Abstract
Subjects classified as high or low test-anxious received a standard free recall test as a direct test (explicit memory) following a stem-completion indirect test (implicit memory). As usual, anxious subjects recalled less on the direct test, but were equivalent to low-anxiety subjects on the indirect test. This seemed to be general across anxious-nonanxious words and positive-negative words. The results are consistent with a blockage view of the test anxiety deficit, whereby anxious subjects know things they may not recall on a direct test.
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Mueller, J.H., Elser, M.J. & Rollack, D.N. Test anxiety and implicit memory. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 31, 531–533 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337344
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337344