Date of Graduation

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Psychological Science

Advisor/Mentor

Dr. Matt R. Judah

Committee Member

Dr. Mitch Brown

Second Committee Member

Dr. Grant Shields

Third Committee Member

Dr. Christopher Agwu

Abstract

Deficits in the ability to flexibly direct, sustain, and shift attention, known as attentional control, have been linked to anxiety and depression. Attentional control supports engaging with goal-relevant stimuli while effectively disengaging from irrelevant or emotionally distracting stimuli. Thus, it is crucial in cognitive processes and emotional responses. Common measures of attentional control include behavioral tasks and self-report measures. However, behavioral and self-report measures are weakly correlated, suggesting that individuals generally are not good at perceiving their attentional control abilities. This mismatch between measures could be related to anxiety and depression symptoms. The goal of my project was to examine whether anxiety and depression symptoms were associated with the difference between attentional control abilities and self-reported attentional control. Participants were undergraduate students (N=127) who completed self-report measures of anxiety (GAD-7), depression (BDI-II), and perceived attentional control (ACS-S), followed by a behavioral measure of attentional control (LNS). Biased perception scores were calculated by subtracting the standardized score of the LNS from the standardized score of the ACS-S. On average, participants rated themselves higher than justified by their performance. Depression symptoms were significantly associated with lower biased perception scores. Anxiety symptoms were not a significant predictor, and neither anxiety nor depression were associated with attentional control ability. These findings suggest that overestimation of one’s attentional control is lower as a function of depression. This supports past studies that suggest depression is related more strongly to negative self-perceptions of cognitive ability. This distinction highlights the importance of considering both subjective and objective measures when assessing cognitive functioning in affective disorders.

Keywords

attentional control; depression; anxiety; self-perception; self-report measures; behavioral measures

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