Department of Psychology, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China; Department of Psychology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Work, Organisation and Society, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Biol Psychol. 2022 Oct;174:108407. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108407. Epub 2022 Aug 8.
Attentional control theory states that high test anxious (HTA) individuals suffer from impaired attentional control. However, through working memory training it may be possible to improve such individuals' attentional control ability. This study investigated whether 20 days of working memory training (with emotionally neutral stimuli) does result in improved HTA individuals' attentional control ability. Pre- and post-outcomes of attentional control were measured using Flanker and Go/Nogo experimental tasks in a test-related stress situation, and EEG data were also collected. Results only showed a significant decrease in Nogo alpha power in HTA individuals after neutral working memory training (i.e., post-outcome versus pre-outcome). However, we failed to provide evidence for beneficial transfer effects of neutral working memory training on enhanced task performance in both the Flanker and the Go/Nogo tasks. So, the present study demonstrates that neutral working memory training is clearly associated with important neurophysiological correlates while performing the Go/Nogo task, but the transfer effect is rather limited.
注意控制理论指出，高考试焦虑（HTA）个体存在注意力控制受损的情况。然而，通过工作记忆训练，可能改善此类个体的注意力控制能力。本研究旨在探讨 20 天的工作记忆训练（使用中性刺激）是否确实会提高 HTA 个体的注意力控制能力。使用与测试相关的应激情境下的 Flanker 和 Go/Nogo 实验任务来测量注意力控制的前后结果，并收集脑电图数据。结果仅表明，在进行中性工作记忆训练后（即后测与前测相比），HTA 个体的 Nogo 阿尔法波功率显著降低。然而，我们未能提供证据表明中性工作记忆训练对 Flanker 和 Go/Nogo 任务的任务表现有有益的转移效应。因此，本研究表明，中性工作记忆训练与执行 Go/Nogo 任务时的重要神经生理相关性明显相关，但转移效应相当有限。
