Performance, cognition, and physiological responding in test anxiety.

Autonomic (skin conductance and resistance, heart rate, and heart rate variability), self-report (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and causal attributions of task performance), and performance (modified Stroop Color–Word Test and 8 difficult anagrams) measures of anxiety were collected from 36 test-anxious and 36 non-test-anxious (Test Anxiety Scale) female undergraduates in an analog testing situation under 3 experimental conditions. High-test-anxious (HTA) Ss performed more poorly and reported higher levels of anxious arousal and worry in the analog testing situation than low-test-anxious (LTA) Ss. Also, self-evaluations of test performance made by HTA Ss differed from those made by LTA Ss in being more negative and unrelated to actual test performance. However, HTA and LTA Ss showed virtually identical changes in electrodermal activity and heart rate in response to the stress of the testing situation. Only heart rate variability, which appeared to reflect differences in the cognitive and attentional responses of the test anxiety groups, successfully differentiated HTA and LTA Ss. Results support cognitive formulations of test anxiety and indicate that deficits in information processing associated with test anxiety do not result from maladaptive levels of autonomic arousal. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)