Comparing high and low compulsive checkers, this study investigated biases in processing of threatening information by anxious people. In an emotional Stroop task, high anxiety high compulsive checkers (N= 16), high anxiety low compulsive checkers (N= 14), and controls (N=16) were asked to name the background colors of neutral, anxiety-related, and compulsion-related words. One third of the words were presented subliminally, one third around the threshold, and one third supraliminally. The threshold and duration of subliminal presentation for each subject were determined in advance. Results indicated that high anxiety low compulsive checkers were slower than controls when naming colors of subliminal anxiety-related words. And high anxiety high compulsive checkers were faster than controls when naming colors of anxiety-related words presented around the threshold. Furthermore, they did not show a processing bias for subliminal compulsion-related words. Information processing of compulsive checkers was discussed in relation to obsessive thoughts.

Key words: anxiety, compulsive checking, automatic processing, Stroop task