Different effects of trait and state anxiety on global-local visual processing following acute stress

Integration between incoming visual information and internal affect, together produce our overall perceptions of the world. However, how emotional states influence perception overall is unclear. The tendency to process visual stimuli as a global whole before filling in the details is known as ‘global precedence’ and is traditionally associated with positive emotional states. The current study explored the effects of individual differences in anxiety and the experimental manipulation of acute stress on global-local visual processing. Individuals with high trait anxiety demonstrated greater local interference on the global task at baseline compared to post-stress, while individuals with low trait anxiety had similar levels of local interference across conditions. Participants who self-reported small changes in state anxiety due to the acute stressor (low state anxiety reactivity), showed greater global interference post-stress compared to baseline, while participants with high state anxiety reactivity showed less global interference post-stress compared to baseline, suggesting a stronger local processing bias. These results suggest that trait anxiety as well as subjective reactivity to stress can have differential effects on global-local visual processing.