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The purposes of the study were to provide additional information concerning the relationship of Competition Trait Anxiety, State Anxiety, and Performance in collegiate golfers under non-competitive and competitive field settings. Subjects were thirty college males. Data were analyzed by a three-way analysis of variance with repeated measures. Conclusions of the investigation were (1) low-Competition-Trait-Anxious golfers performed better and exhibited lower levels of state anxiety than high-and moderate-Competitive-Trait-Anxious golfers in competitive and non-competitive settings; (2) collegiate golfers exhibit higher levels of state anxiety in competitive versus practice settings; and (3) there was a significant relationship between SCAT and pre-competitive state anxiety.

The ventral hippocampus (vHPC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and basolateral amygdala (BLA) are each required for the expression of anxiety-like behavior. Yet the role of each individual element of the circuit is unclear. The projection from the vHPC to the mPFC has been implicated in anxiety-related neural synchrony and spatial representations of aversion. The role of this projection was examined using multi-site neural recordings combined with optogenetic terminal inhibition. Inhibition of vHPC input to the mPFC disrupted anxiety and mPFC representations of aversion, and reduced theta synchrony in a pathway-, frequency- and task-specific manner. Moreover, bilateral, but not unilateral, inhibition altered physiological correlates of anxiety in the BLA, mimicking a safety-like state. These results reveal a specific role for the vHPC-mPFC projection in anxiety-related behavior and the spatial representation of aversive information within the mPFC. Moreover, these data suggested that theta-frequency input from the vHPC plays a causal role in anxiety-like behavior. Next, it was investigated whether optogenetic stimulation of the vHPC-mPFC at a theta frequency was sufficient to increase anxiety. Stimulating the vHPC input to the mPFC with a sinusoidal light pattern at 8 Hz significantly increased anxiety behavior. The anxiogenic effect of vHPC terminal stimulation was frequency- (8 Hz but not 20 Hz) and pattern- (sinusoids but not pulses) specific. To understand how pulses and sinusoidal light modulate mPFC neurons differentially, mPFC pyramidal neurons were recorded both in vitro and in vivo while stimulating vHPC terminals with the same sinusoidal or pulsatile patterns. In vitro, sinusoidal stimulation increased the rate of spontaneous EPSCs, while pulses evoked strong, stimulus-locked EPSCs. In vivo, sinusoidal stimulation of vHPC terminals increased the phase-locking of mPFC single unit spiking to the optical stimulation pattern without changing overall firing rates. Together, these results suggest that sinusoidal stimulation at 8 Hz enhances theta-frequency activity in mPFC neurons as well as anxiety-related behavior. Moreover, they suggest that theta-frequency components of neural activity play a privileged role in vHPC-mPFC communication and hippocampal-dependent forms of anxiety.

Emotion has been shown to be lateralized in the brain. This study examines the individual differences influencing the patterns of hemispheric asymmetry in the perception of emotional words. This study explores how individuals’ level of depression and anxiety affects how they perceive emotional words varying in valence and arousal. Participants with a lower level of depression demonstrated more hemispheric asymmetry with a bias toward words presented to the left hemisphere, but participants with a higher level of depression had no hemispheric differences. Participants with a lower level of depression demonstrated a bias toward positive words, but participants with a higher level of depression had no difference in valence. Similarly, participants with a lower level of anxiety had a positivity bias, but participants with a higher level of anxiety had no difference in valence. These findings indicate similarities and differences in emotional perception in depression and anxiety and may represent some of the neurological underpinnings of these disorders. / Department of Psychological Science

Twenty-four anxiety disorder subjects. 12 simple phobics and 12 panic disorders with agoraphobia, were assessed for physiological response (SCL, HR and EMG) to phobic imagery scripts. Subjects were instructed to image during tape-recorded scripts of standardized neutral (Neutral) and personally relevant fear (Phobic) scripts. All scripts contained both stimulus and response cues; however, subjects were presented four versions of a script which varied in response cue (propositional) content and presentation style: a version presented non-interactively which contained no cognitive cues (meaning propositions), a version presented non-interactively which contained cognitive cues, a version presented interactively which contained no cognitive cues, and a version presented interactively which contained cognitive cues. Both diagnostic groups produced significantly increased HR and SCL in response to Phobic scripts which contained cognitive cues and were presented interactively. Phobic Scripts which contained cognitive cues and were presented non-interactively produced significantly increased arousal only in the panic disorder group as measured by HR. Simple phobics also responded with significantly increased SCL to Phobic scripts presented interactively with no cognitive cues. Neither diagnostic group responded with increased arousal to the Phobic script presented non-interactively with no cognitive cues. Contrary to previous research, these results indicate that subjects with panic disorder with agoraphobia are capable of producing significantly increased physiological arousal in response to phobic imagery. The crucial importance of imagery script content and presentation style are highlighted by the results. Furthermore, the current investigation differed from previous investigations in that the parameters of an actual therapy session were more closely approximated by having the subjects image during script presentation rather than subsequent to script presentation. Finally, frontalis EMG did not prove to be a sensitive measure of anxiety in these subject populations pointing to the need for multiple channels of physiological measurement. Implications for content and methodology of future research studies in this area are discussed. / Ph. D.

The effect of anxiety on motor learning during a balance relevant task was investigated. Twenty participants (mean age 22.0 ± 2.7 years) were randomly divided into groups that completed the task whilst standing directly on the platform or on 9cm high pedestals, thus constructing Non-Anxious (NA) or Anxious (A) environments. Participants trained for 36 trials in a continuous, pseudo-random oscillating balance task consisting of pseudo-random amplitude translation at 0.5Hz for 45 seconds each on Day 1 and returned for Retention and Transfer tests on Day 2. Motor performance was impaired by training in an anxious environment and this effect persisted across retesting in both non-anxious and anxious environments. Anxiety also tended to further impair transfer of motor performance improvements to a non-anxious environment. These findings have implications for the success of balance training programs in patients who are anxious or afraid of falling. / ix, 103 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm