The role of information processing as an underlying mechanism in the experience of anxiety reactivity and anxiety perseveration; two dissociable dimension of trait anxiety.

Purpose. While long considered a unitary dimension, research has moved towards a multidimensional understanding of trait anxiety. Most relevant to this study, is the conceptualisation of two dissociable dimensions of trait anxiety; anxiety reactivity and anxiety perseveration. Despite the consolidation of this understanding over the past decade, the mechanisms underlying these two dimensions are not well established. The present study examined the novel role of information processing in the experience of anxiety reactivity and perseveration, specifically, how enhanced processing of situational information influences reactivity, and how enhanced processing of implicational information influences perseveration. Method. Undergraduate university students (N = 142) completed an experimental session, where they encountered an interview-based stressor. As participants approached this stressor, they were provided with information reflecting one of the two content categories, intended to encourage a situational or implicational processing mode. To facilitate measurement of anxiety reactivity and anxiety perseveration, state anxiety was assessed at crucial junctures across the experimental session. Results. Our findings did not provide evidence for the role of enhanced processing of situational information in the experience of anxiety reactivity, nor the role of enhanced processing of implicational information in the experience of anxiety perseveration. An experimental manipulation involving valence revealed that receiving positive information reduced the intensity of state anxiety elevations, in the aftermath of the information processing task. Conclusions. Findings are discussed with reference to limitations and future extensions that could investigate the potential role of cognitive biases in this proposed relationship between enhanced information processing and anxiety reactivity and perseveration.