Comment on "negative emotions and acute cardiovascular responses to laboratory challenges"

The Impacts of the Presence of an Unfamiliar Dog on Emerging Adults' Physiological and Behavioral Responses Following Social Exclusion

Research indicates that non-human attachment figures may mitigate the negative consequences of social exclusion. In the current experiment, we examined how the presence of an unfamiliar companion dog in the laboratory effects physiological and behavioral reactions in female emerging adults after social exclusion compared to inclusion. Results revealed the beneficial effects of the dog: Socially excluded participants in the company of a dog showed less aggressive behavior in response to the hot sauce paradigm compared to excluded participants in the control condition. Furthermore, cardiac responses indicated mitigated perception of threat in a subsequent insult episode when a dog was present. The presence of a dog did not impact the most instantaneous, "reflexive" response to the social exclusion as revealed by characteristic cardiac changes. Together, the findings indicate that the presence of a companion dog takes effect in a later, reflective period following a social exclusion experience, which implicates relevant social elaboration and appraisal processes.

Adolescent stress reactivity: Examining physiological, psychological and peer relationship measures with a group stress protocol in a school setting

INTRODUCTION

Adolescents experience enhanced social sensitivity and biopsychosocial changes that can be challenging. Much remains unknown about the effect of psychological characteristics and peer relationships on adolescents' physiological responses to stress, due in part to methodological limitations.

METHODS

To test how adolescents' peer relationships and psychological characteristics are associated with their physiological and psychological response to stress, we administered the Group Public Speaking Task for Adolescents (GPST-A) to 54 adolescents (n = 40 girls; Mage = 16.6 years) in two high schools in the United States. Salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase (sAA), and positive and negative affect were measured six times. Relationships among group members were measured, resulting in whole-network data. State and trait rumination, five factors of coping, and emotional reappraisal and suppression were measured along with symptoms of depression and anxiety.

RESULTS

Greater levels of negative evaluation and victimization among group members were associated with a steeper increase and decline in the negative affect response, yet not associated with the physiological response to stress. Greater positive affect was associated with decreased cortisol reactivity, whereas negative affect was associated with steeper cortisol and sAA reactivity. Rumination, disengagement coping, and depression symptoms were related to the physiological response to stress.

CONCLUSIONS

The GPST-A is feasible to administer in a school context with adolescents to collect both physiological and psychological stress responses. Findings from the present study suggest peer relationships are important for understanding adolescents' psychological response to stressors while psychological characteristics are important for adolescents' physiological response to stress.

Predicting autonomic reactivity to public speaking: don't get fixed on self-report data!

The study focused on the prediction of autonomic reactivity to public speaking by using self-report and objective data (other-ratings and behavioral data) of task-induced nervousness and task engagement. Forty-one individuals participated in the study. Heart rate and electrodermal activity were recorded during baseline and speech delivery. Stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that self-report data of task engagement and nervousness largely failed in predicting psychophysiological reactivity to the speech task. After controlling for baseline values, demographic variables, and self-report data objective variables, however, were strong predictors of autonomic reactivity. Heart rate reactivity was significantly associated with gaze-duration towards the camera, indicating task engagement/involvement. Electrodermal activity was significantly related to other-rated nervousness/unstableness. Researchers are encouraged to record additionally objective variables when focusing on the prediction of psychophysiological reactivity.

Stress influences the level of negative affectivity after forehead cold pressor pain

The purpose of this study was to investigate simultaneously a stress manipulation and an experimental pain manipulation to determine how stress and pain interact to influence negative affectivity. One hundred healthy subjects completed a counterbalanced repeated measure crossover design in which stress (speech task) versus a nonstress control condition (magazine reading) was manipulated. Each session was immediately followed by a 2-minute forehead cold pressor task. Measures of affectivity (Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule), pain ratings, cardiovascular measures (systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate), and salivary cortisol were obtained during each session. Regression analysis showed that the stress manipulation influenced the level of anger and that change in anger predicted post-pain negative affectivity independently of the contribution of maximum pain (model R(2) =.31), with 45% of the total model variance accounted for by change in anger and 17% of the total model variance accounted for by maximum pain intensity. In the nonstress condition only level of pain intensity was an independent predictor of negative affectivity (model R(2) =.16), with 69% of the total model variance accounted for by maximum pain intensity. These results show that stress significantly amplifies post-pain negative mood beyond that accounted for by the level of pain intensity alone.

Relation of cognitive appraisal to cardiovascular reactivity, affect, and task engagement

The relation of primary cognitive appraisals to cardiovascular reactivity, affect, task engagement, and perceived stress was examined in 56 men (ages 18-29). Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate, preejection period, stroke index, cardiac index, and total peripheral resistance were assessed at rest and during performance of a computerized mental arithmetic task. Extending on prior investigations, threat and challenge appraisals were assessed independently from one another and from secondary appraisals. Positive and negative affect, task engagement, and levels of perceived stress were also assessed. Results indicated that threat (R2 =.08, p =.01), challenge (R2 =.14, p =.003), and their interaction (R2 =.11, p =.006) independently predicted DBP reactivity; DBP responses were greatest among participants with a high threat/low challenge pattern of appraisal. Threat appraisals predicted greater negative affect (R2 =.32) and perceived stress (R2 =.48), whereas challenge appraisals were related to greater positive affect (R2 =.44) and task engagement (R2 =.40, ps <.0001). Greater positive affect was correlated with increased SBP and DBP reactivity, and greater levels of task engagement with increased DBP response (ps < or = .002). Results suggest that primary cognitive appraisals are more potent predictors of affect and task engagement than cardiovascular reactivity.