Relationship between digit span and anxiety.

Walker, Ronald E.; Spence, Janet T.

doi:10.1037/h0044190

Cited by 29 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…In the present study, the failure to find a relationship between DS Performance and scores on the Taylor MA scale provides further evidence that decrements in DS are unrelated to measures of A-trait (Jackson & Bloomberg, 1958;Matarazzo, 1955;Walker & Spence, 1964). The finding that Ss in the Failure Condition showed a significant decrement in DS performance was consistent with the results of previous investigations in which some form of stress was used to induce anxiety (Griffiths, 1958;Moldawsky & Moldawsky, 19S2;Pyke & Agnew, 1963;Walker & Spence, 1964), and suggests that decrements in DS performance are associated with elevations in A-state.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 40%

“…For 5s exposed to this stressful experimental condition, significant decrements in DS performance were obtained as compared to nonstress control groups. In two other studies in which the anxiety measures could be reasonably interpreted as indicants of A-state, decrements in DS performance were also found to be associated with increases in A-state (Pyke & Agnew, 1963;Walker & Spence, 1964).…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The results have been inconsistent and contradictory in investigations of the relationship between DS and presumed measures of A-trait, such as the Taylor Manifest Anxiety (MA) scale, the IPAT Anxiety scale, and the Welsh A scale. Three studies have reported no relationship between DS performance and Atrait measures (Jackson & Bloomberg, 19S8;Matarazzo, 1955;Walker & Spence, 1964), one study found a positive relationship (Jurjevich, 1963), and one reported a negative relationship (Calvin, Koons, Bingham, & Fink, 1955). The results have also been equivocal in studies in which clinical diagnosis was used as the criterion of A-trait (Lewinski, 1945;Merril & Heathers, 1952;Warner, 1950).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Digit span: An indicant of trait or state anxiety?

Hodges¹,

Spielberger²

1969

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

123

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Clinical psychologists generally interpret lower scores on Digit Span (DS) relative to other Wechsler subtests as indicating anxiety. However, research findings on this topic are inconsistent and difficult to interpret because of ambiguity with regard to the concept of anxiety. To clarify this ambiguity, Spielberger has proposed a conception of anxiety that elaborates on the distinction, initially proposed by Cattell and Scheirer, between anxiety as a transitory state (A-state) and as a relatively stable personality trait (A-trait). The present study evaluated the relationship between DS performance and measures of A-trait (Taylor Manifest Anxiety scale) and A-state (Zuckerman Adjective Checklist) for 12 male undergraduates. The 5s reporting high levels of A-state showed significant decrements in DS performance. There was no difference in the DS performance of high-and low-A-trait Ss.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 40%

mentioning

confidence: 95%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Digit span: An indicant of trait or state anxiety?

Hodges¹,

Spielberger²

1969

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

123

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“…This is in contrast with research examining the effects of other anxiety induction methods where working memory capacity is limited by anxiety (Schoofs et al, 2008). Specifically, working memory capacity, not performance accuracy (however see Oei et al, 2006), is impaired by threatening pictures (Lindström and Bohlin, 2012), the cold pressor test (Schoofs et al, 2008; Duncko et al, 2009), and incidental changes in state anxiety (Walker and Spence, 1964; Firetto and Davey, 1971; Lapointe et al, 2013). In contrast to research using threat of shock, these findings are in line with processing efficiency theory (Eysenck and Calvo, 1992), which argues that anxious worry (1) reduces working memory processing capacity and (2) increases effort necessary to perform the task, thus increasing reaction time [although Duncko et al (2009) found decreased reaction time under stress].…”

Section: Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of anxiety upon cognition: perspectives from human threat of shock studies

Robinson¹,

Vytal²,

Cornwell³

et al. 2013

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

469

429

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Anxiety disorders constitute a sizeable worldwide health burden with profound social and economic consequences. The symptoms are wide-ranging; from hyperarousal to difficulties with concentrating. This latter effect falls under the broad category of altered cognitive performance which is the focus of this review. Specifically, we examine the interaction between anxiety and cognition focusing on the translational threat of unpredictable shock paradigm; a method previously used to characterize emotional responses and defensive mechanisms that is now emerging as valuable tool for examining the interaction between anxiety and cognition. In particular, we compare the impact of threat of shock on cognition in humans to that of pathological anxiety disorders. We highlight that both threat of shock and anxiety disorders promote mechanisms associated with harm avoidance across multiple levels of cognition (from perception to attention to learning and executive function)—a “hot” cognitive function which can be both adaptive and maladaptive depending upon the circumstances. This mechanism comes at a cost to other functions such as working memory, but leaves some functions, such as planning, unperturbed. We also highlight a number of cognitive effects that differ across anxiety disorders and threat of shock. These discrepant effects are largely seen in “cold” cognitive functions involving control mechanisms and may reveal boundaries between adaptive (e.g., response to threat) and maladaptive (e.g., pathological) anxiety. We conclude by raising a number of unresolved questions regarding the role of anxiety in cognition that may provide fruitful avenues for future research.

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“…This induced anxiety resulted in decreased performance on the Digit Span measure. Walker and Spence (1964) designed their research as a variant of the Moldawsky study and found the same phenomenon: Induced anxiety at the time of testing reduced performance on the Digit Span subtest. These studies should not be generalized to the trait of anxiety which lends itself.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%