The Anxious Mind Under Threat - Examining the interplay between anxiety, working memory and emotion regulation as determinants of academic performance

焦虑水平的升高与不良的教育成果有关。焦虑症（Anxiety Disorders，AD）在青少年中很常见，流行病学研究表明AD的患病率为10%~ 30%。AD导致心理社会和学业功能的显著损害，具有持续至成年的病程，并且与其他精神疾病具有高共病性。认知差异与焦虑性精神病理学有关。焦虑被认为是一种干扰物，会降低工作记忆容量（WMC），将认知资源从任务相关的过程中抽走。工作记忆（WM）是指在潜在的分心情况下将信息保持在脑海中以支持目标导向行为的能力，是学术成就和更广泛认知功能的可靠指标。认知干扰理论预测，高度焦虑的人在认知任务中表现更差，特别是当这些认知要求很高时，这会影响学习成绩。实证研究的结果是喜忧参半的，这些理论提供了一个过于简单化的解释焦虑的认知过程。最近的研究有助于扩展这些理论。一些研究结果表明，典型发展（TD）个体的焦虑会扰乱WM;但任务复杂性的增加会转移对焦虑的注意力，从而提高表现。进一步的研究表明，这种相互作用是由WMC介导的-高WMC的高焦虑个体在认知测试中表现得比低WMC的人更好。也有人认为，焦虑差异破坏WM在TD和焦虑的个人。在引发焦虑的条件下，无论任务复杂性如何，焦虑成年人的认知测试表现都会受损，而健康对照组的表现在不太复杂的任务中受损，在更复杂的任务中得到促进。除了这些认知加工的差异，不良的选择和执行情绪调节（ER）是典型的广告。ER是指影响或管理情绪的强度和表达以支持目标导向行为的能力，与学业成绩有关。认知资源的可用性（WMC）和选择性使用（注意控制）影响ER策略（如反刍，重新评价）的选择和有效性。适应性功能依赖于灵活的ER。在成人焦虑中，担心往往是排练和使用的应对策略，这可能会影响灵活性。很少有实证研究调查ER的选择，虽然新兴的概念框架提出了认知，情感和动机factors.Both WM和ER影响学术和心理社会的结果，但了解他们如何相互作用，以预测这些结果是有限的作用。据申请人所知，这将是第一项研究，以调查工作记忆，任务复杂性和认知测试性能的TD和焦虑的青少年在生态有效的焦虑激发条件下的相互作用。这也被认为是第一个研究ER策略的选择和焦虑水平之间的相互作用，在这个人群中，介导的WMC和注意力控制。工作记忆和情绪反应训练正在被研究作为焦虑的潜在治疗方法，但缺乏一个明确的理论框架。本研究旨在解决上述局限性。

Elevated levels of anxiety are associated with poor educational outcomes. Anxiety disorders (ADs) are common in adolescents with prevalence rates of 10% to 30% suggested by recent epidemiological studies. ADs result in significant impairment in psychosocial and academic functioning, have a persistent course into adulthood and have high comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders.Cognitive differences are implicated in anxious psychopathology. Anxiety is thought to reduce working memory capacity (WMC) by acting as a distractor, drawing cognitive resources away from task-relevant processes. Working memory (WM) refers to the ability to hold information in mind, in spite of potential distraction, to support goal-directed behaviour and is a reliable indicator of academic achievement and broader cognitive functioning. Cognitive interference theories predict that individuals with high anxiety perform worse on cognitive tasks, particularly when these are cognitively demanding, which impacts academic performance. Empirical findings are mixed and suggest these theories provide an oversimplified account of cognitive processing in anxiety.Recent studies serve to extend these theories. Some findings suggest that anxiety in typically developing (TD) individuals, disrupts WM; but increasing task complexity diverts attention from anxiety, improving performance. Further work suggests this interaction is mediated by WMC - high anxious individuals with high-WMC perform better on cognitive tests than their low-WMC counterparts. It is also argued that anxiety differentially disrupts WM in TD and anxious individuals. Under anxiety-provoking conditions, the cognitive test performance of anxious adults was impaired regardless of task complexity whereas healthy controls' performance was impaired during less complex tasks and facilitated during more complex tasks. Alongside these cognitive processing differences, poor choice and implementation of emotion regulation (ER) is typical in ADs. ER refers to the capacity to influence or manage the intensity and expression of emotions to support goal-directed behaviour and is related to academic achievement. The availability (WMC) and selective use (attention control) of cognitive resources influence the choice and efficacy of ER strategies (e.g. rumination, reappraisal). Adaptive functioning relies on flexible ER. In adult anxiety, worry tends to be rehearsed and used as a coping strategy, which may influence flexibility. Little empirical research has investigated ER choice, although emerging conceptual frameworks suggest a role for cognitive, emotional and motivational factors.Both WM and ER influence academic and psychosocial outcomes, yet understanding of how they interact to predict these outcomes is limited. To the applicant's knowledge, this will be the first study to investigate the interaction between WM, task complexity and cognitive test performance in TD and anxious adolescents under ecologically valid anxiety-provoking conditions. It is also believed to be the first study to examine the interaction between choice of ER strategy and levels of anxiety in this population, as mediated by WMC and attention control. WM and ER training are being investigated as potential treatments for anxiety, but in the absence of a clear theoretical framework. This study seeks to address the aforementioned limitations.