Acute psychological stress promotes general alertness and attentional control processes: An ERP study

Abstract

The current study investigated the influence of acute psychological stress on selective attention processes. After an acute stressor or a control condition, 20 participants performed an arrow‐based version of the Eriksen flanker task, while ERPs (N1, N2, P3), reaction times, accuracy, subjective stress, and electrocardiogram signal were measured. Results showed elevated self‐report stress, negative affect, state anxiety, heart rate, and reduced high‐frequency heart rate variability in the stress block than in the control block, indicating that the flanker task was performed in a stressful situation. In the flanker task, faster response and larger flanker effect of accuracy were observed for the stress block relative to the control block, indicating increased arousal level and improved conflict detection under stress. Event‐related potentials locked to target stimuli in the flanker task revealed that (a) frontal N1 was amplified in the stress block than in the control block, indicating elevated vigilance level under stress; (b) frontal N2 was increased in the stress block than in the control block for both congruent and incongruent trials, indicating more intensive attention control under stress; and (c) Increased P3 in the stress block than in the control block may reflect more allocation of neural resources as a consequence of improved attentional control under stress. These findings suggest that acute psychological stress increases general alertness and promotes attentional control in selective attention processes.

Effect of Acute Psychological Stress on Motion-in-Depth Perception: An Event-Related Potential Study

“…Shackman et al ( 2011 ) found that N1 was related to the perceptual process, which indicated that the level of alertness and sensory input were significantly increased under the threatening condition. Qi and Gao ( 2020 ) found that acute psychological stress increased general alertness and promoted attentional control in selective attention processes. In the stress condition in the current study, the participants had to use cognitive resources to deal with the stress process of alertness, and at the same time, use attention resources to participate in the motion-in-depth perception task.…”

Acute stress reduces the emotional attentional blink: Evidence from human electrophysiology

“…ERP studies on stress' effect on response inhibition also showed that stress could amplify the early premotor response inhibition represented by N2 and enhance the cognitive control process (Dierolf, Fechtner, Böhnke, Wolf, & Naumann, 2017;Qi, Gao, & Liu, 2017). Additionally, the flanker task has been consistently used to investigate selective attention and has shown a facilitation effect reflected in N2 under stress (Qi, & Gao, 2020). Overall, previous studies have suggested that stress could enhance the general attentional control process and promote the motivational selective attention processing.…”

Stressors of COVID-19 and stress consequences: The mediating role of rumination and the moderating role of psychological support

“…However, the unique and unusual social ecology brought about by COVID-19 warrant examining rumination as a consequence of COVID-19 stressors. Rumination has been documented to be influenced by perceived stress ( Chen and Huang, 2019 , Wang et al, 2019 ) and because attention increases under high levels of vigilance ( Qi & Gao, 2020 ), the cognitive behavior presents itself as a natural, but potentially dangerous, variable in models of stress consequences ( Nolen-Hoeksema et al, 2008 ) for adolescents ( Skitch & Abela, 2008 ). Specifically, rumination has been evidenced to be a mutable variable in response to stressful life events (e.g., Li et al, 2019 , Liu and Wang, 2017 , Michl et al, 2013 ) and can play a mediating role between changing stressors and their respective consequences, such as work stressors and impaired sleep (​ Berset, Elfering, Lüthy, Lüthi, & Semmer, 2011 ) and perceived stress and depression ( Wang et al, 2019 ).…”