Influence of Stress and Anxiety on The Development of Executive Function

Colin A. Campbell*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: PhD ThesisPhD-Thesis – Research and graduation external

Abstract

Stressful conditions have been shown to reduce functioning in a wide range of cognitive abilities including executive function (EF; Qin, Hermans, van Marle, Luo & Fernandez, 2009). In the current study, an experimental paradigm was developed to measure the impact of stress and anxiety on EF performance. A specific focus was placed on how this impact may change along with development. A total of 106 participants (52 female) participated in the study. Participants ranged in age from 10 to 35 years, and were analyzed as a part of three specific age groups, pre-adolescent (10 to 13 years-old), adolescent (14 to 17 years-old), and adult (18 to 35 years-old) . An experimental paradigm based on existing methods of inducing stress and anxiety was developed in which one experimental group of participants was made to feel stressed, which included 1) participants being told that they were video recorded, 2) participants being told that their performance would be evaluated by other researchers, and 3) participants being told to perform as quickly and accurately as possible through prompting by the experimenter. Stress and anxiety were measured using self-report instruments. To measure EF, participants completed computerized versions of four commonly used measures of EF, including the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Berg, 1948), a Corsi blocks task (Corsi, 1972), a Go/No-Go task, and a color/word Stroop task (Mueller & Piper, 2014). Results from the stress/anxiety measures indicated that the stressful and control groups did not differ significantly across the sample or within specific age groups. Limited evidence was found for the impact of the participants’ reported state and/or trait anxiety on performance on specific EF outcome variables, however the effects were not profound. Findings from the study, however, did support previous findings on developmental trajectories in regards to EF. Limitations with the sample that may have impacted results, as well as the future directions for research are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
QualificationPhD
Awarding Institution
  • McGill University
Supervisors/Advisors
  • Burack, Jacob. A., Supervisor, -
  • Huizinga, Mariëtte, Supervisor
Award date1 Oct 2015
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes

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