The effects of exposure to an acute naturalistic stressor on working memory, state anxiety and salivary cortisol concentrations

Figures & data

Figure 1 State anxiety levels (mean and standard deviations) as a function of condition and time (n = 10 per experimental condition). Single asterisks indicate a significant difference between times or groups (p < 0.05).

Table I.  Mean (with standard deviation) operation-word span scores for HUET and control group over three test sessions (n=10 per experimental condition).

	Day 1	Day 3 Pre-HUET	Day 5
Stress
Operation span	39.10 (3.60)	38.30 (3.68)	37.50 (3.37)
Word span	14.70 (11.81)	15.20 (9.00)	15.60(11.47)
Time (minutes)	10.17 (2.08)	9.88 (2.77)	8.76 (1.81)
Control
Operation span	39.30 (4.47)	39.00 (3.20)	32.70 (11.84)
Word span	9.90 (6.35)	9.60 (5.60)	21.30 (10.94)
Time (minutes)	10.26 (2.38)	9.31 (2.09)	9.36 (2.94)

Figure 2 Salivary cortisol concentrations (mean and standard error) as a function of time and condition (n = 10 per experimental condition). Post-HUET is 25 min after the stressor. Single asterisks indicate a significant difference between time points (p < 0.05) and a single diamond indicates a significant difference between groups (p < 0.05).

Figure 3 State anxiety levels (mean and standard deviations) as a function of condition and time (n = 10 per experimental condition). A single diamond indicates a significant difference between groups (p < 0.05).

Figure 4 Salivary cortisol concentrations (mean and standard error) as a function of time and condition (n = 10 per experimental condition). Post-HUET is immediately after the stressor.