The Influence of Media Exposure on Anxiety and Working Memory during Lockdown Period in Italy.

Rossella Suriano,Rosa Angela Fabio

doi:10.3390/ijerph18179279

Rossella Suriano, Rosa Angela Fabio

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179279

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Abstract

The rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic has caused anxiety around the world. During lockdown, the media became a point of reference for people seeking information. However, little is known on the relationships between anxiety resulting from persistent media exposure to coronavirus-related programs and the effects produced on working memory. In this work, a total of 101 Italian citizens (53.7% female) aged between 18 and 45 years old, who were from 14 provinces in Italy, participated in an online survey. Participants were presented with media exposure and anxiety questionnaires and they were instructed to carry out working memory tasks (visual and auditory n-back). The results showed that media exposure is related to anxiety. It was also found that high levels of anxiety have a negative influence on the performance of both visual and auditory working memory tasks in terms of increased reaction times of responses and decreased accuracy. The results were critically discussed in the light of the Social Compensation Hypothesis.

Highlights

Participants were presented with media exposure and anxiety questionnaires and they were instructed to carry out working memory tasks
COVID-19 media exposure is related to anxiety and subjective loneliness
High levels of social distancing do not show any correlation with anxiety and media exposures

Summary

Introduction

Cross-sectional studies were conducted in Europe to examine the relationships between the fear of contagious diseases and other factors. The results showed that neuroticism, age and sense of belonging to the country did predict fear of contagious disease [5]. In this context, mass media had a central role: since the start of the lockdown and the continuing of the DPCMs, there has been an 87% increase in the use of mass media amongst the general population, and in a specific way, the use of chats has considerably increased [6]. The most interesting aspect was that this increase was attributable to longer durations of calls and messaging [7]

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