Anxiety as a Factor of Autonomic Arousal in Instrumental Control of Skin Temperature

The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between anxiety level and instrumental control of skin temperature with the aid of visual feedback.Eighteen subjects were chosen on the basis of Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale scores.Six subjects were assigned to each of three groups, low anxiety, medium anxiety, and high anxiety.All subjects learned to both increase and decrease their index finger temperature.To motivate subjects, a monetary reward was given them at the end of each session according to their performance.The results support our hypothesis that high anxiety subjects are able to control their skin temperature better than low anxiety subjects.