The effect of acute stress and perceptual load on selective attention(Summary of Awarded Presentation at the 29th Annual Meeting)

抄録

Under high perceptual load that is assumed to reduce cognitive resources, selective attention is improved because no spare resources are left for distractor processing. Are cognitive resources also consumed under high stress circumstances? The present study examined whether perceptual load and acute stress share a common attentional resource by manipulating perceptual and stress loads. Participants identified a target embedded in an array of nontargets, flanked by compatible or incompatible distractors. Prolonged reaction time to the incompatible relative to compatible flankers was used as an index of interference. Participants in the stress group received a speech test that increased anxiety and threatened self-esteem. The effect of perceptual load interacted with stress manipulation. Participants in the control group demonstrated substantial interference with low perceptual load, whereas such interference was eliminated with high perceptual load. Importantly, the stress group showed virtually no interference with low perceptual load whereas substantial interference occurred with high perceptual load. These results suggest that perceptual and stress loads consume the same attentional resources.