The influence of stress on the perception of incongruity.

The results of two experiments "support the hypothesis that psychological stress results in (a) premature closure and (b) a tendency to adhere to expectancies (prerecognition hypothesis) in ambiguous task situations. From these two sets of data it is inferred that stress or anxiety results in cognitive and perceptual processes that tend to preserve a familiar perceptual and behavioral field for the individual." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)