Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology Unit, Karl-Franzens University, Graz, Austria.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2011 Dec;82(3):275-82. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.09.013. Epub 2011 Sep 29.
The identification of individual differences variables and environmental conditions that may be associated with poor psychophysiological recovery from stress or may serve as protective factors may be relevant in the context of physical and psychological health maintenance. In the present study, heart rate recovery from a mental arithmetic task was examined after participants received bogus performance-related feedback that could be consistent or inconsistent with their specific self-concept about their mental arithmetic skills. That way, the participants' beliefs about their own performance in the task were experimentally manipulated. Recovery of heart rate was examined in two time windows: (1) shortly after the participants had completed the task and had received positive or negative performance feedback and (2) 10 min after the task. In order to evaluate the dynamic of changes in more detail, speed of recovery (linear slope of the continuous beat-to-beat data) was analysed in addition to the degree of recovery (average heart rate decline during the five-minute observation periods). The results indicate that negative performance-related feedback may prolong psychophysiological responses to stressful conditions, in particular when the feedback is inconsistent with the domain-specific self-concept. In conjunction with other evidence these results support the assumption that positive emotional states in the context of stressful events may contribute to poor post-stress recovery. Overall, the findings are supportive of the "perseverative cognition hypothesis" according to which psychophysiological recovery may be delayed through continued cognitive representation of a negative experience.
在身体和心理健康维护的背景下，识别可能与压力下不良心理生理恢复相关的个体差异变量和环境条件，或者作为保护因素，可能是相关的。在本研究中，在参与者接受与他们的心理算术技能的具体自我概念一致或不一致的虚假与表现相关的反馈后，检查了从心理算术任务中恢复的心率。这样，参与者对自己在任务中的表现的信念就可以通过实验进行操纵。在两个时间窗口检查了心率恢复：（1）参与者完成任务并收到正反馈或负反馈后不久，以及（2）任务后 10 分钟。为了更详细地评估变化的动态，除了恢复程度（在五分钟观察期内的平均心率下降）之外，还分析了恢复速度（连续心跳数据的线性斜率）。结果表明，负与表现相关的反馈可能会延长对压力条件的心理生理反应，尤其是当反馈与特定于领域的自我概念不一致时。结合其他证据，这些结果支持了“持续认知假设”，即压力事件背景下的积极情绪可能会导致压力后恢复不良。总的来说，这些发现支持了“持续认知假说”，即通过持续的负面体验认知表现，心理生理恢复可能会延迟。
