Test Anxiety

Understanding Test Anxiety

Sarason called the mental short-circuiting that results from test anxiety cognitive interference. When cognitive interference happens, emotional fear and uneasiness redirect logical, purposeful thought to distractions or sometimes reactions. Most people can recall experiencing the fight-or-flight response to a challenging or threatening situation. When cognitive interference occurs, thinking is replaced with avoidance or illogical choices that an individual would probably not make if he or she were able to think clearly. However, when test anxiety occurs, forethought disappears until the anxiety or fear diminishes. Then, when the anxiety reaction subsides, hindsight follows and the typical individual experiences that “Why did I do that?” remorse.

The emotional overriding of logical thought and memory retrieval has been visually illustrated through [Page 969]medical imaging technology. Imaging pictures can show how the basal ganglia (the anxiety regulator) becomes overactive when an individual feels a test anxiety threat. The overactivity of the basal ganglia immobilizes thought processes. When an individual perceives a threat, the hypothalamus (the limbic system) provides an automatic, uncontrolled reaction to a perceived emotional or physical threat, acting as a circuit breaker between the prefrontal cortex (the center of purposeful thought in the brain) and the limbic (emotional center of the brain) systems. When the hypothalamus sends a signal, the limbic system goes into action. Emotions take over, and thinking and problem solving stop. Reactivation of the cerebral cortex (the thought processor) is not possible until the perceived threat no longer exists. The scientific evidence of imaging provided by those in the medical profession thus gives an objective explanation of test anxiety that can be easily understood when related in lay terms. Understanding that test anxiety happens and what causes it to happen can be the beginning of coping with test anxiety and overcoming it.

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