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Childhood anxiety, working memory and academic performance

Childhood anxiety, working memory and academic performance
Childhood anxiety, working memory and academic performance
The aim of this thesis is to explore the relationship between anxiety on Working Memory (WM) performance and academic achievement. Research has highlighted negative effects of anxiety on cognition showing effects on both WM performance (e.g. Shackman et al., 2006; Schoofs et al., 2008) and academic tasks (e.g. Gumora & Arsenio., 2005). Research has aimed to understand the conditions under which anxiety impacts on cognition through considering the role of different threat manipulations on the interrelationship between anxiety, WM and academic performance (e.g. Owens et al., 2008). This has led to further research examining the role of implementing universal anxiety based interventions and WM skills training within both clinical and non-clinical samples to counteract the negative impact of anxiety on school performance. Following previous research (e.g. Shackman et al), the current thesis highlighted that spatial WM was selectively impaired by a physical threat in those who experienced increased levels of physiological arousal (study 1), and levels of worry impaired verbal WM under the same threat (studies 1 and 2). In addition, verbal WM was selectively impaired when individuals with increased levels of worry experienced a social threat (study 3). Both CBT interventions and WM training was shown to improve WM and academic performance (study 4) and CBT treatments decreased the level of anxiety and worry experienced (study 4). With future research in mind, considering the benefits of implementing universal CBT and WM treatment programmes to reduce the detrimental effects of increased anxiety and poor working memory on academic performance is crucial for young people to achieve their best in an academic environment
Lucas, Abigail Rose
adcc3bc8-fd88-41c1-a9f1-4c2d09576e6b
Lucas, Abigail Rose
adcc3bc8-fd88-41c1-a9f1-4c2d09576e6b
Hadwin, Julie A.
a364caf0-405a-42f3-a04c-4864817393ee

Lucas, Abigail Rose (2011) Childhood anxiety, working memory and academic performance. University of Southampton, School of Psychology, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to explore the relationship between anxiety on Working Memory (WM) performance and academic achievement. Research has highlighted negative effects of anxiety on cognition showing effects on both WM performance (e.g. Shackman et al., 2006; Schoofs et al., 2008) and academic tasks (e.g. Gumora & Arsenio., 2005). Research has aimed to understand the conditions under which anxiety impacts on cognition through considering the role of different threat manipulations on the interrelationship between anxiety, WM and academic performance (e.g. Owens et al., 2008). This has led to further research examining the role of implementing universal anxiety based interventions and WM skills training within both clinical and non-clinical samples to counteract the negative impact of anxiety on school performance. Following previous research (e.g. Shackman et al), the current thesis highlighted that spatial WM was selectively impaired by a physical threat in those who experienced increased levels of physiological arousal (study 1), and levels of worry impaired verbal WM under the same threat (studies 1 and 2). In addition, verbal WM was selectively impaired when individuals with increased levels of worry experienced a social threat (study 3). Both CBT interventions and WM training was shown to improve WM and academic performance (study 4) and CBT treatments decreased the level of anxiety and worry experienced (study 4). With future research in mind, considering the benefits of implementing universal CBT and WM treatment programmes to reduce the detrimental effects of increased anxiety and poor working memory on academic performance is crucial for young people to achieve their best in an academic environment

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Published date: 1 June 2011
Organisations: University of Southampton, Faculty of Medicine, Social Sciences, Psychology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 197295
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/197295
PURE UUID: 4fb7281b-b30a-47ba-b3f6-548b92237e01

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Date deposited: 21 Sep 2011 09:09
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 04:11

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Contributors

Author: Abigail Rose Lucas
Thesis advisor: Julie A. Hadwin

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