Subjects were required to detect either an angry or a happy target fac
e in a stimulus array of 12 photographs. It was found with neutral dis
tracter faces that those high in trait anxiety detected angry faces fa
ster than did low trait-anxious subjects, but the two groups did not d
iffer in their speed of detection of happy targets. In addition, high
trait-anxious subjects detected happy target faces slower than low tra
it-anxious subjects when the distracter faces were angry. Comparable f
indings were obtained whether or not there was anxious mood induction.
It was concluded that high trait-anxious individuals have facilitated
detection and processing of environmental threat relative to low trai
t-anxious subjects, which enhance performance when the target is threa
tening, but which impair performance when the distracters are threaten
ing.