Special Education - Gifted: May 2010

ANXIETY EFFECTS ON ATTENTION & COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING

Increased levels of anxiety interfere with a person’s ability to pay attention by distracting the individual with competing thoughts. Increases in anxiety also affect encoding and retrieval processes, and are also associated with decreased abilities to use strategies that will aid encoding and retrieval processes. This could lead to lower levels of work performance and contribute to increases in human error. In short, increased levels of anxiety affect cognitive functioning.

Anxiety is an emotional state. It is a state of arousal, a mixture of subjective and physiological events associated with stressful apprehension evoked by any threatening situation. Fear and stress, shortness of breath, sweating, trembling, higher pressure levels, raised pulse and heartbeats, nausea and other such symptoms accompany high anxiety. Anxiety is also an outcome of intense stress (Clark, 1985). In this paper, the terms anxiety and stress may be used interchangeably.

Gerzon (1997) states that anxiety affects the way one thinks, and thrives on confusion and ambiguity. It makes a person tense, irritated, uptight and edgy. Thoughts become negative and the world appears hostile. As a result, behavior loses its focus, becomes disorganized and irrational, and one’s ability to think clearly and respond effectively is compromised.

Attention is the concentration and notice that an individual pays at any given time to the stimuli around. Tart (1975), in his book States of Consciousness, postulates the existence of a basic awareness, generally referred to as attention/ awareness. This predisposes the recognition of the existence of self-awareness, the awareness of being aware. As such, attention is intimately connected to one’s state of self-awareness and consciousness, a global aspect of human cognition (Norman, 1976). Weisberg (1980), in his book Memory, Though & Behavior, states that consciousness is equivalent to attention or perception, as consciousness means both, “awake-ness” or “responsiveness”. Strong emotions like anxiety and fear can constellate the rest of consciousness about it, causing changes in perceptions and cognition, and poor volitional control (Tart, 1975).

Attentional ability is affected and influenced by arousal level. The Yerkes-Dodson Law (1908) postulates that optimal performance is associated with moderate levels of arousal (anxiety), or motivation; and that an inverse relationship exists between arousal and motivational levels and task difficulty. In other words, higher levels of arousal or motivation are associated with better performance for easy tasks but lower performance for hard tasks. In 1959, Easterbrook validated the Yerkes-Dodson assumptions (since known as the Easterbrook Hypothesis), stating that when an animal experiences high anxiety its focus of attention narrows to only a few cues in the environment. This narrowing of cue utilization, while beneficial up to the point of reducing irrelevant cues, may have the detrimental effect of eliminating relevant cues as well. Explained another way, performance may be poor at high levels of arousal because some of the relevant cues are ignored. Easterbrook explains that this occurs primarily due to a decrease in attentional control.

Daniel Kahneman (1973), an Israeli psychologist working at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, calls the restriction of attention occurring under high arousal perceptual narrowing. Proctor & Zandt (1994) describe how Weltman and Egstrom (1966) used a dual task to examine perceptual narrowing in the performance of novice scuba divers. The primary task involved arithmetic and the detection of a dial. The secondary task required the detection of a peripherally presented light. The arousal level was manipulated by observing the diver in normal surroundings (low stress situation), in a tank (intermediate stress situation) and in the ocean (high stress situation). It was noted that as the stress level increased, the diver took longer to detect the peripheral light, although primary task performance was unaffected. This is consistent with the narrowing of attentional focus under increased stress. However, Naatanen (1973), states that if attention is consciously directed towards the task at hand, performance efficiency does not necessarily have to suffer at high levels of arousal (Proctor & Zandt, 1994).

Arousal levels affecting attention can be further explained by the weapon focus phenomenon. Kramer, Buckhout & Eugenio (1990) propose that eyewitnesses to violent crimes have great difficulty recalling the details of the crime. They reason that this is likely because attention is directed to the weapon being brandished about rather than the facial features, hairstyle or clothing of the perpetrator. It is reasonable to assume that most people experience emotional arousal when caught up in the commission of a violent crime. According to the Easterbrook Hypothesis, attention is narrowed to the most critical stimulus, in this case the weapon.

Encoding is also likely to be affected by anxiety. Searleman & Herrmann (1994) tell us that information processing goes through three successive phases: registration, retention and remembering. The first phase, also called encoding, involves the transformation of information into a form that a person can retain. However, to be able to register information a person would need to pay attention to stimuli around. Searleman and Hermann further inform us that the process of attention is much like the focus of a camera. Details are blurred if the camera is not focused correctly. Similarly, information is often only barely encoded if attention is less than complete. As such memory failures are often caused due to improper coding in the first instance, i.e. lack of proper attention to the task or information. As described earlier, anxiety is likely to affect attentional processes, which in turn limit encoding processes.

