A Study on Anxiety's Influence on Memory: Research Methodology Report

This research report investigates the impact of anxiety on memory processes, aiming to determine whether anxiety has a measurable effect. The study employs an experimental setup, utilizing a sample of students. The methodology involves the use of the State-Trait Anxiety Scale, pencils, papers, index cards, and a timer. Participants are given the anxiety scale and then a memory test. The study references relevant literature on anxiety and memory, including articles by Hudson & Fraley (2018), Matthew Owens (2014), and Vandermaas, Hess & Baker-Ward (1993). The research design involves the administration of anxiety tests followed by a memory test, with data collected and analyzed to assess the relationship between anxiety levels and memory performance. The report details the procedure followed, from participant selection to data collection, and provides a clear overview of the research process.

Running head: RESEARCH METHODOLGY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
The aim of this research study is to analyse whether anxiety has an effect on memory
processes. Many researches have been done in the field of anxiety and its effect on the memory.
One such article written by Hudson & Fraley (2018) focuses on the role of attachment anxiety in
creating of false memories. This article reviews whether the attachment styles are involved in the
creation of false memories in an individual, those memories that never occurred. The results
showed that attachment anxiety had had a role to play. Another article written by Matthew
Owens discussed the role of anxiety in cognitive test performance. The results showed that
working memory capacity influenced the correlation between anxiety and cognitive test
performance (Owens et al., 2014). Another article analyses whether anxiety has an effect on the
children’s memory when they report a stressful event. The results indicated that anxiety had an
effect on the older children and not on the young children (Vandermaas, Hess & Baker-Ward,
1993). All these researches look into the different aspects of memory however; there is a gap in
determining the role of anxiety on memory. The present study is designed to assess that anxiety
does have an effect on the memory of an individual. The research will be conducted on a sample
of students in an experimental set up.
Methods
Participants
The class students are chosen for the research purpose.
Apparatus
In order to carry out the research, the following materials were used:

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o State trait anxiety scale (Julian, 2011) that contains two forms State Anxiety Test
and Trait Anxiety Test – 10 minutes per person.
o Pencils
o Papers
o Index cards
o Timer
Procedure
The students were invited into the classroom. The instructions were properly read out to
them and a short introduction to the project were detailed out to them. Then the demographic
papers were given to them. The participants were asked to fill out the tests. Each person was
given 10 minutes to fill out the forms. The papers were then collected from the participants. It
was made sure that the forms were filled out completely. Then, the students were assigned
numbers from 1 to 5. After the assigning of the numbers, the students were asked to stand at the
back of the classroom. A memory test was given to 5 people at the same time. Each group
member was in charge of testing 6 people. Thus, the data was collected.

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References
Hudson, N. W., & Fraley, R. C. (2018). Does Attachment Anxiety Promote the Encoding of
False Memories? An Investigation of the Processes Linking Adult Attachment to
Memory Errors. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 115(4), 688–715.
https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000215
Julian, L. J. (2011). Measures of anxiety: state‐trait anxiety inventory (STAI), Beck anxiety
inventory (BAI), and Hospital anxiety and Depression scale‐anxiety (HADS‐A). Arthritis
care & research, 63(S11), S467-S472.
Owens, M., Stevenson, J., Hadwin, J. A., & Norgate, R. (2014). When does anxiety help or
hinder cognitive test performance? The role of working memory capacity. British Journal
of Psychology, 105(1), 92–101. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12009
Vandermaas, M. O., Hess, T. M., & Baker-Ward, L. (1993). Does Anxiety Affect Children’s
Reports of Memory for a Stressful Event? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 7(2), 109–127.
https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2350070204