Document Type

Professional Conference

Semester of Graduation

Spring 2026

Abstract

Humans experience different levels of anxiety throughout their daily lives. Some individuals even experience chronic, unprovoked anxiety that leads to a diagnosis of a psychological disorder known as generalized anxiety disorder. Many neurological diseases develop anxiety as a comorbidity and hinder therapeutic interventions. However, we don’t understand how anxiety disorders may affect the development and learning of new motor skills. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate how different levels of anxiety may affect your ability to learn a new skill. We recruited physically healthy, right-handed young adults with and without a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder. Participants were seated at a computer and performed a visuomotor adaptation task while we monitored brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG). The visuomotor adaptation task consisted of 100 Baseline trials where hand movement matched cursor movement. Followed by 200 Adaptation trials with the cursor trajectory rotated 45 degrees counterclockwise to the target, requiring the participant to adapt their movement to hit the target. The cursor was not visible, and endpoint feedback was provided 0.5 seconds after the completion of the reach. We monitored brain activity associated with performance monitoring, an automatic cortical process of error evaluation. All EEG analysis was conducted in Matlab, using the EEGLAB toolbox. Feedback-related potentials (electrodes Fz and Pz) were calculated after the reach was completed and the feedback appeared (pink circle). Peak P300 amplitude was compared between Early (first 100 trials) and Late (last 100 trials) learning using a linear mixed model for repeated measures. We found that performance monitoring mechanisms were not changed by anxiety disorders but were altered by skill learning. This finding suggests error evaluation processes are maintained despite prefrontal disruptions from anxiety disorders.

Awardee Name

Olivia Perry

Academic Major

Kinesiology

Project Mentor

Christopher Hill

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