The effects of attentional training on physiological stress recovery after induced social threat

Abstract

Social stress has been related to both physiological and psychological responses. The recovery of stress is influenced by the way environmental information is processed, i.e., what information is attended to and how it is interpreted. The present study investigated the effect of attention modification training on physiological stress recovery following induced stress. A group of applicants preparing for a job interview were randomly allocated to an attention training condition versus a control condition. Afterwards, they were asked to give an artificial job interview to a real life jury while being videotaped. Participants in both conditions showed decreased heart rate variability during the job interview, which indicates an overall physiological stress response. However, during a 30-minute follow-up period after the training, indices of heart rate variability showed improved stress recovery only in the attention training condition. Attentional training is proposed as a promising strategy to prevent enduring stress reactions.     

The impact of an emotional self-management skills course on psychosocial functioning and autonomic recovery to stress in middle school children

Unmanaged emotional reactions to stress not only lead to behavior problems in young people but also create physiological conditions that inhibit learning and potentially increase the risk of disease later in life. For these reasons, the integration of emotional self-management skills training programs has become an increased priority in some schools. In this study, middle school students enrolled in a course in emotional competence skills learned techniques designed to intercept stressful responses during emotionally challenging situations. Behavioral outcomes were assessed using the Achievement Inventory Measure and autonomic function was measured by heart rate variability (HRV) analysis during and after a stressful interview. Following the program, students exhibited significant improvements in areas including stress and anger management, risky behavior, work management and focus, and relationships with family, peers and teachers. These improvements were sustained over the following six months. Students using the skills taught in the course to recover from acute emotional stress were also able to positively modulate their physiological stress responses. As compared to a control group, trained students demonstrated significantly increased HRV and more rhythmic, sine wave-like heart rhythm patterns during recovery. This response pattern reflects increased parasympathetic activity, heart rhythm coherence, and entrainment of other biological oscillatory systems to the primary heart rhythm frequency. Increased physiological coherence is associated with improved cognitive performance, emotional balance, mental clarity and health outcomes. These physiological shifts could promote the sustained psychological and behavioral improvements associated with the use of emotional management skills. It is suggested that learning emotional competence skills in childhood establishes healthier physiological response patterns which can benefit learning and long-term health. Results provide support for the integration in school curricula of courses designed to teach effective self-management skills to children.     

The impact of an emotional self-management skills course on psychosocial functioning and autonomic recovery to stress in middle school children.

Unmanaged emotional reactions to stress not only lead to behavior problems in young people but also create physiological conditions that inhibit learning and potentially increase the risk of disease later in life. For these reasons, the integration of emotional self-management skills training programs has become an increased priority in some schools. In this study, middle school students enrolled in a course in emotional competence skills learned techniques designed to intercept stressful responses during emotionally challenging situations. Behavioral outcomes were assessed using the Achievement Inventory Measure and autonomic function was measured by heart rate variability (HRV) analysis during and after a stressful interview. Following the program, students exhibited significant improvements in areas including stress and anger management, risky behavior, work management and focus, and relationships with family, peers and teachers. These improvements were sustained over the following six months. Students using the skills taught in the course to recover from acute emotional stress were also able to positively modulate their physiological stress responses. As compared to a control group, trained students demonstrated significantly increased HRV and more rhythmic, sine wave-like heart rhythm patterns during recovery. This response pattern reflects increased parasympathetic activity, heart rhythm coherence, and entrainment of other biological oscillatory systems to the primary heart rhythm frequency. Increased physiological coherence is associated with improved cognitive performance, emotional balance, mental clarity and health outcomes. These physiological shifts could promote the sustained psychological and behavioral improvements associated with the use of emotional management skills. It is suggested that learning emotional competence skills in childhood establishes healthier physiological response patterns which can benefit learning and long-term health. Results provide support for the integration in school curricula of courses designed to teach effective self-management skills to children.     

The role of emotion control and emotional rumination in stress management training

The present paper reports on three outcome studies evaluating the effectiveness of a new stress management training program. In contrast to conventional stress management, which tends to emphasize life-events, the symptoms of stress and relaxation, the new program is based on emotional rumination, emotion control, and attention control. The training developed from a series of experimental studies on the role of emotional inhibition and rumination in prolonging physiological recovery from stress, and the findings reported here were obtained from a series of applied studies involving police officers from a police force in the North of England. The first two studies employed both self-reported and objective measures of change to demonstrate that the training produced significant increases in job satisfaction and reduced absenteeism, while the results of the final study showed that the benefits of the program were enhanced by follow-up training.     

