{"id":{"repo_id":"utc","oai_identifier":"oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-2268"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/utc/oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-2268","repository":{"repo_id":"utc","name":"University of Tennessee - Chattanooga","base_url":"https://scholar.utc.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Anxious impairment: exploring executive functions and anxiety in college students","abstract":"College students are tasked with juggling a variety of responsibilities. To manage these responsibilities college students must rely on their executive functioning (EF). Executive function refers to cognitive processes that are used to set goals, make plans to achieve those goals, and shift between tasks when necessary. A large portion of college students report experiencing anxiety and anxiety has been theorized to negatively impact cognitive performance, generally. This study sought to explore the impact of anxiety on inhibition and vigilance performance. Participants’ anxiety scores significantly correlated with the number of omission errors made on the inhibition task. Participants also made significantly different amounts of errors of omission on the vigilance task depending on which task was completed first. These findings may inform future research investigating the cognitive phenomena that contribute to differences in anxious and non-anxious people’s performance on tasks of vigilance and inhibition.","abstract_html":"College students are tasked with juggling a variety of responsibilities. To manage these responsibilities college students must rely on their executive functioning (EF). Executive function refers to cognitive processes that are used to set goals, make plans to achieve those goals, and shift between tasks when necessary. A large portion of college students report experiencing anxiety and anxiety has been theorized to negatively impact cognitive performance, generally. This study sought to explore the impact of anxiety on inhibition and vigilance performance. Participants’ anxiety scores significantly correlated with the number of omission errors made on the inhibition task. Participants also made significantly different amounts of errors of omission on the vigilance task depending on which task was completed first. These findings may inform future research investigating the cognitive phenomena that contribute to differences in anxious and non-anxious people’s performance on tasks of vigilance and inhibition.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Mathis, Dawson C"],"institution":"University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Clark, Amanda","Howell, Ashley N.; Shelton, Jill T.","College of Arts and Sciences"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":null,"date_issued":"","date_published":null,"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:47:28Z","subjects":["Anxiety","Cognition","Executive functions (Neuropsychology)"],"languages":["English","eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/1062","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Clark, Amanda","Howell, Ashley N.; Shelton, Jill T.","College of Arts and Sciences"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Mathis, Dawson C"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2026-05-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","Chattanooga (Tenn.)"]},{"key":"dc:relation","label":"Dc Relation","values":["Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Masters theses","Text"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Anxiety","Cognition","Executive functions (Neuropsychology)"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/1062"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Dept. of Psychology","M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["College students are tasked with juggling a variety of responsibilities. To manage these responsibilities college students must rely on their executive functioning (EF). Executive function refers to cognitive processes that are used to set goals, make plans to achieve those goals, and shift between tasks when necessary. A large portion of college students report experiencing anxiety and anxiety has been theorized to negatively impact cognitive performance, generally. This study sought to explore the impact of anxiety on inhibition and vigilance performance. Participants’ anxiety scores significantly correlated with the number of omission errors made on the inhibition task. Participants also made significantly different amounts of errors of omission on the vigilance task depending on which task was completed first. These findings may inform future research investigating the cognitive phenomena that contribute to differences in anxious and non-anxious people’s performance on tasks of vigilance and inhibition."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Anxious impairment: exploring executive functions and anxiety in college students"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Clark, Amanda","Howell, Ashley N.; Shelton, Jill T.","College of Arts and Sciences"],"dc:creator":["Mathis, Dawson C"],"dc:date":["2026-05-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description":["Dept. of Psychology","M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science."],"dc:description.abstract":["College students are tasked with juggling a variety of responsibilities. To manage these responsibilities college students must rely on their executive functioning (EF). Executive function refers to cognitive processes that are used to set goals, make plans to achieve those goals, and shift between tasks when necessary. A large portion of college students report experiencing anxiety and anxiety has been theorized to negatively impact cognitive performance, generally. This study sought to explore the impact of anxiety on inhibition and vigilance performance. Participants’ anxiety scores significantly correlated with the number of omission errors made on the inhibition task. Participants also made significantly different amounts of errors of omission on the vigilance task depending on which task was completed first. These findings may inform future research investigating the cognitive phenomena that contribute to differences in anxious and non-anxious people’s performance on tasks of vigilance and inhibition."],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/1062"],"dc:language":["English","eng"],"dc:publisher":["University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","Chattanooga (Tenn.)"],"dc:relation":["Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations"],"dc:rights":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Anxiety","Cognition","Executive functions (Neuropsychology)"],"dc:title":["Anxious impairment: exploring executive functions and anxiety in college students"],"dc:type":["Masters theses","Text"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:47:28Z"}