Information processing efficiency and noise. Interactions with personal rigidity

Three information processing tasks (two memory comparison tasks and a computerized version of the Stroop task) were administered to subjects differing in rigidity under noisy and quiet conditions. No main effects from noise were obtained but this factor interacted with the personality factor of rigidity. When noise was applied, rigid persons were generally faster but more inaccurate than in quiet conditions, and the reverse was true for the flexible subjects. Rigid subjects were bothered most by noise compared to the flexible subjects, as was shown by the large increase of state anxiety. The results are discussed in terms of higher levels of arousal in the rigid subjects, hampering performance more than in the more flexible subjects.