There have been inconsistent results from studies that attempt to relate negative affect to executive function. The researchers in this study sought to differentiate the types of negative affects to measure their specific impact on executive function. The researchers developed a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design. They used convenience sampling to find 153 student volunteers to participate. The students were randomly assigned to the three independent variable levels. The participants took Berg Card Sorting Test (BCST), which had been previously established as a valid measure of executive function. Afterward they were asked to write about a time in their lives that they experienced either unresolved anger, unresolved anxiety, or a neutral day. When the students completed their writing their executive function was retested.
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o Anger is an approach based response while anxiety is an avoidance based response.
The anxiety treatment level made more mistakes in the posttest. The anger and neutral treatment levels had no significant difference.
• These results suggest that further studies could be done to test other types of negative affect to look for similar results.
• Anxiety is a more physically taxing response than anger. o Avoidance responses are more cognitively draining than approach responses (Roskes et al, 2013). o Anxiety increases nor adrenaline and occupies noradrenergic receptors (Yu et al, 2008).
This information was mainly used to develop their hypothesis and was not discussed further.
The researchers used knowledge of emotional and physiological responses to develop a hypothesis that was consistent with their results. By differentiating between types of negative affect they found a reasonable explanation for the previous inconsistent findings. Their findings suggest that differentiating between other types of negative affect could potentially lead to future
o Anger is an approach based response while anxiety is an avoidance based response.
The anxiety treatment level made more mistakes in the posttest. The anger and neutral treatment levels had no significant difference.
• These results suggest that further studies could be done to test other types of negative affect to look for similar results.
• Anxiety is a more physically taxing response than anger. o Avoidance responses are more cognitively draining than approach responses (Roskes et al, 2013). o Anxiety increases nor adrenaline and occupies noradrenergic receptors (Yu et al, 2008).
This information was mainly used to develop their hypothesis and was not discussed further.
The researchers used knowledge of emotional and physiological responses to develop a hypothesis that was consistent with their results. By differentiating between types of negative affect they found a reasonable explanation for the previous inconsistent findings. Their findings suggest that differentiating between other types of negative affect could potentially lead to future