Threat of an aversive scream lowers verbal working memory accuracy at low and medium load but not at high load in both adolescents and adults¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr2·q3
Currency · newest study 2016 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? Accuracy was lower during threat than safe conditions in the 1-back and 2-back tasks, but did not differ between conditions in the 3-back task, across age groups. → Patel Nilam 2016
Evidence¶
Patel Nilam 2016¶
Patel Nilam, Vytal Katherine, Pavletic Nevia, Stoodley Catherine, Pine Daniel S., Grillon Christian, Ernst Monique. (2016). Interaction of Threat and Verbal Working Memory in Adolescents. Psychophysiology. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12582
q3 · i? · causal · r2
Laboratory experiment with 25 adolescents and 25 adults performing a verbal n-back task under threat-of-scream and safe blocks in a within-subjects design. Follow-up tests of the Condition by Load interaction showed "accuracy was lower for the threat than safe conditions in the 1-back and 2-back tasks (ps < .05)" with no difference at 3-back.
"When each load was examined separately, we found that accuracy was lower for the threat than safe conditions in the 1-back and 2-back tasks (ps < .05), but not for the 3-back task (p > .1), in which accuracy was similar for the threat and safe conditions"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Adults show higher overall working memory accuracy than adolescents, and adults but not adolescents increase startle reactivity with load — related
- Anxiety-potentiated startle is greater during low- and medium-load tasks than during the high-load task in both age groups — related
- No age differences emerge in how threat and cognitive load interact on working memory accuracy or reaction time — related
- The threat-of-scream manipulation successfully induced sustained anxiety, with equivalent subjective and startle responses in adolescents and adults — related
- Reaction times are faster during threat than safe conditions only on the high-load (3-back) task, in both adolescents and adults — related
- N-back response time increases and accuracy decreases with cognitive load, and Posner cue conditions differ in speed and accuracy trade-offs — related
- Social identity threat impairs math performance via increased intrusive thoughts and working memory load (being-cognition disfluency) — related
- Cyberball exclusion reduces n-back verbal working memory accuracy in young adolescent girls but not in mid-adolescents or adults — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
threat-impairs-accuracy-low-medium-not-high-load |
title |
Threat of an aversive scream lowers verbal working memory accuracy at low and medium load but not at high load in both adolescents and adults |
description |
Threat of an aversive scream lowers verbal working memory accuracy at low and medium load but not at high load in both adolescents and adults |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2016 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-17 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — patel-nilam-2016 |
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