Attention and performance are influenced by trait and state anxiety through top-down and bottom-up regulation in terms of expectations and stimulus relevance. In the present study we examined the relationships between anxiety, general self-efficacy, and motivational systems in a sample of 195 university students.
In line with previous research high positive correlations were found between the behavioral inhibition system (BIS anxiety) and trait-state anxiety (STAI) scores. Subjective measures of optimism (GSE, LOT-R) showed high correlations between them and with the behavioral activation system (BAS reward, drive, fun). Negative correlations were found also between subjective measures of optimism and STAI scores (in particular, with trait anxiety).
Then, we randomly selected 54 subjects out of the previous sample to participate in the ANTI-V task, after completing the CFQ and ARS-2 questionnaires as measures of cognitive self-evaluation and performance expectation. CFQ was positively correlated with trait anxiety. More importantly, strong positive correlations were found between CFQ and the BIS general motivational system, as well as between CFQ and ARS-2 state anxiety scores. High negative correlations were found between CFQ and GSE scores. We also found a positive correlation between some CFQ subscales and performance in the ANTI-V task
