Chair of Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, LMU University Hospital, Munich, Germany.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2023 Oct;156:106358. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106358. Epub 2023 Aug 2.
In the course of digitalization, new stressors are emerging. In modern working and living environments, two ubiquitous, technology-mediated stressors are multitasking demands and work interruptions. However, biological stress response patterns to multitasking and work interruptions have been sparsely investigated so far. We thus aimed to comprehensively assess biological stress response patterns to both stressors and, additionally, test whether responses differ between digital and partially non-digital settings. A controlled experimental set-up was established and humans' biological markers of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, and the immune system were assessed. N = 186 healthy participants (mean age: 23.2 ± 4.3 years, 74.7% female, body mass-index: 22.3 ± 3.1 kg/m) took part in this pre-registered study. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of 6 experimental conditions (1 digital single-task, 3 dual-tasks [2 parallel tasks and 1 interruption], 1 multitasking, and 1 passive, control condition). Each one of the dual-tasking as well as the multitasking conditions included a non-digital sub-task, i.e., performing a task in presence of an examiner. All other conditions involved digital tasks only. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) levels as a marker for SNS reactivity significantly changed in work interruptions, parallel dual-tasking, and multitasking conditions. No changes were found for control conditions. Furthermore, no significant changes over time and no differences between the conditions were identified for three biological markers: cortisol as marker for HPA axis activity as well as for two immune system markers (secretory Immunoglobulin-A, C-reactive protein). A time course similar to sAA was found for perceived stress: with increases during task execution and decreases afterwards in multitasking and parallel dual-tasking. Yet, it did not change for the work interruption, passive control, and single-tasking condition. Overall, our findings show that dual- and multitasking are perceived as stressful and are associated with an activation of the SNS, but not with responses of HPA axis or immune system. This was consistent for digital as well as partially digital task demands. Our findings will also inform future research into the differential stress effects of digital and non-digital tasks to advance our understanding of biological stress response-patterns to multitasking and work interruptions. Therefore, our findings are highly relevant for understanding the long-term biological health effects of stress in modern (digitalized) environments.
在数字化进程中，新的压力源正在出现。在现代工作和生活环境中，两种普遍存在的、通过技术介导的压力源是多任务需求和工作中断。然而，目前对多任务和工作中断的生物应激反应模式的研究还很少。因此，我们的目的是全面评估这两种应激源的生物应激反应模式，并进一步测试这些反应在数字和部分非数字环境之间是否存在差异。我们建立了一个对照实验设置，评估了人类交感神经系统（SNS）、下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴和免疫系统的生物标志物。共有 186 名健康参与者（平均年龄：23.2±4.3 岁，74.7%为女性，体重指数：22.3±3.1kg/m）参加了这项预先注册的研究。每位参与者随机分配到 6 个实验条件之一（1 个数字单任务、3 个双任务[2 个并行任务和 1 个中断]、1 个多任务和 1 个被动、对照条件）。双任务处理和多任务处理的所有条件都包含一个非数字子任务，即有考官在场时执行任务。所有其他条件都只涉及数字任务。唾液淀粉酶（sAA）作为 SNS 反应性的标志物水平在工作中断、并行双任务和多任务条件下显著变化。在对照条件下未发现变化。此外，未发现随着时间的推移而发生变化，并且在三种生物标志物（皮质醇作为 HPA 轴活性的标志物以及两种免疫系统标志物（分泌型免疫球蛋白 A、C 反应蛋白））之间没有发现差异。与 sAA 相似的时间过程被发现用于感知压力：在多任务和并行双任务处理中，在任务执行过程中增加，之后减少。然而，在工作中断、被动控制和单任务处理条件下没有变化。总的来说，我们的发现表明，双任务和多任务被视为有压力的，并与 SNS 的激活相关，但与 HPA 轴或免疫系统的反应无关。这对于数字和部分数字任务的需求都是一致的。我们的发现还将为未来研究数字和非数字任务的差异应激效应提供信息，以增进我们对多任务和工作中断的生物应激反应模式的理解。因此，我们的发现对于理解现代（数字化）环境中压力对长期生物健康的影响具有重要意义。
