Influence of anxiety related to examination stress on visual attention shifts and electric activity of brain front zones

The attention of anxious people can be highly sensitive to environmental stimuli associated with threat. Such stimuli attract principle attention, thereby contributing to its shift. The purpose of the paper was to study the relationship between the sensorimotor characteristics of visual attention and bioelectrical brain activity in healthy young people under anxiety associated with examination stress. Materials and Methods. The authors examined 39 healthy young people (university students) when performing tasks for visual attention to emotional (threatening) information. The characteristics of alpha activity spectral power in the frontal brain lobes and sensorimotor reactions were studied. The experimental series included 2 stages: a psychometric study (assessment of anxiety levels, depression and inclination to aggression) and EEG recording of background activity with open/closed eyes when performing visual attention tasks on emotional stimuli. Results. According to the results of cognitive tasks, the trial subjects were divided into 3 groups: with a visual attention shift to threatening information, with a visual attention shift from threatening information and without any attention shift. According to psychometric studies, trial subjects showed excessive anxiety levels (HADS). Subjects with a visual attention shift to threatening information demonstrated hostile aggression, including enmity and anger (BPAQ). Conclusion. In an anxiety state associated with examination stress, the students' visual attention may shift to/from negatively colored emotional information. Young people with a high anxiety level and an attention shift to threatening information are presumably characterized by a high hostility level. Difficulties in distracting attention from emotional (threatening) information are probably associated with a relatively higher activation level of the right frontal brain zones.