Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

2-2023

Abstract

Anxiety disorders, one of the most common classes of psychological disorders, have been shown to result in a decreased quality of life. Although some research suggests that anxiety disorders are linked to impairments in executive functioning, the inconsistency in the current literature yields an unclear conclusion on the relationship between the two. The current meta-analysis systematically investigated 55 records (N = 4601; kReactionTime = 44, kAccuracy = 79) that compared various groups with anxiety disorders to healthy controls on executive function tasks. Overall, our meta-analysis showed that individuals with anxiety disorders exhibited significant deficits in performance efficiency (reaction times) on executive function tasks. However, we also found that individuals with anxiety disorders may outperform their healthy peers in performance effectiveness (task accuracy) in some conditions. Type of anxiety disorders, domain of executive functions, and mediation use were identified to moderate the overall relations between anxiety disorders and executive functioning. Nevertheless, the results were robust across important demographic and other clinical moderators (e.g., anxiety severity and comorbidity).

Keywords

Anxiety disorder, Executive functions, Attentional control theory, Meta-analysis

Discipline

Experimental Analysis of Behavior | Social Psychology and Interaction

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

Psychiatry Research Communications

Volume

3

Issue

1

First Page

1

Last Page

15

ISSN

2772-5987

Identifier

10.1016/j.psycom.2022.100100

Publisher

Elsevier

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psycom.2022.100100

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