Anxiety and Attention The Gap in Research Essay - 3207 Words

Today, cognitive psychologists know an extensive amount of information on our attention – our ability to divide our attention, our ability to selectively choose what we want to attend to and so on. It is agreed on that our cognitive load and resources are two of the influencing factors when studying how attention works. In a normal-functioning mind, studying these two aspects may be enough to understand how our attention operates, but cognitive psychologists must delve much deeper than this while studying the not so normal. Anxiety, for example, affects the mind in ways that go far beyond our cognitive resources and load. According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, a relationship between arousal and performance exists. The relationship can be†¦show more content†¦Many of the empirical studies researching trait-anxiety use questionnaires to differentiate between high and low-trait anxiety individuals in order to gather results comparing the two. However, it is important to not e that not all scales are exactly comparable, leaving question within the research. (compare some scales here) Cognitive psychologists have put out an array of research on anxiety and attention, but the idea that anxious individuals show an attentional bias to threatening stimuli has been the stepping-stone for further research in the area. With this acting as the base of all other questions among the subject, researchers have presented studies trying to get to the bottom of the issue. Elaine Fox is one of many who have taken on this issue. However, in Attentional Bias in Anxiety: Selective or Not?, Fox has questioned whether the attentional bias that previous studies have proposed is actually a selective attention process, or a participants â€Å"inability to maintain attentional focus,† (Fox 1993). This question is important when evaluating what attentional processes are involved and disrupted in anxious individuals. In order to conduct the study, Fox (1993) used an abnorma l Stroop-task along with a normal Stroop-task. The normal Stroop-task used low, neutral and high threat words in varying colors. The modified Stroop-task separated the color and word, and located each part on either side of the screen just outside of the visual field of theShow MoreRelatedThe Need For Mindfulness Practices1562 Words   |  7 Pagesa better parent, live healthier, and not just live a successful life, but a deeply meaningful and fulfilled life. Given these points, the big gap in our educational system today is the gap between what skills people truly need to learn to live extraordinary lives and the amount of exposure they actually get to those skills. There is a way to fill this gap. Science has proven that our minds have inevitable power to shape our lives and our happiness. 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