Inhibitory Control Deficit And Intervention In Test Anxiety

Test anxiety refers to a stituation-specific personality trait,with anxiety related cognitive,emotional and behavioural characteristics elicited by test related stimuli.Attentional Control Theory(ACT)postulates that test anxious individuals preferentially allocate attentional control resources to test related internal or external stimuli,thus the available attentional control resources are limited and the function of inhibitory control is impaired.However,presently,there are few empirical studies about the inhibitory control deficit in test anxiety.The existing theories are “divided” as it is unclear as to whether test anxiety and other general anxiety are associated with enhanced or impoverished recruitment of top-down attentional control resources when completing an inhibitory control task.In theory,improving individuals' attentional control ability will have positive transfer effects on those with inhibitory control deficits.Working memory training can improve individuals' attentional control ability.However,to date,no experimental evidence is collected which supports that inhibitory control deficits in test anxious individuals can be improved by working memory training.Thus,in the present study,we will investigate the above problems combined with both behavioral and electroencephalogram(EEG)indicators.In study 1,we investigated the characteristics of inhibitory control deficits in test anxiety.The study 1 A and 1 B investigated how test anxiety influenced the individuals' resistance to distractor interference and prepotent response inhibition respectively with the behavioral indicator using the Flanker and Go/Nogo tasks.The results showed that test anxiety impaired individuals' performance effectiveness but not the processing efficiency while performing both the above two tasks,and this was not influenced by the evaluative situation.In order to better measure the individuals' processing efficiency of inhibitory control.The study 1 C used the adapted Go/Nogo Flanker task,and the event related potential(ERP)component N2 wave was used to measure the top-down attentional control resource allocation in inhibitory control.The results showed that test anxiety impaired the processing efficiency when performing the Nogo task in an evaluative situation,that high test anxiety(HTA)individuals revealed greater Nogo N2 amplitude than low test anxiety(LTA)individuals.In study 2,we investigated the underlining mechanisms of how test anxiety impairs the inhibitory control,that is whether test anxiety is associated with enhanced or impoverished recruitment of top-down attentional control resources.The individuals were asked to perform the Flanker task and simultaneously complete either a low or high working memory load task in an evaluative situation or a no evaluative situation condition.The N2 wave was used to measure the top-down attentional control resource allocation in inhibitory control.The results showed that,in comparison to LTA individuals,in a no evaluative situation,HTA individuals had larger N2 amplitude,especially for incongruent trials.And in an evaluative situation with high working memory load,HTA individuals had smaller incongruent N2 amplitude.These findings support that,when completing the inhibitory control task,HTA individuals can enhance recruitment of top-down attentional control resources,showing enhanced neural activity.However when the experimental task demands are overloaded and the available attentional control resources are limited,HTA individuals fail to enhance recruitment of topdown attentional control resources to compensate for impaired inhibitory control,showing impoverished neural activity.In study 3,we investigated whether working memory training can improve inhibitory control deficits in test anxious individuals.Pre and post outcomes of inhibitory control were measured using the Flanker and Go/Nogo tasks in an evaluative situation,and ERP and event related spectral perturbation(ERSP)indicators were also included.HTA Individuals were underwent 20 days' adaptive running memory training,a method for working memory training.Our results showed that the effect of working memory training was only transferred to the significant improvement of prepotent response inhibition ability in HTA individuals,which was reflected as the increase of Nogo N2 amplitude(as opposed to control group)and the decrease of Nogo alpha band power(as opposed to pre outcome)after training.Above all,the presunt study deepens our understanding of the characteristics,underlying mechanisms and intervention feasibility of inhibitory control deficits in test anxiety.We found the following results.Firstly,test anxiety impairs the individuals' resistance to distractor interference and prepotent response inhibition,and the impaired effect may be manifested in weakening both processing efficiency and performance effectiveness.Secondly,HTA individuals(as opposed to LTA individuals)tend to enhance recruitment of top-down attentional control of inhibitory control;but they may also fail to enhance recruitment of top-down attentional control resources as indicated by impoverished recruitment of top-down attentional control resources when demands on attentional control are high and the available attentional control resources are limited.Finally,test anxious individuals' inhibitory control deficits can be effectively improved;working memory training could significantly improve prepotent response inhibition ability in HTA individuals.