Does a high working memory capacity attenuate the negative impact of trait anxiety on attentional control? Evidence from the antisaccade task Caitlin A. Wright, Keith S. Dobson, and Christopher R. Sears Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4 Canada According to attentional control theory, high trait anxious individuals experience reduced attentional control as compared to low trait anxious individuals due to the imbalance between goal-directed and stimulus-driven attentional systems. One consequence is that high trait anxious individuals have difficulty resisting distraction, as compared to low trait anxious individuals. A separate line of research on individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) has shown that individuals with higher WMC have better attentional control and thus are better able to resist distraction. The present study investigated the hypothesis that high WMC compensates for high trait anxiety in a task that evaluates the ability to resist distraction, the antisaccade task. Participants completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to measure trait anxiety and the Operation Span and Reading Span tasks to measure WMC. As hypothesised, individuals who were high trait anxious exhibited increased attentional control on the antisaccade task when they had high WMC. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed. Keywords: Antisaccade task; Attentional control; Trait anxiety; Working memory capacity. Anxiety is an aversive emotional state that occurs in situations of real or perceived threat. It is char- acterised by a sense of apprehension and worry that is typically concerned with potentially negat- ive future outcomes (Otto, Calkins, & Hearon, 2010). Anxiety can be differentiated into state and trait anxiety. Trait anxiety is considered a person- ality dimension characterised by a stable and chronic propensity to experience moderate to high levels of anxiety, whereas state anxiety is a more acute and transient emotional experience of anxiety (Speilberger, 2010). State anxiety is typically triggered by an interaction between trait anxiety and situational stress, as high trait anxious individuals are more likely to experience a situ- ation as threatening or anxiety provoking, and therefore are more likely to experience a state of anxiety than low trait anxious individuals (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992). Researchers have long recognised the associa- tions between attention and attentional processes and state and trait anxiety (e.g., Beck & Clark, 1997; Easterbrook, 1959). One theoretical framework that accounts for these associations is attentional Correspondence should be addressed to Caitlin A. Wright, Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4 Canada. E-mail: c2wright@uwaterloo.ca We thank Brittany Bennett, Anna Goupal, Meagan Just-Mancini, Shannon St. Pier, and Dolores Viteri for their assistance with data collection and coding. We also thank three anonymous reviewers for their excellent feedback and suggestions. This research was supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions (AIHS) to C. R. Sears and a graduate scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to C. A. Wright. © 2014 Taylor & Francis Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 2014 Vol. 26, No. 4, 400–412, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2014.901331 Downloaded by [University of Calgary] at 12:17 29 April 2014