Cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress: The moderating effects of evaluative observation

• Published in: Psychophysiology Vol. 37; no. 6; pp. 748 - 756
• Main Authors: KELSEY, ROBERT M., BLASCOVICH, JIM, LEITTEN, CHRISTOPHER L., SCHNEIDER, TAMERA R., TOMAKA, JOE, WIENS, STEFAN
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Cambridge University Press 01.11.2000; Blackwell Publishing; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adaptation; Adaptation, Psychological - physiology; Adolescent; Adult; Arousal - physiology; Autonomic Nervous System - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Cardiography, Impedance; Cardiovascular reactivity; Evaluative observation; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Habituation; Heart - innervation; Hemodynamics - physiology; Humans; Impedance cardiography; Male; Miscellaneous; Problem Solving - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Stress; Stress, Psychological - complications; Impedance cardiography; Evaluative observation; Stress; Cardiovascular reactivity; Adaptation; Habituation; Human; Electrophysiology; Electrocardiography; Blood pressure; Hemodynamics
• ISSN: 0048-5772; 1540-5958; 1469-8986
• DOI: 10.1111/1469-8986.3760748

The impact of evaluative observation on cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress was evaluated in 162 undergraduate men and women. All participants performed three mental arithmetic tasks with or without evaluative observation. Impedance cardiographic, blood pressure, task performance, and stress appraisal measures were recorded for each task. Evaluative observation moderated the effects of task repetition on cardiac reactivity but not vascular reactivity. The introduction of evaluative observation disrupted cardiac adaptation, resulting in a resurgence of β-adrenergic cardiac reactivity (p < .005), whereas the removal of evaluative observation promoted cardiac adaptation. Evaluative observation also increased stress appraisals and slowed task performance. The results support the dual process theory of habituation, rather than stimulus comparator theory, but only partially support cognitive appraisal theory.