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Abstract:
This study investigated behavioral performance and
electrophysiological activity (EEG) in three coping style groups
(repressors, low-anxious, and high-anxious) during neutral and
negative versions of the Stroop Interference Task. Participants
were 49 healthy, right-handed university undergraduate women from
the psychology participant pool (19 = low-anxious, 15 =
high-anxious, 15 = repressor), chosen by Weinberger's (1979)
criteria according to differentially extreme scores on the
Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability and Spielberger Trait Anxiety
Scale. EEG (19 channels) was recorded during two relaxation
conditions and two randomly presented conditions of the Stroop
Interference Task. Reaction times (RTs) were longer for negative
than neutral stimuli [F(1,44) = 21.36, p < .0001]. Univariate
tests of EEG dynamics revealed significant differences between
groups at frontal (F3,F4,F7,F8) and temporal (T3,T4) regions.
Repressors showed greater right frontal involvement than other
groups. Repressors generated more high alpha activity than
high-anxious participants in the right medial frontal (F4) region
[t(32) = 2.27, p = < .05], and more Beta13 in the right lateral
frontal (F8) region than did other groups [t(32) = 2.57, p < .05
and t(28) = 1.97, p < .06]. In the left anterior temporal (T3)
region, repressors generated the most high alpha activity during
the negative task [t(48) = 2.06, p < .05]. These findings
suggest that repressors utilize a unique active inhibitory process
to avoid the perception of threatening stimuli.
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