NO THREAT-RELATED PROCESSING BIAS IN LOW TRAIT-ANXIOUS HIGH STATE-ANXIOUS NOVICE PARACHUTERS

Earlier studies found that processing bias in anxious patients as meas ured by the modified Stroop task is reduced after behavior therapy. Th is suggests that threat interference reflects an anxious state rather than a stable trait. Others (e.g., Matthews & Macleod, 1994), however have proposed that it emerges from the interaction of state anxiety an d some vulnerability trait The experiment tested whether in line with the stare hypothesis and in contrast to the interaction hypothesis, st ate anxiety is sufficient to produce processing bias. Twenty-six low-t rait-anxious participants who never parachuted volunteered for a parac hute jump and their performance on the modified Stroop task was compar ed with a control group matched on trait anxiety. Anticipation of the jump resulted in subjective anxiety but not in threat interference on the modified Stroop, where there were no between group differences. Th e data suggest that state anxiety in itself is insufficient to explain processing bias. The findings are discussed critically.