Pretask versus within - task anxiety measures in predicting performance on a concept acquisition task

A TIME SERIES DESIGN WAS USED TO OBTAIN THE SUBJECTS" TYPICAL ANXIETY LEVEL DURING A TASK THAT INVOLVED IDENTIFYING RX2 ATOM CRYSTALS. REGRESSION ANALYSES OF THE STUDY FINDINGS SHOWED THAT THE WITHIN-TASK ANXIETY MEASURE WAS A SIGNIFICANT PREDICTOR OF PERFORMANCE. REPEATED MEASUREMENTS OF TRAIT AND STATE ANXIETY DEMONSTRATED THAT ANXIETY FLUCTUATED OVER TIME, AND THAT ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES AFFECTED STATE ANXIETY. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY ARE THAT APTITUDE-TREATMENT INTERACTIONS USING WITHIN-TASK MEASURES MAY BE MORE USEFUL IN DESIGNING ADAPTIVE INSTRUCTION THAN THE CURRENT NOTION OF USING PRE-TASK MEASURES OF ANXIETY.