Selective attention to unmasked and masked threatening words: relationships to trait anger and anxiety

In two experiments. unmasked and masked versions of emotional Stroop tasks were used to investigate the relationships between trait anger, trait anxie ty and selective attention to threatening words. For the masked tasks indiv idual neutral-emotional recognition thresholds were determined. In Experime nt 1, participants were selected on low and high trait anger scores. Result s showed a significant interaction between GROUP (low vs. high anger) and W ORD-TYPE (neutral vs, threat) in the unmasked task exclusively. due to inte rference in the high trait anger group and facilitation in the low trait an ger group. Tn Experiment 2. participants were selected on low and high trai t anxiety scores. Here, a significant GROUPxWORD-TYPE interaction was restr icted to the masked task, with the high trait anxiety group showing an atte ntional bias for threatening words. Theoretical and methodological issues a re discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.