210 As modern society delves further into the information revolution, it has become increasingly evident and in- escapable that aspects of daily life and work revolve around a computer monitor and a central processing unit. With the personalization of computers, the percent- age of U.S. households with a computer has risen dra- matically, from only 8.2% in 1984 to 52% in 2000 (Newberger, 2001). The field of neuropsychology has not been immune from this encroachment, and in many ways it has been welcomed. From the early years of large-scale, institution-based mainframes to the advent Requests for reprints should be sent to Jeffrey N. Browndyke, Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Miriam Hospital, Brown Medical School, Coro Building West, 3rd floor, 1 Hoppin Street, Providence, RI 02903, USA. Applied Neuropsychology Copyright 2002 by 2002, Vol. 9, No. 4, 210–218 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Computer-Related Anxiety: Examining the Impact of Technology-Specific Affect on the Performance of a Computerized Neuropsychological Assessment Measure Jeffrey N. Browndyke Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Miriam Hospital, Brown Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island, USA Ashlie L. Albert Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA William Malone Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA Phillip Schatz Department of Psychology, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Robert H. Paul and Ronald A. Cohen Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, Miriam Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, USA Karen A. Tucker and W. Drew Gouvier Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA This study was conducted to examine the effect of impairment status and computer-specific anx- iety on the performance of a computerized neuropsychological assessment measure. Computer- related anxiety was measured using a standardized self-report measure tapping anxiety specific to computers and tehnology. Outcome on this measure was compared with error scores and response timing variables on a computerized version of the Category Test (CT) in both normal individuals and individuals with neurological, psychiatric, or substance abuse histories. Multivariate analysis results, controlling for psychomotor performance, revealed sig- nificant main effects for group status and computer-related anxiety. CT performance was signif- icantly related to the level of computer-related anxiety, in that high anxiety resulted in higher CT error scores and longer response times, and the negative impact of computer-related anxiety on computerized neuropsychological assessment performance was stronger in individuals with impairment histories. Our results suggest that as computer-related anxiety increases, perfor- mance on computer administered neuropsychological assessment measures tends to decrease. Key words: computers, anxiety, computer-based task performance, clinical neuropsychology, Category Test