Biomedical subjects

J Tomaka

Publications and source records attributed to J Tomaka.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress: the moderating effects of evaluative observation.

The impact of evaluative observation on cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress was evaluated in 162 undergraduate men and women. All participants performed three mental arithmetic tasks with or without evaluative observation. Impedance cardiographic, blood pressure, task performance, and stress appraisal measures were recorded for each task. Evaluative observation moderated the effects of task repetition on cardiac reactivity but not vascular reactivity. The introduction of evaluative observation disrupted cardiac adaptation, resulting in a resurgence of beta-adrenergic cardiac reactivity (p < .005), whereas the removal of evaluative observation promoted cardiac adaptation. Evaluative observation also increased stress appraisals and slowed task performance. The results support the dual process theory of habituation, rather than stimulus comparator theory, but only partially support cognitive appraisal theory.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1999

Assertiveness predicts threat and challenge reactions to potential stress among women.

In this study assertiveness as a moderator of stress reactions among women was examined. Specifically, the experimenters examined how high and low assertive women cognitively appraised, affectively and physiologically responded to, and behaviorally coped with the stress of giving an impromptu speech. High assertive women appraised the speech stressor as challenging, whereas low assertive women appraised the stressor as threatening. High assertive women also had a challenge pattern of autonomic response during the task, compared with the threat response of low assertive women. Afterward, the high assertive women reported experiencing less stress and negative emotion and greater positive emotion than did the low assertive women. Overall, the high assertive women's stress-related reactions indicated challenge, whereas the low assertive women's reactions indicated threat (see J. Tomaka, J. Blascovich, R. M. Kelsey, & C. L. Leitten, 1993).

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1999

Cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress: effects of prior task exposure.

The effects of prior task exposure on cardiovascular reactivity to stress were examined in two experiments by randomly assigning participants to repeated exposure groups that performed mental arithmetic pretest and test tasks versus delayed exposure groups that performed only the test task after prolonged rest. Impedance cardiographic and blood pressure measures were recorded continuously from 60 undergraduate men in Experiment 1 and 112 undergraduate men and women in Experiment 2. Task repetition attenuated cardiovascular reactivity and improved task performance in repeated exposure groups (p < .001), suggesting an integrated process of behavioral adaptation. During the test task, delayed exposure groups showed greater cardiac reactivity (p < .01), but not vascular reactivity, than repeated exposure groups. Thus, cardiac reactivity varied as a specific function of prior task exposure, whereas vascular reactivity varied as a general function of time.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1998

The effects of repeated occlusion measurement on blood pressure and pulse rate.

We examined the effects of repeated occlusion measurement on blood pressure and pulse rate during rest and during mental arithmetic stress. Participants performed two rest-and-task sequences. We took automated blood pressure readings during each minute of one rest-and-task sequence (i.e. all-minutes measurement strategy), and during every other minute for the other sequence (i.e. odd-minutes measurement strategy). Each rest-and-task period was 5 min long and we counterbalanced the two rest-and-task sequences for order. Overall, baselines, task levels and reactivity scores were highly similar across the two measurement strategies. We did, however, find small but reliable measurement strategy effects that interacted with task novelty, particularly for DBP. Specifically, DBP levels and reactivity were lower during the all-minutes measurement strategy compared to the odd-minutes strategy, particularly during the second of two repeated tasks. We observed a similar trend for systolic blood pressure, but did not for mean arterial pressure or pulse rate. Our significant effects were small, however, and they should not overshadow the high degree of similarity of results produced by the two measurement strategies.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Cognitive and physiological antecedents of threat and challenge appraisal.

Cognitive appraisal theories of stress and emotion propose that cognitive appraisals precede physiological responses, whereas peripheralist theories propose that physiological arousal precedes cognitive processes. Three studies examined this issue regarding threat and challenge responses to potential stress. Study 1 supported cognitive appraisal theory by demonstrating that threat and challenge cognitive appraisals and physiological responses could be elicited experimentally by manipulating instructional set. Studies 2 and 3, in contrast, found that manipulations of physiological response patterns consistent with challenge and threat did not result in corresponding changes in cognitive appraisal. Appraisals in Study 3, however, were related to subjective pain independent of the physiological manipulation. These studies suggest a central role for cognitive appraisal processes in elicitation of threat and challenge responses to potentially stressful situations.

