Examination Stress Results in Attentional Bias and Altered Neural Reactivity in Test-Anxious Individuals.

Autor: Zhang X; Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.; School of Psychology, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China., Dong Y; School of Education, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou 213001, China., Zhou R; Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.; Department of Psychology, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.; National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Neural plasticity [Neural Plast] 2018 Mar 20; Vol. 2018, pp. 3281040. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Mar 20 (Print Publication: 2018).
DOI: 10.1155/2018/3281040
Abstrakt: Examination stress occurs so frequently in the lives of students. The neural mechanisms of attentional bias induced by examination stress in test-anxious individuals remain unclear. Accordingly, we investigated the attentional bias toward test-related threatening words in selected high and low test-anxious participants under the stress of final examinations by using an event-related potential (ERP) technique. A classic dot-probe paradigm was adopted with a test-related/test-unrelated threatening word and a neutral word pair as cues. Results showed attention bias and enhanced N200 amplitude toward test-related threat in high test-anxious individuals, whereas avoidance of test-related threat and decreased N200 amplitude were shown in low test-anxious individuals. Additionally, ERP data revealed the relatively enhanced LPP amplitude in low test-anxious participants compared with that in high test-anxious participants. No attentional bias toward test-unrelated threat was found. In conclusion, examination stress resulted in attentional bias and functional perturbations of a brain circuitry that reacted rapidly to test-related threat in high test-anxious individuals.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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