This is better explained by The Atkinson-Shiffrin Memory Model (1965, 1968, 1971) on memory processes, developed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. They proposed three structural stages of memory, the sensory register, short-term store (STS) and long-term store (LTS). Information first enters the sensory register, which has a large capacity for sensory stimuli (more for iconic than echoic), but low duration and information decays in a matter of a second or two. Information selected for further processing enters the STS, which stage has a limited capacity but a larger duration of up to around half a minute. STS is sensitive to rehearsal and encoding of information, else information is lost Information then transfers from the STS into the LTS. LTS is sensitive to organization of material. Encoding and timely processing demand alertness and vigilance, and is dependent on attention (Searleman & Herrmann, 1994). If attention can be affected by anxiety, it is reasonable to assume that encoding is also affected by anxiety. This means that anxiety impacts processing of information.

Under special circumstances, arousal levels may even interfere with the third phase of information processing, i.e. remembering. High levels of anxiety could impact memory retrieval and recall. Extremely disturbing memories gives rise to “free-floating” anxiety (anxiety not related to a particular object) or depression. Without therapeutic intervention and restoration of mental health, an individual may continue to experience anxiety (Clark, 1985). This could mean continued lack of attention to surrounding stimuli, and consequently continued interference with memory recall.

Then again, stress and anxiety is also associated with repression, the very heart of psychoanalysis. Repression is said to occur when very unpleasant memories or events are not allowed to enter conscious awareness. This blockage of memory may be permanent or temporary if the negative quality of the memory is subsequently diminished or removed. However, it would also be reasonable to say that anxiety (which often accompanies unpleasant memories) interferes with a person’s ability to recall unpleasant things by distracting the individual with competing thoughts. This has been referred to as the interference hypothesis. In addition, increases in anxiety are associated with a decreased ability to use strategies that will aid encoding and retrieval processes (Searleman & Herrmann, 1994). These factors have the consequence of reflecting on performance levels.

A new scientific journal, Cognition and Emotion, was created in 1987 expressly to investigate these issues in depth, and explore the fascinating interrelationship between affective states and memory functioning (Searleman & Herrmann, 1994).

Psychological research has uncovered two ways in which emotional states influence thinking. Firstly, mood states colour thinking by dictating the sorts of thoughts which enter consciousness. Moods are persistent mind dispositions towards a specific dominating feeling, such as elation or depression. John Teasdale and his Oxford colleagues investigated how mood affects the ability to remember, i.e. if people are in a low mood, unhappy events and thoughts come to mind, and vice versa when they are in a happy mood. Secondly, anxiety affects reasoning and decision-making. American psychologist, Charles Spielberger studied the effects of anxiety on reasoning and decision-making, and concluded that dependent on the complexity of the task to be performed, anxiety helps or hinders cognitive functioning. Spielberger discovered that in the lowest ability students, anxiety has no effect, and the very brightest ten percent performed better if they were highly prone to anxiety. However, students in the middle ranges of ability scored very badly when highly anxious. This research has important implications for decision-makers. Anxiety in some-decision makers could cause an incorrect decision (Clark, 1985).

Anxiety can be experienced in many situations and expressed in many ways. It is estimated that two to four percent of the population, at some time or the other in their lives, suffer from anxiety disorders. These include panic disorders, generalized anxiety disorders (depression or mania), various forms of obsessive or compulsive behaviors; and phobias (irrational fears) that increase arousal levels (Clark, 1985). Typically, stress and anxiety will hinder cognitive functioning. This is consistent with the Yerkes-Dodson law if one assumes that increases levels of stress and anxiety arouses the person.

Anxiety may also be caused by mental workload increases. This would cyclically reflect on attention, cognitive functioning and eventually on performance, as workload and performance are correlated. Workload relates to the amount of work to be performed over a given period of time by a person or group of persons (also known as time load). The amount of effort or mental work necessary to perform a task is the mental workload (also called mental effort). This concept comes directly from the unitary-resource model of attention of Kahneman (1973), in which the human is believed to have a limited capacity for processing information. His Unitary-Resource Model of Attention (1973) states that available capacity of attentional resources fluctuates with the levels of arousal and the demands of the task to be performed (Proctor & Zandt, 1994). The implications are quite clear. Kahneman suggests that attention and mental effort are intimately correlated. Multiple tasks can be executed without difficulty if the available capacity of attentional resources is not surpassed. As demands on tasks increase, so does the mental workload. When the available capacity to perform a task is less than the information processing system capacities required to perform a task satisfactorily, we have a mental overload situation. This means optimum production is dependent on maintaining the mental workload equation in such a manner that the available capacity does not exceed the demands of the task.

