Attentional bias towards emotional information in test-anxiety individuals: Evidence from eye movement / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore whether attentional bias plays an important role in the development and maintenance of anxiety by eye tracking technology. Methods A total of 80 students preparing for College English Test 6 participated in current study. The emotional Stroop paradigm and eye movement tracking were used to compared the difference of attentional bias for emotional information between high test anxiety individuals (test anxiety scale score≥15) and low test anxiety individuals (test anxiety scale score<15). Results In the emotional Stroop task, the reaction time of the negative block was significantly longer than that of the positive block in the high test anxiety individuals (t=2.184, P=0.035), while there was no significant difference between the two emotion blocks in the low test anxiety individuals (t=-0.161, P=0.875). In eye movement tracking experiment, the first fixation duration (t=2.117, P=0.041) and total duration (t=2.254, P=0.027) of the negative block were significantly longer in the high test anxiety individuals than those in the low test anxiety individuals. The total duration of the positive block was significantly longer in the low test anxiety individuals than that in the high test anxiety individuals (t=2.226, P=0.029). Conclusion High test anxiety individuals show attentional bias towards negative information, suggesting that attentional bias has an effect on the development and maintenance of anxiety.