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

焦虑程度的升高与糟糕的教育结果有关。焦虑症（ADs）在青少年中很常见，最近的流行病学研究表明患病率为10%至30%。ad会导致社会心理和学业功能的严重损害，其病程持续到成年，并与其他精神疾病有很高的合并症。认知差异与焦虑性精神病理有关。焦虑被认为作为一种干扰物，将认知资源从任务相关过程中抽离，从而降低了工作记忆容量（WMC）。工作记忆（Working memory， WM）指的是在潜在分心的情况下仍能将信息记在脑海中以支持目标导向行为的能力，是学习成绩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上的表现更差，尤其是在认知要求较高的任务上，这会影响学习成绩。实证研究结果好坏参半，表明这些理论对焦虑中的认知过程提供了过于简化的解释。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；但增加任务的复杂性可以转移人们对焦虑的注意力，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比低WMC的个体表现更好。也有人认为，焦虑在TD和焦虑个体中对WM的干扰是不同的。在引起焦虑的条件下，焦虑成人的认知测试表现受到损害，与任务的复杂性无关，而健康对照组的认知测试表现在较不复杂的任务中受到损害，在较复杂的任务中得到促进。除了这些认知处理差异之外，不良的选择和情绪调节（ER）的实施在ad中是典型的。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。认知资源的可得性（WMC）和选择性使用（注意控制）影响内情策略（如反刍、重评）的选择和效果。适应性功能依赖于灵活的ER。在成年人的焦虑中，担心往往是预先准备好的，并被用作应对策略，这可能会影响灵活性。很少有实证研究调查内情选择，尽管新兴的概念框架表明认知，情感和动机因素的作用。WM和ER都影响学术和社会心理结果，但对它们如何相互作用以预测这些结果的理解有限。据申请人所知，这将是第一个研究在生态有效的焦虑引发条件下，TD和焦虑青少年的WM、任务复杂性和认知测试表现之间的相互作用的研究。它也被认为是第一个研究在这一人群中，由WMC和注意力控制介导的ER策略选择和焦虑水平之间相互作用的研究。人们正在研究WM和ER训练作为焦虑的潜在治疗方法，但缺乏明确的理论框架。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.