Noise, vibration, heat, dim lighting, high acceleration, as well as psychological factors such as anxiety, fatigue, frustration and anger, are some of the stressors that could be present in a work environment (also termed as stress load). Stress levels may increase because of this, causing increases in mental workload. Wickens (1991) informs us that consistent high levels of mental workload is bound to produce changes in functioning of all the information-processing components, and hence will produce effects on performance. Occurrence of errors would naturally increase.

It is for these reasons that assessment of mental workload is an important research area for human factors specialists. Much experimentation has been and is being conducted to evaluate the extent to which specific processes are being overloaded. Maintaining work performance and errors at accepted levels, means controlling stress and anxiety levels, among other factors.

Workload-assessment techniques like Primary-task Measures and Secondary-task Measures are employed to discriminate overload from non-overload conditions. For primary tasks the assumption is that performance will deteriorate when workload requirements exceed the capacity of available resources. Proctor & Zandt (1994) tell us that secondary-task measures are more sensitive than primary-task measures. The loading task paradigm (where operators are instructed to maintain performance on the secondary task even if primary-task performance suffers) and the subsidiary task paradigm (operators instructed to maintain performance on the primary task at the expense of the secondary task) are two secondary-task measures used to illustrate which tasks draw on the processing resources required by the primary task. Bell (1978) illustrated this paradigm to examine the effects of noise and heat stress. Performers had to keep a stylus on a moving target for the primary task; and press a telegraph key once if an auditorily displayed number was less than the previous number, and twice if greater than the previous number as the secondary task. It was noted that both high noise levels and high temperatures affected secondary task performance but not primary performance.

Some of the common secondary tasks used are those that are congruent with the Dutch psychologist Donders’s Reaction Time concept of mental operations. Simple reaction time (detection) tasks involving basic stimulus-response sequence, choice reaction time (choice and discrimination) tasks involving stimulus identification and response-selection; and discrimination reaction time (discrimination and detection) tasks involving stimulus-identification are selected to provide a profile of the various resource requirements of the primary task. (Proctor & Zandt, 1994).

Psycho-physiological measures are also used to measure workload. First is Pupillometry, or measurement of pupil diameter (pupil size appears larger, the greater the workload demand), is generally useful, but does not pinpoint specific resources needed to perform a task. Second is heart rate. However, physical workload and arousal level determines heart rate, and hence heart rate cannot be used as a consistent indicator of mental workload (Proctor & Zandt, 1994). The third measure involving event-related potentials (ERP) appears most promising. Presentation of a discrete stimulus causes transient evoked responses from the brain that can be measured by electrodes. These responses, a series of voltage oscillations that originate in the cortex, must be averaged to determine the waveform of the ERP for a particular situation. The ERP component may be either positive (P) or negative (N). The P300, occurring approximately 300ms after the event onset, indicates amplitude and latency effects reflecting workload. Generally, P300 and secondary-task reaction time effects agreed, and primary-task performance was not disrupted by recording the P300 wave. This measurement has been considered very useful (Kantowitz & Sorkin, 1983, Proctor & Zandt, 1994).

Stress caused by increased mental workloads, as we can see, is measurable. Hence, it is possible to monitor workload and employ preventative measures to reduce stress levels.

Anxiety can also be caused by poor self-esteem. Our self-esteem is directly connected to our experiences. “Generally, individuals who have high self-esteem tend to be less anxious than those who have low self-esteem,” says mental health researcher Ada P. Kahn. In 1996, the prestigious journal Science published a study linking a certain gene to individuals prone to anxiety, pessimism and negative thinking. In some people this “worry gene” is apparently shorter than in others making them more vulnerable to fearful thinking (Clarkson, 2002).

