Final answer:
The statement in question is a hypothesis, which differs from a theory and is testable through empirical research to validate its claims.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement 'Persons who are highly anxious do not perform well on learning tasks' is a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a tentative statement about reality that can be tested to determine its validity. Unlike a theory, which is a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the natural world, a hypothesis must be validated by scientific experiments and is not considered a fact until it has been supported by evidence. This particular hypothesis is empirically testable because one could design a study to measure anxiety levels and learning task performance to see if there is a correlation between them.