Children's emotion regulation: Self-report and physiological response to peer provocation

The authors examined the notion that children's emotion regulation (ER) is a uniform skill by (a) investigating the concordance between self-report of ER and physiological measures and by (b) examining ER in a specific context (e.g., peer provocation) and context-free manner (e.g., during a semistructured interview of ER abilities). Seventy-two children in middle childhood (average age = 9 years) participated. Time-locked measures of heart rate reactivity and recovery were obtained in response to provoking comments, and vagal regulation was measured throughout the provocation session. Children who reported greater dysregulation showed increased heart rate reactivity to provocative comments (i.e., steeper heart rate slope) but no difference in heart rate recovery. The context-free but not the context-specific self-report measure was associated with a failure to suppress vagal tone. Implications for ER measurement and children's peer relations are discussed.     

APPLICANT AGE AND SELECTION INTERVIEW DECISIONS: EFFECT OF INFORMATION EXPOSURE ON AGE DISCRIMINATION IN PERSONNEL SELECTION

Two research questions pertaining to the applicant age bias effect were addressed in this study: the effect of age-related information exposure on selection decisions and the issue of between-sample generalizability with reference to the age bias effect. Manager and student selectors made selection decisions after viewing one videotape of a simulated selection interview of either an old or a young job applicant. Before viewing the interview tape, half of each subject group was given an item of age-related information and the other half was given neutral information. The results showed that, under the neutral information condition, managers preferred hiring the young applicant for the low-status job, and students favored the old candidate for the high-status position. Under the age-related information condition, managers shifted to favoring the old candidate for the low-status job, and students preferred the young applicant for both the low- and high-status positions. Age discrimination in selection decisions and the lack of external validity of student results in selection research are then discussed.     

Is compassion for others stress buffering? Consequences of compassion and social support for physiological reactivity to stress

The present study examined the role of compassion for others and social support in physiological stress reactivity. In this experiment, participants who had previously completed an online assessment of compassion experienced a social stress task in front of either two supportive or neutral evaluators, while their blood pressure, cortisol, high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), and liking for the evaluators were monitored. Participants’ compassion for others interacted with social support condition to buffer their physiological reactivity to stress. When provided with social support during the task, higher trait compassion was associated with lower blood pressure reactivity, lower cortisol reactivity, and higher HF-HRV reactivity. Higher compassion was also associated with greater liking for the supportive evaluators. These relationships were not observed for participants in the neutral condition, regardless of their trait compassion. Compassion for others may increase our ability to receive social support, which may lead to more adaptive profiles of stress reactivity.     

Relations between perceptual and physiological response during incremental exercise followed by an extended bout of submaximal exercise on a cycle ergometer

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) of the legs, chest, and overall body with physiological responses (heart rate and oxygen uptake) both during incremental cycling exercise and the recovery stage (submaximal light exercise after total exhaustion). Subjects were 10 healthy university males ages 18 to 23 years (M age=20.5 yr., SD=1.4 yr.) who performed incremental cycling exercise until exhaustion after 1-min. rest and unloaded cycling for 2 min. They then continued to exercise at a constant load of 30 Watts (used for cooling down; recovery stage) for a total of 25 min. Oxygen uptake and heart rate were measured, and three types of RPE were done; Respiratory (chest; RPE-R), Peripheral (legs; RPE-P), and Overall (overall body; RPE-O) during the exercise and recovery stage. All variables during exercise and RPE-R and RPE-P during recovery stage showed significant linear changes. RPE-O and physiological exercise intensity (oxygen uptake and heart rate) in the recovery stage showed significant curvilinear changes (quadratic). RPE-P were significantly higher than RPE-R both during exercise and the recovery stage and the variables highly correlated (r > or = .88, p < .05). At the point of exhaustion, RPE-P and RPE-O almost reached a peak, but RPE-R did not. In the exercise period until exhaustion, the regression coefficient of RPE-R (.38) was significantly lower than that of RPE-P (.56) and RPE-O (.50), and RPE-R increased according to an increase of the incremental load, but the amount was significantly lower than those of RPE-P and RPE-O. In the recovery stage after exhaustion, the regression coefficient of RPE-O (-1.35) was significantly greater than that of RPE-P (-1.07). A decrease in RPE-O corresponded to a decrease in heart rate and oxygen uptake, but RPE-P did not, and the recovery of RPE-P tended to be late. The results suggest that relations for the physiological responses of heart rate, oxygen uptake, and RPE, and between each RPE in the recovery stage differed from those during exercise until exhaustion.     