Among other anxiety states, test anxiety affects nearly every student. Tom McMahon, a syndicated columnist, college professor and author of the books Kid Tips and Teen Tips wrote an article in the Toronto Star on January 20, 2003, entitled Take Deep Breaths and Relax before Big Test. He states that in its mildest form, test anxiety causes a feeling of apprehension before and/or during a test. While a slight increase in stress may actually increase test scores, in its moderate form it can paralyze cognitive functions, including memory recall. Some students even have difficulty reading the questions. Thoroughly preparing for the test, having a good night’s sleep, a few muscle relaxing exercises and some deep breathing before tests can help control this rise in anxiety.

Currently, there is a war going on in Iraq, another reason for stress and anxiety, and uncertainly. Dr. Mark D. Gilbert, a Toronto psychiatrist and co-director of Mind-Body Medicine Canada, the first integrated, holistic mind-body medicinal clinic in Canada, offers a useful advice tool to handle this (Toronto Star, 21 March 2003). He sums the strategy to cope in the acronym C-O-P-E – stay Calm and Connected, Optimistic and Objective, Participate and be Pro-active, and Emote and Empower. He further suggests that everyone lives with uncertainly for the most past, and learning the tools to COPE, combined with faith and spirituality, is a good way for one to find one’s way in life.

The first casualty of high anxiety is usually mental clarity. Anxiety’s primary weapon is confusion which impairs the ability to think and plan and respond effectively (Gerzon, 1997). As anxiety affects the ability to pay attention and concentrate, work performance suffers. It is hard to control anxiety and fear. Situations are bound to differ, calling for different approaches. However, Clarkson (2002), in his book Intelligent Fear - How to Make Fear Work for You, gives one a starting point. Attempting to stay calm, controlling one’s thought patterns and slowing one’s breathing while counting one, two, three, is a good beginning. He writes that it is best to switch one’s mindset to neutral to be able to see the big picture and make some decisions.

Simply put, anxiety is a feeling that one’s well-being is threatened in some way. It can be provoked by anything, an urge for self-preservation to everyday worries about money, health and relationships. It can also be provoked by the most profound philosophical and spiritual dilemmas about death and the purpose of life. In fact, all human endeavors and inventions, including art, science, technology, government and religious can be understood as attempts to deal with anxiety (Gerzon, 1997). Hence, keeping in mind that anxiety and stress can cause a negative chain reaction in cognitive functioning, and ultimately workplace and daily performance, appropriate measures to control and manage both are essential.

REFERENCES

Clark, J. (1985), The Mind: Into the Inner World,

Torstar Book, New York, Toronto (p.77,114-115,141,152)

Clarkson, M. (2002), Intelligent Fear: How to Make Fear Work for you,

Key Porter Book Limited, Toronto (p.78, 156)

Gerzon, R. (1997), Finding Serenity in the Age of Anxiety,

Bantam Books, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. Inc. New York (p.xi,11-17,27,145)

Kantowitz, B.H. & Sorkin, R.D. (1983), Human Factors: Understanding People-

System Relationships

John Wiley & Sons, New York

(Course kit, Item #4) (p.164-191

Kramer, T.H., Buckhout, R., & Eugenio P. (1990), Law and Human Behavior,

(p.167-184)

Norman, D.A., (1975), Memory and Attention,

Ch. 4: Attention, Effort and Resources,

John Wiley & Sons, New York

(Course kit, Item #7) (p.70-82)

Proctor, R.W. & Van Zandt, T, (1994), Human Factors in Simple and Complex Systems,

Ch. 9: Attention and the Assessment of Mental Workload,

Allyn and Bacon

(Course kit, Item #6) (p.186-209)

Searleman, A. & Herrmann, D. (1994), Memory from a Broader Perspective,

McGraw Hill, Inc., United States of America (p.80,170-180)

Tart, C. T. (1975), States of Consciousness,

Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited, Toronto and Vancouver (p.5,124)

Toronto Star, January 20, 2003, March 21, 2003

Weisberg, R. W. (1980), Memory, Thoughts & Behavior,

Oxford University Press, Inc., United States of America (p.137)

Wickens, C.D., (1991), Engineering Psychology and Human Performance,

ScottForesman (p.399-402)

Wickens, C.D., (1992), Engineering Psychology and Human Performance,

2^nd ed., Harper Collins, (p.412-415)

ANXIETY EFFECTS ON ATTENTION

AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING

Name: Cecilia Martha D’Mello

Course #: AK PSYC 3260 3.0 R

COGNITION

Course Director: Dr. Paul Stager

Teaching Asst.: Steve Prime

Due: 02 April 2003

Special Education - Gifted

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Wednesday, May 5, 2010

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Working Memory

Anxiety effects on Attention & Cognitive Functioning

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