A Limited Capacity Information Processing Interpretation of Conditioned Emotional Responding.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Stress Research
• Human Performance

Background:

• Limited capacity information processing models are used to understand cognitive load.
• Stress can consume cognitive resources, potentially impairing performance on concurrent tasks.
• Evaluating stress through performance decrements in secondary tasks is a viable approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the utility of a limited capacity information processing model for evaluating stress.
• To determine if stress, induced via a conditioned emotional response (CER) technique, causes measurable performance decrements.
• To compare the sensitivity of cognitive versus motor tasks as indicators of stress.

Main Methods:

• A conditioned emotional response (CER) technique was used to induce stress in 14 college students.
• Participants completed a motor tracking task and a cognitive counting backwards task.
• Tasks were manipulated as primary or secondary to assess performance under varying cognitive demands.

Main Results:

• The cognitive task of counting backwards demonstrated greater sensitivity to stress-induced processing demands.
• Performance decrements were observed in the concurrent tasks, indicating stress impacts information processing.
• The motor tracking task was less affected by the stress manipulation compared to the cognitive task.

Conclusions:

• The limited capacity information processing model provides a useful framework for evaluating stress.
• Cognitive tasks are more sensitive indicators of stress than motor tasks due to their higher processing demands.
• Stress significantly impacts cognitive function and performance on concurrent tasks.