Selective attention to unmasked and masked threatening words: relationships to trait anger and anxiety

In two experiments, unmasked and masked versions of emotional Stroop tasks were used to investigate the relationships between trait anger, trait anxiety and selective attention to threatening words. For the masked tasks individual neutral-emotional recognition thresholds were determined. In Experiment 1, participants were selected on low and high trait anger scores. Results showed a significant interaction between GROUP (low vs. high anger) and WORD-TYPE (neutral vs. threat) in the unmasked task exclusively, due to interference in the high trait anger group and facilitation in the low trait anger group. In Experiment 2, participants were selected on low and high trait anxiety scores. Here, a significant GROUP×WORD-TYPE interaction was restricted to the masked task, with the high trait anxiety group showing an attentional bias for threatening words. Theoretical and methodological issues are discussed.