The general and specific in anxiety: an ERP study of social and spatial anxiety.

Anxiety, characterized by pervasive feelings of nervousness and worry, may differentially impact cognitive problem-solving across various domains, including spatial and social contexts. This study investigates the relationship between distinct types of anxiety and cognitive performance, aiming to elucidate the underlying neural mechanisms involved. Sixty participants (54 females, Mage = 22.46, SD = 4.50; 6 males, Mage = 20.83, SD = 2.31) were divided into three groups: Control (N = 20), Social Anxiety (N = 20), and Spatial Anxiety (N = 20). During a one-hour electroencephalography (EEG) session, participants completed the Colour Stroop task, Flanker Spatial task, and Social Stroop task. Event-related potential (ERP) analysis revealed that the control group exhibited significantly lower amplitudes in N2, N3, early P3, LPP across all three tasks compared to both anxiety groups. No evidence was found for domain-specific effects. These findings suggest a shared neural processing mechanism of anxiety which encompasses different cognitive domains and highlights the complexity of interaction between different types of anxiety and cognitive performance.