Anxiety-produced interference in serial rote learning with observations on rote learning after partial frontal lobectomy.

Abstract

Sixteen psychiatric patients, with severe anxiety as the predominant symptom, and 16 controls, learned lists of 8 nonsense syllables by the anticipation method with massed practice at a 4-sec. rate of syllable presentation. In addition, 6 cases of bilateral frontal gyrectomy followed the same procedure. The results obtained in the present expt. were in agreement with the predictions from the following hypothsis: The forgetfulness of the anxious patient is due to anxiety-produced interference between the relevant responses and the irrelevant responses generated out of the patient''s anxiety-state. The interference value of the tendencies to irrelevant response may be decreased through voluntary effort on the part of the patient. It appeared that the method of serial learning affords a means of separating the 2 effects of anxiety-produced interference and intraserial interference. The locus of the former appeared confined, primarily, to the anterior portion of the series, whereas, as is well known, the maximum of the latter occurs in the middle, or slightly to the right of center. The gyrectomy curve, compared with the curves for the ''non-organic'' groups, has the appearance which would be predicted from the hypothesis that frontal lobe damage increases susceptibility to intra-serial interference.