Trait cognitive and somatic anxiety differentially impact recognition in visual working memory binding tasks

A series of visual feature binding experiments were conducted to assess effects of trait cognitive and somatic anxiety on attention and working memory. Experiments 1 and 2 assessed participants’ recall of sequentially presented colour-shape combinations. In Experiment 1 the role of executive attention in binding was assessed via task instructions to encourage participants’ direction of attention toward specific memory items. In Experiment 2, the role of perceptual distraction in binding was assessed via presentation of a to-be-ignored visual suffix. No effects of anxiety were observed in either case. Experiments 3 and 4 assessed single-probe recognition at different memory loads (3 or 4 items). In Experiment 3, binding was compared with feature recognition. Trait cognitive anxiety was associated with improved feature memory, while trait somatic anxiety was associated with reduced binding memory. In Experiment 4, the effect of cognitive load on binding was assessed (number repetition vs backwards counting). Participants reporting moderate and high trait somatic anxiety demonstrated reduced binding recognition, compared with those reporting low anxiety. Results suggest that trait somatic anxiety limits binding recognition, but trait cognitive anxiety may aid feature recognition. Somatic anxiety may therefore be a more sensitive indicator of cognitive deficits than cognitive anxiety, at least regarding visual working memory, reflecting the different attentional focus associated with trait anxious apprehension and arousal. This helps to clarify the effect of the subjective experience of anxiety on attention and visual working memory.