Behavioural,affective, and physiological effects of negative and positive emotional exaggeration

Emotion regulation is essential for the production of socially appropriate affect and successful interpersonal functioning. The relative inability to modulate affect, known as "emotional dysregulation", is associated with many common mood disorders (such as major depressive disorder or bipolar spectrum disorders). Thus, understanding the physiological processes underlying emotional regulation is extremely important. This experiment was designed to explore the affective, behavioural, and physiological responses associated with a rarely studied emotion regulation technique--exaggeration. A total of 52 undergraduate participants watched a 2 minute video designed to elicit either feelings of amusement (positive affect) or disgust (negative affect). Physiological recordings--including skin conductance, interbeat interval (IBI), high frequency (HF) power spectrum of heart rate variability (HRV), and sympathovagal balance (LF/HF)--were recorded for the 2 minutes prior to, during, and after mood induction. As expected, persons asked to exaggerate their responses were rated as behaviourally showing increased arousal relative to individuals in the natural-watch condition. With regard to IBI, those in the exaggerate condition experienced significantly greater IBI reductions (increased heart rate) during reactivity and IBI increases during recovery relative to those in the natural-watch condition (who showed the opposite pattern of response). Moreover, persons in the exaggerate condition evidenced increased sympathovagal balance in response to the emotional videos relative to those in the natural-watch condition. Results generally support and extend previous research findings designed to assess the impact of response-focused affect modulation strategies. Suggestions for future research are presented.     

Effects of short-term psychological stress on the time and frequency domains of heart-rate variability

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that short-term psychological stress produces significant changes in sympathovagal activity. A simple, noninvasive method was used measuring the timing and frequency of heart-rate variability (HRV). 30 normal healthy subjects were assigned into two age- and sex matched groups. In the experimental condition a 5-min. psychological stress test, predominantly based on the Stroop Word Color Conflict Test, was employed in a competitive setting and included a financial inducement to produce psychological strain. Analysis showed that during psychological stress a significant reduction in the timing and frequency of heart rate variability was observed. The standard deviation of interbeat intervals decreased. A significant increase in heart rate was also observed. Within the frequency domain, a significant reduction in the high frequency component of HRV and a significant increase in the low frequency component were observed. There was also a significant increase in the low frequency to high frequency ratio. Self-evaluation of physical tension and emotional state measured by visual analog scales also showed significant increases following psychological stress. No significant differences were observed on any variables within the control group. The results indicate a shift towards sympathetic predominance as a result of parasympathetic withdrawal and demonstrates that this psychological stress test is effective in provoking a characteristic defence-arousal reaction. This simple, cost-effective method of analysing heart rate variability is suitable for detection of short-term changes in sympathovagal balance.     

Heart rate variability as a physiological moderator of the relationship between race-related stress and psychological distress in African Americans

This study examined the moderator effects of heart rate variability, a physiological marker of stress vulnerability, on the relationship between race-related stress and psychological distress in African Americans (N = 215). Participants were administered the Index of Race-Related Stress-Brief and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18. Resting heart rate was recorded using the Polar 810s heart rate monitor. Findings indicated that heart rate variability moderated the relationship between institutional race-related stress and psychological distress for men, but not women. These findings suggest that higher levels of resting heart rate variability may buffer African Americans from the deleterious effects of race-related stress.     

Enhancing the Benefits of Written Emotional Disclosure Through Response Training

Writing about a personal stressful event has been found to have psychological and physical health benefits, especially when physiological response increases during writing. Response training was developed to amplify appropriate physiological reactivity in imagery exposure. The present study examined whether response training enhances the benefits of written emotional disclosure. Participants were assigned to either a written emotional disclosure condition (n = 113) or a neutral writing condition (n = 133). Participants in each condition wrote for 20 minutes on 3 occasions and received response training (n = 79), stimulus training (n = 84) or no training (n = 83). Heart rate and skin conductance were recorded throughout a 10-minute baseline, 20-minute writing, and a 10-minute recovery period. Self-reported emotion was assessed in each session. One month after completing the sessions, participants completed follow-up assessments of psychological and physical health outcomes. Emotional disclosure elicited greater physiological reactivity and self-reported emotion than neutral writing. Response training amplified physiological reactivity to emotional disclosure. Greater heart rate during emotional disclosure was associated with the greatest reductions in event-related distress, depression, and physical illness symptoms at follow-up, especially among response trained participants. Results support an exposure explanation of emotional disclosure effects and are the first to demonstrate that response training facilitates emotional processing and may be a beneficial adjunct to written emotional disclosure.     

