Selective attention deficits in high test anxious children: a failure to replicate.

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Dusek, Mergler and Kermis (1976) reported results from a visual incidental learning task supporting the hypothesis that performance deficits in high test anxious children result from attention to task—irrevelant information. The present study investigated selective attention in high test anxious children and the possibility that Dusek et al.'s findings resulted from an association between test anxiety and poor reading ability, with reading ability rather than test anxiety being the variable associated with selective attention difficulties. Three measures of selective attention were employed—visual and auditory incidental learning tasks and a speeded classification task. The results failed to support Dusek et al.'s findings; no evidence was found for selective attention deficits in high test—anxious children. In addition, there was a marginal tendency for older poor readers to be more likely than normal readers to be high test—anxious; this finding is consistent with the suggestion that Dusek et. al's results from one measure of selective attention may have been a function of a confound of these two variables.