Feeling rushed? Perceived time pressure impacts executive function and stress.

Sussman, Rachel F.; Sekuler, Robert

doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103702

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Perceived time pressure could also create stress or test anxiety in participants (e.g., Sussman and Sekuler 2022 ). This could interfere with performance in several ways, such as creating worrisome thoughts which use up resources in working memory ( Eysenck and Calvo 1992 ; for other examples, see Ashcraft and Kirk 2001 ; Moran 2016 ), although this mechanism is disputed ( Kellogg et al 1999 ).…”

Section: Brief Literature Review Of the Potential Effects Of Time Pre...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Should Intelligence Tests Be Speeded or Unspeeded? A Brief Review of the Effects of Time Pressure on Response Processes and an Experimental Study with Raven’s Matrices

Gonthier

2023

J. Intell.

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Intelligence tests are often performed under time constraints for practical reasons, but the effects of time pressure on reasoning performance are poorly understood. The first part of this work provides a brief review of major expected effects of time pressure, which includes forcing participants to skip items, convoking a mental speed factor, constraining response times, qualitatively altering cognitive processing, affecting anxiety and motivation, and interacting with individual differences. The second part presents data collected with Raven’s matrices under three conditions of speededness to provide further insight into the complex effects of time pressure, with three major findings. First, even mild time pressure (with enough time available for all participants to complete the task at a leisurely pace) induced speeding throughout the whole task, starting with the very first item, and participants sped up more than was actually required. Second, time pressure came with lower confidence and poorer strategy use and a substantial decrease of accuracy (d = 0.35), even when controlling for response time at the item level—indicating a detrimental effect on cognitive processing beyond speeding. Third, time pressure disproportionately reduced response times for difficult items and participants with high ability, working memory capacity, or need for cognition, although this did not differentially affect ability estimates. Overall, both the review and empirical sections show that the effects of time pressure go well beyond forcing participants to speed or skip the last few items and make even mild time constraints inadvisable when attempting to measure maximal performance, especially for high-performing samples.

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Section: Brief Literature Review Of the Potential Effects Of Time Pre...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Should Intelligence Tests Be Speeded or Unspeeded? A Brief Review of the Effects of Time Pressure on Response Processes and an Experimental Study with Raven’s Matrices

Gonthier

2023

J. Intell.

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“…69 Perceived time pressure refers to the sense of time pressure experienced in the absence of genuine time limits and has been shown to be an empirical stressor, and was also incorporated into the study design. 70 Finally, participants were asked to complete task to the highest quality possible to maintain a level of sustained mental effort investment during the protocol in an aim to increase mental workload, stress and fatigue during the task. 71 The results indicate that the task and the applied manipulation were successful in generating a stress response.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of background music on STress Responses Amongst Undergraduates and Surgeons performing Simulated Surgical tasks: A randomised cross-over interventional trial (The STRAUSS Study)

Narayanan,

Khashram,

Fisher

2024

Preprint

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High stress may diminish a surgeon’s performance in the operating room (OR). Music is perceived to reduce stress in the OR, however the psycho-physiological effects of music on intra-operative stress in inexperienced and experienced operators is incompletely understood. The effect of music on the psychological (Six-Item State-Trait Anxiety Inventory [STAI-6] and Surgical Taskload Index [SURG-TLX]) and physiological responses (e.g., heart rate variability) was determined to a simulated surgical task (carotid patch-angioplasty) in 15 medical students (MS) and 12 vascular surgeons (VS) under stressing conditions in a randomised crossover design. Music did not affect the speed or accuracy of the simulated surgical stress task performance. While the surgical task increased SURG-TLX scores from baseline to control (D32 [22–42]; mean difference [95% confidence interval]) and to music (D30 [20–40]), and increased STAI-6 scores in both conditions, there was no difference between music and control. The surgical task also increased heart rate (peak D5.1bpm [3.0-7.1] vs. baseline p < 0.0001) and cardiac sympathetic nervous system activity (SNS index), and reduced parasympathetic (PNS index) nervous system activity, with the latter two exacerbated by music (SNS: 0.14 [0.004–0.27], p = 0.042; PNS: -0.11 [-0.22 - -0.008], p = 0.032). The more experienced group performed faster and more accurately than the inexperienced group, but there were no psychological or physiological differences in their responses to music. Despite previous research identifying generally positive surgeon perceptions of music on the intra-operative experience of stress, herein, background music failed to improve surgical task performance or attenuate subjective ratings of task load and anxiety, and physiological arousal.

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Employment-related time poverty, time stress and food away from home behaviour: Panel evidence from Australia

Koomson,

Martey,

Temoso

2025

Appetite

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Feeling rushed? Perceived time pressure impacts executive function and stress.

Cited by 8 publications

References 53 publications

Should Intelligence Tests Be Speeded or Unspeeded? A Brief Review of the Effects of Time Pressure on Response Processes and an Experimental Study with Raven’s Matrices

Should Intelligence Tests Be Speeded or Unspeeded? A Brief Review of the Effects of Time Pressure on Response Processes and an Experimental Study with Raven’s Matrices

Effect of background music on STress Responses Amongst Undergraduates and Surgeons performing Simulated Surgical tasks: A randomised cross-over interventional trial (The STRAUSS Study)

Employment-related time poverty, time stress and food away from home behaviour: Panel evidence from Australia

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