A component analysis of job interview training for young adults with autism spectrum disorder

The job interview is a vital component to acquire employment. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder may experience difficulties with job interviews due to notable deficits in social and communication skills. We evaluated the relative impact of several components of a job interview training package on six participants' responses to commonly asked interview questions. We used a multiple baseline design across participants to present the following components: written instructions, rehearsal and video self‐feedback with a commercially available training program, and verbal feedback delivered by the experimenter. Results demonstrated that all participants required an additional behavioral skills training session to meet our mastery criterion. However, once training was complete, all participants showed generalized performance when the interview questions were presented in a varied format and by a novel interviewer outside of the training environment. In addition, their performance was maintained at follow‐up.     

The tell-tale heart: physiological reactivity during resolution of ambiguity in youth anxiety

In the past decade, cognitive biases and physiological arousal have each been proposed as mechanisms through which paediatric anxiety develops and is maintained over time. Preliminary studies have found associations between anxious interpretations of ambiguity, physiological arousal, and avoidance, supporting theories that link cognition, psychophysiology, and behaviour. However, little is known about the relationship between youths’ resolutions of ambiguity and physiological arousal during acute stress. Such information may have important clinical implications for use of verbal self-regulation strategies and cognitive restructuring during treatments for paediatric anxiety. In this brief report, we present findings suggesting that anxious, but not typically developing, youth select avoidant goals via non-threatening resolution of ambiguity during a stressor, and that this resolution of ambiguity is accompanied by physiological reactivity (heart rate, heart rate variability, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia). We propose future empirical research on the interplay between interpretation bias, psychophysiology, and child anxiety, as well as clinical implications.     

Performance under simulated offshore climate conditions

An experimental study was set up simulating the environmental conditions and work load among drillers and maintenance personnel offshore. Thirty-six male subjects participated in the experimental study involving 3h exposures with dry gloves, wet gloves or without gloves. The subjects were working on tasks involving heavy and light muscle work, dexterity and cognitive tasks. Body and skin temperatures and heart rate variability were continuously monitored. Neuropsychological and endocrinological parameters were intermittently monitored. The data from the work performance tasks showed that motor functions, both gross and fine, were impaired when working with wet and, especially, without gloves. Working without gloves also affected mental work tasks. The neuropsychological and physiological data confirmed the work task studies: working with wet or without gloves led to increased tremor and impaired finger dexterity. Furthermore, reasoning was consistently impaired throughout the exposures compared with working with dry gloves. The heart-rate variability data and the endocrine results also showed a significant central nervous stress reaction for the two hypothermic conditions compared with the dry glove condition. Especially for drilling further north these data should imply that both health and performance may be detrimentally affected during working under such conditions with insufficient thermal protection.     

The influence of monetary reward and punishment on psychological, physiological, behavioral and performance aspects of a golf putting task

The primary purpose of the present study was to examine kinematic characteristics and force control during a golf-putting task under a pressure condition. The secondary purpose was to provide an exploratory investigation of the relationship between changes in behavior (kinematics and force control) and performance on the one hand, and psychological (attention and affect) and physiological (arousal level) changes on the other hand. Twenty male novices performed 150 acquisition trials, followed by 10 test trials during a pressure condition induced by performance-contingent distracters: a cash reward or punishment. A three-dimensional motion analysis revealed that, during the pressure test, angular displacements of rotational movements at the horizontal plane and movement time of the arms and club during the backswing and downswing phases all decreased, while acceleration of the elbows during the downswing phase increased. Mean performance indices in all participants’ were unchanged in spite of the kinematic changes under the pressure condition. Multiple regression analyses indicated that the decrement in performance, as well as increased variability of movement time and speed, were more likely to increase when participants shifted their attention to movements. Furthermore, changes in heart rate and negative affect were related to both the increase in movement acceleration and a decrease in grip force. These findings suggest that performance and behavioral changes during golf-putting under pressure can be associated with attentional changes, along with the influences of physiological-emotional responses.     

