high but not low load, trait worry was associated with greater N2 amplitudes. Our findings support ACT predictions that trait worry adversely affects goal-directed behaviour and is associated with greater recruitment of cognitive resources to inhibit the impact of distracting information under conditions where cognitive resources are taxed.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Additional Information: This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): worry, flanker, cognitive load, cognitive control, ERPs
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences
    Depositing User: Anne Richards
    Date Deposited: 22 Jan 2016 16:01
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:21
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/13972

    Statistics

    Activity Overview
    6 month trend
    1,094Downloads
    6 month trend
    290Hits

    Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.

    Archive Staff Only (login required)

    Edit/View Item Edit/View Item