Anxiety and susceptibility to distraction

Abstract

Susceptibility to distraction as a function of trait anxiety was investigated. The subjects were given a reaction-time task to perform, and distraction effects were assessed by performance slowing on this task. High trait-anxious subjects were generally more affected by distracting stimuli than were medium and low trait-anxious subjects. However, more detailed analyses revealed that this greater susceptibility to distraction among high trait-anxious subjects occurred primarily when the distractor words related to physical threat rather than when they were neutral, positive, or related to social threat. Theoretical implications of these findings for understanding trait anxiety and the aetiology of clinical anxiety are discussed.