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Effects of task difficulty and invested mental effort on peripheral vasoconstriction
Author(s) -
Iani Cristina,
Gopher Daniel,
Lavie Peretz
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2004.00200.x
Subject(s) - task (project management) , psychology , vasoconstriction , rest (music) , peripheral , pulse (music) , mental arithmetic , plethysmograph , tone (literature) , interval (graph theory) , amplitude , audiology , cognitive psychology , cardiology , medicine , computer science , telecommunications , blood pressure , mathematics , heart rate , physics , art , management , literature , combinatorics , quantum mechanics , detector , economics
We ran two experiments to investigate whether peripheral arterial tone reflects changes in mental effort. Finger pulse wave amplitude, interpulse interval, and pulse variability in the mid‐ and high‐frequency bands were recorded by means of a newly developed finger plethysmograph during both rest and cognitive performance. Using a modified version of the Sternberg memory task, we selectively manipulated either the difficulty of the task (Experiment 1) or the subjects' level of engagement in the task (Experiment 2). We found a significant difference in finger pulse wave amplitude between rest and task periods, suggesting that the measure reflects changes in sympathetic activity due to task engagement. In addition, our results suggest that reduced pulse wave amplitude, signaling vasoconstriction, occurs when subjects are investing effort.