Blood Pressure↗

PubMed1994

Effects of vocalization on cardiovascular and electrodermal responses during mental arithmetic.

This study assessed the contribution of vocalization to autonomic responses during mental arithmetic. Specifically this study compared the autonomic responses of subjects during aloud and silent phases of repeated mental arithmetic tasks. The results were consistent for both tasks. As expected, heart rate and skin conductance responses were elevated during the aloud phases. Preejection period and cardiac output reactions, however, were greater during the silent phases. Furthermore, stroke volume declined during the aloud phases, but was maintained near resting levels during the silent phases. There were no phase effects for systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, or total peripheral resistance. The pattern of autonomic responses between aloud and silent phases of mental arithmetic suggest that the relationship between vocalization and autonomic response is not unidirectional but varies depending on the physiological parameter under investigation.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Effects of justice beliefs on cognitive appraisal of and subjective, physiological, and behavioral responses to potential stress.

This study investigated the moderating role of just world beliefs on stress and coping processes. Ss high and low in belief in a just world were asked to perform a potentially stressful laboratory task, which was repeated once. Cognitive appraisals and subjective, autonomic, and behavioral responses were recorded for each of the two tasks. The results supported a stress-moderating effect for just world beliefs. Individuals high in just world beliefs had more benign cognitive appraisals of the stress tasks, rated the tasks as less stressful post hoc, had autonomic reactions consistent with challenge (vs. threat), and outperformed Ss low in just world beliefs. Discussion centers on factors that moderate the experiences of challenge and threat in potentially stressful situations.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1993

Attitude accessibility as a moderator of autonomic reactivity during decision making.

Attitude functionality was assessed in 2 experiments examining attitude accessibility as a moderator of physiological responses during decision making. In Study 1, experimental Ss but not controls rehearsed attitudes toward novel objects (abstract paintings). Subsequently, all Ss made rapid preference judgments for pairs of the paintings. In Study 2, attitudes were rehearsed by all Ss toward 1 of 2 mutually exclusive sets of abstract paintings. During the subsequent decision-making task, half the Ss made rapid pairwise preference judgments for rehearsed abstract paintings and half for pairs from the unrehearsed set. Autonomic measures were recorded continuously throughout both experiments. As predicted, in both experiments less autonomic reactivity was evident during the criterion pairwise preference task for groups for whom attitude rehearsal was relevant to the criterion task.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Affect intensity and cardiac arousal.

Relationships between affect intensity and basal, evoked, and perceived cardiac arousal were investigated in 3 experiments. Affect intensity was assessed using Larsen and Diener's (1987) Affect Intensity Measure (AIM). Cardiac arousal was evoked with exercise in the 1st study and with mental arithmetic in the 2nd and 3rd. Perceived cardiac arousal was measured under optimal conditions using a standard heartbeat discrimination procedure. Women as a group scored higher on the AIM. Affect intensity was unrelated to basal or evoked cardiac arousal and was negatively related to perceived cardiac arousal in all 3 studies. Data suggest that affect intensity, although unrelated to actual physiological arousal, is negatively related to the accuracy with which individuals perceive their own arousal. Results are discussed within the context of an expanded arousal-regulation model (Blascovich, 1990).

Affect↗

PubMed1991

Presence of human friends and pet dogs as moderators of autonomic responses to stress in women.

Autonomic responses were measured while 45 adult women performed a standard experimental stress task in the laboratory with only the experimenter present and 2 weeks later at home in the presence of a female friend, pet dog, or neither. Results demonstrated that autonomic reactivity was moderated by the presence of a companion, the nature of whom was critical to the size and direction of the effect. Ss in the friend condition exhibited higher physiological reactivity and poorer performance than subjects in the control and pet conditions. Ss in the pet condition showed less physiological reactivity during stressful tasks than Ss in the other conditions. The results are interpreted in terms of the degree to which friends and pets are perceived as evaluative during stressful task performance. Physiological reactivity was consistent across the laboratory and field settings.

Adaptation, Psychological↗