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Effect of self‐focused attention on the startle reflex, heart rate, and memory performance among socially anxious and nonanxious individuals
Author(s) -
Panayiotou Georgia,
Vrana Scott R.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1017/s0048577298960875
Subject(s) - psychology , recall , moro reflex , anxiety , heart rate , developmental psychology , social anxiety , audiology , clinical psychology , cognitive psychology , reflex , blood pressure , psychiatry , medicine , neuroscience , radiology
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.