Successful performance and cardiovascular markers of challenge and threat: A meta-analysis

Cardiovascular responses to challenge and threat have been used extensively in psychophysiological research. In this meta-analysis, we scrutinized the body of evidence for the role of challenge and threat hemodynamic responses in predicting positive behavioral outcomes, i.e., performance quality. We accounted for cardiac output (CO), total peripheral resistance (TPR), and Challenge-Threat Index (CTI). With 17 articles covering 19 studies (total N = 1045), we observed that the literature might have been biased towards positive results. After we excluded outlying studies and compensated for missing null-effect studies, we found that the mean standardized coefficient, corrected with the trim-and-fill method, was r = 0.14 for CO, r = -0.13 for TPR, and r = 0.10 for CTI. This indicated relatively small but stable effects of cardiovascular responses in the facilitation of successful performance. Moderator analyses indicated that TPR and CTI produced stronger effects in non-experimental studies. We also found that effects were not moderated by levels of engagement (indexed by heart rate and pre-ejection period), task domain (cognitive vs. behavioral) and measurement method. In summary, our results supported the general validity of the biopsychosocial model in the prediction of behavioral outcomes. However, they also indicated limitations of the empirical evidence and a significant bias in the literature.