The present study examined the relationship between test anxiety, working memory, and verbal SAT performance. Test anxiety negatively affects performance because it decreases working memory space available for processing test information. However, the present study wanted to asses this theory with an experimental design to infer causation about test anxiety. Therefore, participants with high and low trait test anxiety were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Participants in the experimental group completed the assessments under conditions of elevated stress. However, these conditions had no effect on their performance. The only observed effect was that participants with high test trait anxiety scored lower on the verbal SAT than their lower test trait anxiety counterparts. However, no difference in working memory span was observed between participants with high and low test trait anxiety. The null results between experimental and control groups were attributed to ineffective stress manipulation. That is, the participants in the experimental group did not feel any more stress than participants in the control group. Future studies will have to utilize methods directed towards increasing effect size, such as recruiting a larger sample size and using more extreme scores as cutoffs.
","abstract_html":"<p>The present study examined the relationship between test anxiety, working memory, and verbal SAT performance. Test anxiety negatively affects performance because it decreases working memory space available for processing test information. However, the present study wanted to asses this theory with an experimental design to infer causation about test anxiety. Therefore, participants with high and low trait test anxiety were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Participants in the experimental group completed the assessments under conditions of elevated stress. However, these conditions had no effect on their performance. The only observed effect was that participants with high test trait anxiety scored lower on the verbal SAT than their lower test trait anxiety counterparts. However, no difference in working memory span was observed between participants with high and low test trait anxiety. The null results between experimental and control groups were attributed to ineffective stress manipulation. That is, the participants in the experimental group did not feel any more stress than participants in the control group. Future studies will have to utilize methods directed towards increasing effect size, such as recruiting a larger sample size and using more extreme scores as cutoffs.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Al-Khalil, Kareem"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (M.S.)","degree_level":"Thesis (open access)","degree_discipline":"Department of Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Janie Wilson","Larry Locker"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2010-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:26:52Z","subjects":["ETD","Test anxiety","Working memory","Reading span","Verbal SAT","Reading comprehension","Sentence completion","SAT (Educational test)","Educational tests and measurements","Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/437","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Janie Wilson","Larry Locker"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Al-Khalil, Kareem"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-10-17T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis (open access)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (M.S.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ETD","Test anxiety","Working memory","Reading span","Verbal SAT","Reading comprehension","Sentence completion","SAT (Educational test)","Educational tests and measurements","Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/437"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The present study examined the relationship between test anxiety, working memory, and verbal SAT performance. Test anxiety negatively affects performance because it decreases working memory space available for processing test information. However, the present study wanted to asses this theory with an experimental design to infer causation about test anxiety. Therefore, participants with high and low trait test anxiety were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Participants in the experimental group completed the assessments under conditions of elevated stress. However, these conditions had no effect on their performance. The only observed effect was that participants with high test trait anxiety scored lower on the verbal SAT than their lower test trait anxiety counterparts. However, no difference in working memory span was observed between participants with high and low test trait anxiety. The null results between experimental and control groups were attributed to ineffective stress manipulation. That is, the participants in the experimental group did not feel any more stress than participants in the control group. Future studies will have to utilize methods directed towards increasing effect size, such as recruiting a larger sample size and using more extreme scores as cutoffs.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Test Anxiety, Working Memory and Verbal SAT Performance"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Janie Wilson","Larry Locker"],"dc:creator":["Al-Khalil, Kareem"],"dc:date.available":["2013-10-17T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The present study examined the relationship between test anxiety, working memory, and verbal SAT performance. Test anxiety negatively affects performance because it decreases working memory space available for processing test information. However, the present study wanted to asses this theory with an experimental design to infer causation about test anxiety. Therefore, participants with high and low trait test anxiety were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Participants in the experimental group completed the assessments under conditions of elevated stress. However, these conditions had no effect on their performance. The only observed effect was that participants with high test trait anxiety scored lower on the verbal SAT than their lower test trait anxiety counterparts. However, no difference in working memory span was observed between participants with high and low test trait anxiety. The null results between experimental and control groups were attributed to ineffective stress manipulation. That is, the participants in the experimental group did not feel any more stress than participants in the control group. Future studies will have to utilize methods directed towards increasing effect size, such as recruiting a larger sample size and using more extreme scores as cutoffs.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/437"],"dc:subject":["ETD","Test anxiety","Working memory","Reading span","Verbal SAT","Reading comprehension","Sentence completion","SAT (Educational test)","Educational tests and measurements","Education"],"dc:title":["Test Anxiety, Working Memory and Verbal SAT Performance"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis (open access)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (M.S.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:26:52Z"}