Stressing the feedback: attention and cardiac vagal tone during a cognitive stress task

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The present study examined relationships among gaze behaviour and cardiac vagal tone using a novel stress-inducing task.

Methods: Participants’ (N = 40) eye movements and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured during an unsolvable computer-based task randomly presenting feedback of “Right” and “Wrong” answers distinctly onscreen after each trial. Subgroups were created on the basis of more frequent eye movements to the right (“Correct”-Attenders; n = 23) or wrong (“Incorrect”-Attenders; n = 17) areas onscreen.

Results: Correct-Attenders maintained HRV from baseline to the stress task. In contrast, Incorrect-Attenders spent significantly more time viewing “Wrong” feedback, exhibited a reduction in HRV during the stress condition (p < .01), and were more likely to negatively self-evaluate performance.

Conclusions: Results demonstrate that pervasive attention to negative feedback (“Wrong”) elicits perseverative stress and negative self-evaluations among university students. This study highlights the potential for studying attentional biases and emotional distress through combined measures of gaze behaviour and cardiac vagal tone.

KEYWORDS:

• Eye-tracking
• attention bias
• heart rate variability
• vagal tone
• emotional distress

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the assistance of all persons and volunteers whose participation was essential in the successful completion of the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Muhammad Abid Azam http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6016-1274

Joel Katz http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8686-447X

Additional information

Funding

Muhammad Abid Azam is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Doctoral Research Award. Samantha R. Fashler is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Joel Katz is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Research Chair in Health Psychology.