Reappraisal of stress improves selective attention

Abstract

Everyday stress is a negative experience that impairs cognitive performance. Managing negative emotions competes with executive function processes. Therefore, reducing negative emotion could improve cognitive function while under stress. This study tested if stress reappraisal improves selective attention. In the Reappraisal condition, participants were instructed that stress is not harmful and that increased arousal actually aids performance in stressful situations. In the Ignore condition, participants were instructed that ignoring stress optimally reduces nervousness and improves outcomes. All the participants were instructed that they would be completing a stressful task (speaking before an audience and a video camera), received instructions corresponding to their condition, and completed the Eriksen Flanker Task. The distractors’ interference effect on the targets was measured. If stress reappraisal would reduce negative emotion while under stress, participants in the reappraisal condition could more effectively ignore the distractors by preventing negative emotion management processes that interfere with executive function. The results supported this hypothesis: the interference effect was reduced only in the reappraisal condition, suggesting that stress reappraisal improves executive function while under stress.