Moderating effect of emotional expressivity on relationship between test anxiety and working memory capacity / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the moderating role of emotional expressivity in the relationship between test anxiety and working memory capacity (WMC).Methods:Totally 332 college students were selected.The Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI),Emotional Expressivity Inventory (EEI) and Arithmetic Operation-Word Memory Span Task (OSPAN) were used to measure the severity of test anxiety,working memory capacity,and degree of emotional expressivity,respectively.Results:TAI scores were negatively correlated with WMC scores (r =-0.36,P ＜0.01).Emotional expressivity had a moderating effect between scores of test anxiety and WMC (β =0.19,P ＜0.01).Test anxiety score negatively predicted WMC score in students with low emotional expressivity (β =-0.74,P ＜ 0.01),whereas it couldn't predict WMC in those with high emotional expressivity (β =-0.07,P ＞0.05).Conclusion:It suggests that higher emotional expressivity could buffer the negative effect of test anxiety on working memory capacity.