Putman Peter, Verkuil Bart, Arias-Garcia Elsa, Pantazi Ioanna, van Schie Charlotte
Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 52, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB, Leiden, The Netherlands,
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2014 Jun;14(2):782-91. doi: 10.3758/s13415-013-0238-7.
Anxious stress compromises cognitive executive performance. This occurs, for instance, in cognitive performance anxiety (CPA), in which anxiety about one's cognitive performance causes that performance to actually deteriorate (e.g., test anxiety). This is thought to result from a prefrontal cortically (PFC) mediated failure of top-down attentional control over stress-induced automatic processing of threat-related information. In addition, stress-induced increased catecholamine influx into the PFC may directly compromise attentional function. Previous research has suggested that the ratio between resting state electroencephalographic (EEG) low- and high-frequency power (the theta/beta ratio) is related to trait attentional control, which might moderate these effects of stress on attentional function. The goals of the present study were to test the novel prediction that theta/beta ratio moderates the deleterious effects of CPA-like anxious stress on state attentional control and to replicate a previous finding that the theta/beta ratio is related to self-reported trait attentional control. After recording of baseline frontal EEG signals, 77 participants performed a stress induction or a control procedure. Trait attentional control was assessed with the Attentional Control Scale, whereas stress-induced changes in attentional control and anxiety were measured with self-report visual analogue scales. The hypothesized moderating influence of theta/beta ratio on the effects of stress on state attentional control was confirmed. Theta/beta ratio explained 28% of the variance in stress-induced deterioration of self-reported attentional control. The negative relationship between theta/beta ratio and trait attentional control was replicated (r = -.33). The theta/beta ratio reflects, likely prefrontally mediated, attentional control, and should be a useful biomarker for the study of CPA and other anxiety-cognition interactions.
焦虑应激会损害认知执行能力。例如，在认知表现焦虑（CPA）中就会出现这种情况，即对自身认知表现的焦虑会导致实际表现恶化（如考试焦虑）。这被认为是由于前额叶皮质（PFC）介导的自上而下的注意力控制对压力诱导的与威胁相关信息的自动加工失败所致。此外，压力诱导的儿茶酚胺流入PFC可能会直接损害注意力功能。先前的研究表明，静息状态脑电图（EEG）低频和高频功率之比（θ/β比值）与特质性注意力控制有关，这可能会调节压力对注意力功能的这些影响。本研究的目的是检验一个新的预测，即θ/β比值会调节类似CPA的焦虑应激对状态性注意力控制的有害影响，并重复先前的一项发现，即θ/β比值与自我报告的特质性注意力控制有关。在记录基线额叶EEG信号后，77名参与者进行了压力诱导或对照程序。特质性注意力控制用注意力控制量表进行评估，而压力诱导的注意力控制和焦虑变化则用自我报告视觉模拟量表进行测量。θ/β比值对压力对状态性注意力控制影响的假设调节作用得到了证实。θ/β比值解释了自我报告的注意力控制在压力诱导下恶化的28%的方差。θ/β比值与特质性注意力控制之间的负相关关系得到了重复（r = -0.33）。θ/β比值可能反映了前额叶介导的注意力控制，应该是研究CPA和其他焦虑-认知相互作用的一个有用的生物标志物。
