Abstract

This study examined the interference effects of the panic stimuli on normal cognitive functioning in panics. Using a modified Stroop color-naming task, experiment I investigated the interference effects of the panic stimuli on cognitive control functions. Panics were slower to name colors printed in panic words than colors printed in positive or neutral words and the interference effect were greater in panics than normals or non-panic anxiety disorder patients. The results indicated that panic distractor words were quite disruptive for the panics to perform the color-naming task. Using a judgment task in which subjects should make categorical decisions about the target words, while filtering out the distractor stimuli, experiment 2 showed that panic patients were less able to inhibit processing of panic distractor stimuli and can not use normal cognitive strategies(e.g. the panic distractor words belonged to a single category) in performing a neutral task. Two experiments suggested that panics were unable to inhibit processing of irrelevant panic stimuli (experiment 1, 2) and fail to use efficient cognitive strategies (experiment 2). Thus, they experience the most intense physical and cognitive panic attacks. The results as shown in experiments 1, 2 are serious cognitive consequences of catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations and provide strong evidence for the hypothesis of the Cognitive Model of Panic Attacks.