School of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
Psychol Health Med. 2011 Jan;16(1):12-8. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2010.525655.
Research findings suggest that switching between competing response sets can be resource demanding. The current study focused on concurrent health-relevant physiological effects of task switching by assessing cardiovascular response at varying levels of switch frequency. The participants performed a response-switching task at three different levels of response set switching frequency (low, medium and high) while measurements of blood pressure and heart rate were taken. One group was exposed to response-switching frequency conditions in the order low → medium → high, while the other group was exposed to the same task conditions in the reverse order (i.e. high → medium → low). The results showed that the participants in the low → medium → high switch frequency group recovered faster from initially heightened systolic blood pressure when compared with participants in the high → medium → low group. It is concluded that the results point to a physiological "carry over" effect associated with beginning a task at rapid response switching frequency levels, and suggest the importance of habituation to task demands as a means of offsetting potentially unhealthy levels of reactivity. Implications for modern work environments are discussed.
研究结果表明，在竞争反应集之间切换可能需要资源。本研究通过评估不同切换频率下的心血管反应，关注任务切换的并发健康相关生理效应。参与者在三种不同的反应集切换频率（低、中、高）下执行反应切换任务，同时测量血压和心率。一组按照低→中→高的顺序暴露于反应切换频率条件下，而另一组则按照相反的顺序（即高→中→低）暴露于相同的任务条件下。结果表明，与高→中→低组相比，在低→中→高切换频率组中，参与者的收缩压最初升高后恢复得更快。研究结论指出，这一结果表明与以快速反应切换频率水平开始任务相关的生理“延续”效应，并表明适应任务需求作为抵消潜在不健康反应水平的重要性。讨论了对现代工作环境的影响。
