High Anxiety Levels

High levels of anxiety can strain a person's ability [blank] control their attention, and this effect has been shown to increase with age, according to an analysis of dozens of studies. Ranshi, then [blank] the University of Sydney in Australia, and her colleagues combined the results of 58 studies that measured the attention and anxiety levels of 8292 children and adults in total, [blank] either self-reported their anxiety or demonstrated it through behavioral tests. These studies examined various components of attention control. These included inhibition, which involves preventing attention from being pulled [blank] irrelevant stimuli; switching, which involves keeping attention focused on a relevant task; and updating, which involves evaluating how relevant new information is and overwriting old information. Across all studies, the researchers found that overall attention control [blank] significantly worse in people who are more anxious. Highly anxious groups, whether or not they had been clinically diagnosed, had similar deficits in attention control.