Effect of self-focused attention on the startle reflex, heart rate, and memory performance among socially anxious and nonanxious individuals
✍ Scribed by Georgia Panayiotou; Scott R. Vrana
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 144 KB
- Volume
- 35
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0048-5772
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The present study examined the effect of self‐focused attention on the startle reflex and heart rate and assessed the assumption that socially anxious individuals become self‐focused in evaluative situations. Twenty‐five high and 30 low socially anxious men performed a digit recall task under evaluative or nonevaluative instructions. Half of the trials were performed under self‐focused conditions and half under non‐self‐focused conditions. Self‐focus led to larger startle responses among socially anxious individuals and had no effect on heart rate. Self‐focus combined with evaluation led to poorer recall performance among all subjects. Results provide evidence against a directional change in attention during self‐focused attention and favor the view that self‐focus increases access to self‐relevant thought content and decreases available processing resources.