Time Course of Psychological Stress: Evidence from ERP

Abstract

Abstract: To date, researchers mostly dedicated to determine the spatial orientation of psychological stress, but pay less attention to its time course. The present study used the arithmetic problems with time pressure as psychological stressor (stress condition), arithmetic problems without time pressure as the control condition, and the electrical activity were recorded to investigate the time course of psychological stress. The behavioral data showed that participants were more responsive under time pressure and to easy arithmetic problems. Moreover, participants under time pressure exhibited signi?cantly larger N1, P300 amplitude and longer P2 latency compared to without time pressure when complete the easy arithmetic problems, but these effects were only found in part electrode points when complete the difficult arithmetic problems. It can be concluded that participants were more sensitive to the emergence of stimulus in the psychological stress, but the information processing become slower and less efficient due to the interference of the time pressure, more cognitive resources were occupied under time pressure during later post-perceptual processes.

Key words: psychological stress, time pressure, event-related potential, N1, P2, P300

摘要： 采用有时间压力的算术题目诱发被试的心理性应激体验，并用事件相关电位技术(ERP)探讨心理性应激发生时大脑神经活动的时程变化。行为数据结果发现有时间压力下被试的反应时更短;脑电数据结果发现有时间压力组的容易题目比无时间压力组的容易题目诱发出更大的N1峰值、更长的P2潜伏期和更大的P300波幅;有时间压力组的困难题目比无时间压力组的困难题目同样诱发出更大的N1峰值、更长的P2潜伏期和更大的P300波幅，但这种组别主效应仅表现在部分电极点上。该研究结果表明心理性应激增加了早期知觉加工的负载，导致知觉加工速度减慢，在信息加工后期阶段需要占用更多的认知资源。

关键词: 心理性应激, 时间压力, 事件相关电位, N1, P2, P300

CLC Number:

B842.6

Qi Mingming,Guan Lili,Zhang Qinglin,Yang Juan. Time Course of Psychological Stress: Evidence from ERP[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2014, 12(2): 174-181.

齐铭铭，关丽丽，张庆林，杨娟. 心理性应激的时间加工进程:来自ERP的证据^*[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2014, 12(2): 174-181.

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