Autores: Paulo Ricardo Giron; Rosa maria Martins de Almeida.
Resumen
The present study investigated the influence of aversive visual simulation on anxiety, working memory, and selesctive attention. The study was conducted with 366 participants of both sexes, devided into three groups: no visual stimuli (n 0 128), neutral visual stimuli (n 0 114), and aversive visual stimuli (n = 124). two DVD films, one containig neutral stimuli, were used for the respective groups. Each visual stimulation had a duration of 1 minute and 22 seconds. After viewing the DVD, anxiety, working memory, and attetion were assessed. Concomitant with the increase in anxiety were deficits in working memory and deficits in selestive attention in the group that was exposed to the aversive scenes. No gender differences were observed. These results suggest that aversive visual stimuli increase anxiety and decrease attention and working memory performance in university students.
