The study investigated selective processing of emotional information i
n anxiety and depression. using a modified Stroop color naming task. A
nxious (n = 19), depressed (n = 18), and normal control (n = 18) subje
cts were required to name the background colors of anxiety-related, de
pression-related, positive, categorized, and uncategorized neutral wor
ds. Half of the words were presented supraliminally, half subliminally
. Anxious subjects, compared with depressed and normal subjects, showe
d relatively slower color naming for both supraliminal and subliminal
negative words. The results suggest a preattentive processing bias for
negative information in anxiety