1,251
Views
10
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

High intelligence prevents the negative impact of anxiety on working memory

Pages 1197-1209 | Received 01 May 2014, Accepted 22 Sep 2014, Published online: 15 Oct 2014
 

Abstract

Using a large sample and the confirmatory factor analysis, the study investigated the relationships between anxiety, working memory (WM) and (fluid) intelligence. The study showed that the negative impact of anxiety on WM functioning diminishes with increasing intelligence, and that anxiety can significantly affect WM only in people below average intelligence. This effect could not be fully explained by the sheer differences in WM capacity (WMC), suggesting the importance of higher-level cognition in coping with anxiety. Although intelligence moderated the impact of anxiety on WM, it was only weakly related to anxiety. In contrast to previous studies, anxiety explained the substantial amount of WMC variance (17.8%) in less intelligent participants, but none of the variance in more intelligent ones. These results can be explained in terms of either increased motivation of intelligent but anxious people to cope with a WM task, or their ability to compensate decrements in WM.

The author is grateful to A. Anzulewicz, K. Cipora, D. Czajak, M. Ferdek and M. Taraday for conducting the study. Polish adaptation of the STAI questionnaire has originally been developed by J. Strelau, T. Tysarczyk and K. Wrześniewski.

This study was supported by the National Science Centre of Poland [grant number 2011/01/D/HS6/00467]. The funding source had no impact on the design of the study.

The author is grateful to A. Anzulewicz, K. Cipora, D. Czajak, M. Ferdek and M. Taraday for conducting the study. Polish adaptation of the STAI questionnaire has originally been developed by J. Strelau, T. Tysarczyk and K. Wrześniewski.

This study was supported by the National Science Centre of Poland [grant number 2011/01/D/HS6/00467]. The funding source had no impact on the design of the study.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 503.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.