Attentional control theory: Anxiety, emotion, and motor planning

Abstract

The present study investigated how trait anxiety alters the balance between attentional control systems to impact performance of a discrete preplanned goal-directed motor task. Participants executed targeted force contractions (engaging the goal-directed attentional system) at the offset of emotional and non-emotional distractors (engaging the stimulus-driven attentional system). High and low anxious participants completed the protocol at two target force levels (10% and 35% of maximum voluntary contraction). Reaction time (RT), performance accuracy, and rate of change of force were calculated. Expectations were confirmed at the 10% but not the 35% target force level: 1) high anxiety was associated with slower RTs, and 2) threat cues lead to faster RTs independently of trait anxiety. These new findings suggest that motor efficiency, but not motor effectiveness is compromised in high relative to low anxious individuals. We conclude that increased stimulus-driven attentional control interferes with movements that require greater attentional resources.

Choking interventions in sports: A systematic review

“…Similarly, research on the impact of emotions on motor performance supports potential benefits of anxiety-based interventions. For example, Coombes, Higgins, Gamble, Cauraugh, and Janelle (2009) found that motor efficiency is compromised in high, relative to low, anxious individuals under elicited anxiety, but suppression of emotional expression buffers the negative effect of pressure (Beatty, Fawver, Hancock, & Janelle, 2014). Thus, anxiety-based choking interventions should be proposed and explored to contest dysfunctional anxiety-based fears that may ruminate in athletes, but could also be partially supplemented by some of the other attention-based models explained in this systematic review.…”

Anxiety in old age and dementia - implications for clinical and research practice

“…In view of the research evidence highlighted above, one might argue that as anxiety is a potentially treatable condition [69,[136][137][138][139], intervention may prove am important factor in the management of individuals living with cognitive impairment and dementia [2,62,75], with dissemination of information regarding late-life anxiety disorder vital as evidence-based treatments, pharmacological and psychotherapy, are available [43, [131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141]. There are however important caveats to consider.…”

“…As pupillary function and the pupillary light reflex have been found to be significantly abnormal in AD [129] concomitant anxiety in AD may further exacerbate the effects of the disease and confound research results. Anxiety has also been reported to slow processing speeds in older adults with severe state anxiety [101,130,131].…”

The Effects of Emotion on Second Formant Frequency Fluctuations in Adults Who Stutter

“…Evidence suggests that changes in autonomic nervous system activity associated with emotion have direct effects on motor circuitries that modulate speed [20] and force of movement [12, 21, 22]. For instance, emotionally arousing (e.g., anxiety-provoking) stimuli have been shown to elicit increases in reaction times [11], increases in force production [23, 24], and increases in speed of movement [25] when performing simple tasks such as wrist and finger extension tasks [23], pinch grip tasks [26], and finger tapping tasks [25].…”