The role of trait anxiety as opposed to state anxiety was studied in its impact on digit span performance. It was predicted and found that only the congruent aspect of trait anxiety (the concentration factor of the children's Manifest Anxiety Scale) lead to lowered digit span performance. (NG)

Female college students were selected on the basis of their scores on the Manifest Anxiety Scale. The subjects worked either alone or in pairs. The experiment had a two x two x two design, with group type (nominal versus real), manifest anxiety (low versus high), and induces stress (low versus high) as the three variables. (Author)