The impact of attentional training on the salivary cortisol and alpha amylase response to psychosocial stress: importance of attentional control.

INTRODUCTION

This study examined the effects of three consecutive days of attentional training on the salivary alpha amylase (sAA), cortisol, and mood response to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). The training was designed to elicit faster disengagement of attention away from threatening facial expressions and faster shifts of attention toward positive ones.

METHOD

Fifty-six healthy participants between the ages of 18 and 30 participated in a double-blind, within-subject experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three attentional training conditions - supraliminal training: pictures shown with full conscious awareness, masked training: stimuli presented with limited conscious awareness, or control training: both supraliminal and masked pictures shown but no shifting of attention required. Following training, participants underwent the TSST. Self-reported mood and saliva samples were collected for the determination of emotional reactivity, cortisol, and sAA in response to stress post-training.

RESULTS

Unexpectedly, participants in both attentional training groups exhibited a higher salivary cortisol response to the TSST relative to participants who underwent the control training, F (4, 86)=4.07, p=.005, ηp(2)=.16. Supraliminal training was also associated with enhanced sAA reactivity, F (2, 44)=13.90, p=.000, ηp(2)=.38, and a more hostile mood response (p=.021), to the TSST. Interestingly, the effect of attention training on the cortisol response to stress was more robust in those with high attentional control than those with low attentional control (β=-0.134; t=-2.24, p=.03).

CONCLUSION

This is among the first experimental manipulations to demonstrate that attentional training can elicit a paradoxical increase in three different markers of stress reactivity. These findings suggest that attentional training, in certain individuals, can have iatrogenic effects.