Flow experience and the mobilization of attentional resources

The present study attempts to better identify the neurophysiological changes occurring during flow experience and how this can be related to the mobilization of attentional resources. Self-reports of flow (using a flow feelings scale) and attention (using thought probes), autonomic activity (heart rate, heart rate variability, and breathing rate), and cerebral oxygenation (using near-infrared spectroscopy) in two regions of the frontoparietal attention network (right lateral frontal cortex and right inferior parietal lobe) were measured during the practice of two simple video games (Tetris and Pong) played at different difficulty conditions (easy, optimal, hard, or self-selected). Our results indicated that an optimal level of difficulty, compared with an easy or hard level of difficulty led to greater flow feelings and a higher concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin in the regions of the frontoparietal network. The self-selected, named autonomy condition did not lead to more flow feelings than the optimal condition; however, the autonomy condition led to greater sympathetic activity (reduced heart rate variability and greater breathing rate) and higher activation of the frontoparietal regions. Our study suggests that flow feelings are highly connected to the mobilization of attentional resources, and all the more in a condition that promotes individuals’ choice and autonomy.     

Comorbid depression and heart rate variability as predictors of aggressive and hyperactive symptom responsiveness during inpatient treatment of conduct‐disordered,ADHD boys

The primary objective of the present study was to assess the utility of (1) comorbid depression and (2) parasympathetic influence on cardiac function as markers for treatment response among aggressive preadolescent males. Inpatient records of 53 patients with conduct disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (17 with a comorbid depressive disorder) were examined, including an intake electrocardiogram and daily tallies of several indices of aggressive behavior across 3 weeks of stay. The relations of comorbid depression, heart rate variability, and residualized heart rate (primarily of sympathetic origin) to treatment response were assessed through analyses of linear growth functions. Significant vagal tone by diagnostic status interactions were obtained for both frequency and duration indices of aggression, whereby nondepressed patients with high vagal tone deteriorated and depressed patients with high vagal tone improved during hospitalization. No such relation was found for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms. Patients in the comorbid group also exhibited greater heart rate variability than their nondepressed counterparts. Furthermore, residualized heart rate was predictive of maternal substance use and paternal incarcerations. These findings suggest complex relations among treatment response, comorbid depression, and emotion regulation in male preadolescents with severe behavior disorders. Additionally, the differential prediction afforded by vagal tone and residualized heart rate underscores the importance of assessing both parasympathetic and sympathetic indices of cardiac function as distinct physiological markers. Aggr. Behav. 26:425–441, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Cognitive reappraisal increases heart rate variability in response to an anger provocation

Adaptive self-regulatory responses to negative events are associated with good mental health, social functioning, and physical health. Two forms of emotion regulation that have received attention within the context of anger are cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Research suggests that greater heart rate variability (HRV) is a physiological indicator of adaptive emotion regulation and decreased mental load. In the present experiment, we recorded HRV while 131 undergraduate women viewed an anger-inducing video of a fellow student arguing for a position counter to that of the participant on an important political issue. Immediately prior to viewing, participants were instructed to reappraise, suppress their emotions, or simply watch the video as normal. Participants in the reappraisal condition showed increased HRV whereas those in the suppression and control condition showed no such increase. These results provide support for increased HRV as a biological correlate of adaptive emotion regulation. One implication is that cognitive reappraisal might afford greater autonomic flexibility when an individual is confronted with anger-inducing events.     

Facets of psychopathy, heart rate variability and cognitive function

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the four facets of Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991; Bolt, Hare, Vitale, & Newman, 2004) were related to physiological and cognitive mechanisms. Fifty-three male prisoners participated in this study. Physiological responses were measured as heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate (HR). Cognitive functions were measured using a continuous performance test (CPT; California Computerized Assessment Package, Abbreviated version) and a working memory test (WMT); based on Baddeley & Hitch (1974). The regression analysis of the HRV revealed that the interpersonal facet explained most of the variance during baseline (28%), CPT (16%), and WMT (12%). This was also true for the HR data during baseline (28%), CPT (20%), WMT (10%), and recovery (13%). The antisocial facet explained 10% of the variance only during baseline. Subjects scoring high compared to low on the interpersonal facet also showed better cognitive functioning. The study suggests that the different facets were differently associated with both physiological and cognitive functions.