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Selective Attention For Masked And Unmasked Threatening Words In Anxiety: Effects Of Trait Anxiety, State Anxiety And Awareness, Mark Edwards, Jennifer S. Burt, Ottmar V. Lipp

Mark Edwards

We investigated the effects of awareness on selective attention for masked and unmasked verbal threat material using a computerised version of the emotional Stroop. Participants were assigned to the high trait anxious (HTA) and low trait anxious (LTA) groups on the basis of questionnaire scores, and state anxiety was manipulated within participants through the threat of electric shock. To investigate the effects of awareness on responses to threat, the mode of exposure was blocked such that half the participants received masked trials before the unmasked trials, whereas the other half received the reverse order. The results revealed that there was …