Emotional Stroop performance in adults and children with test anxiety: An ERP study

Abstract

Test anxiety significantly impacts the cognitive performance of both children and adults, yet its specific effects on cognitive processing in response to test-related threatening stimuli across various age groups remain to be fully elucidated. This study employed the emotional Stroop task alongside ERP technology to explore the cognitive processing differences in response to threatening stimuli between children (n = 48) and adults (n = 55) categorized into high and low test anxiety groups. The findings indicated that children, compared to adults, demonstrated reduced accuracy and extended response times in the emotional Stroop task, along with increased ERP amplitudes. Notably, among children with low test anxiety, the N450 amplitude was significantly less negative under the threatening condition compared to the neutral condition. These results contribute to the foundational understanding of the cognitive-neural underpinnings of test anxiety.