The Impact of a Continuous Performance Task on the Stress Response

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about the impact of taking a continuous performance attention test on the physiological stress response in college students. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does taking an attention test cause participants to have increases in heart rate, blood pressure, and sweat?
• Does taking an attention test cause participants to have a decrease in heart rate variability?
• Are there relationships between participants' levels of anxiety, perceived stress, and mindfulness to their physiological changes?

Participants will

• Answer questionnaires about anxiety, stress, and mindfulness
• Have baseline measurements taken for blood pressure, sweat, and heart rate variability
• Take the PEBL Continuous Performance Task (a 14 minute attention test) while having the measurements listed above taken again

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stress
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: PEBL Continuous Performance Task

Detailed Description

The PEBL Continuous Performance Task is an example of a mental stressor which requires vigilance and effort. We hypothesize that a sympathetic nervous system response will be evident in comparing physiological parameters during the attention task versus the preceding resting baseline period. Exploratory analyses will assess relationships between psychological measures of anxiety, stress, and mindfulness with this physiological response and the number of errors on the attention test.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 20
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Redlands, California, United States, 92373
      • University of Redlands

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• English language proficiency
• First year, first semester student enrolled in Students Together Empowering Peers course at the University of Redlands

Exclusion Criteria:

• severe mental health issues
• currently taking anti-anxiety medication

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: PEBL Continuous Performance Task; Participants will take the PEBL Continuous Performance Task, a 14 minute attention test requiring participants to press the space bar when certain letters are shown on the screen.	Behavioral: PEBL Continuous Performance Task; A PEBL version of the Conners Continuous Performance Task; Other Names: Conners Continuous Performance Task

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Blood pressure	Systolic and diastolic	Measured once after an 8 minute resting baseline, then 2 minutes into the attention task, and 10 minutes into the attention task. Data collection was then complete.
Skin conductance level	levels of sweat due to sympathetic nervous system activation	Measured continuously during an 8 minute resting baseline, then continuously for the 14 minute attention task. Data collection was then complete.
Heart rate variability	Normalized high frequency HRV	Measured continuously during an 8 minute resting baseline, then continuously for the 14 minute attention task. Data collection was then complete.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)	Spielberger, C.D., R.L. Gorsuch, and R.E. Lushene, 1970. Scores on each of the state and trait sections range from 20 (low anxiety) to 80 (high anxiety)	Questionnaire completed on day of enrollment (<30 minutes)
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10)	Cohen, S., T. Kamarck, and R. Mermelstein. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 1983. Scores range from 0 (low perceived stress) to 40 (high perceived stress)	Questionnaire completed on day of enrollment (<30 minutes)
Mindful Awareness and Attention Scale (MAAS)	Brown, K.W. and R.M. Ryan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2003. Scores range from 1 (least mindful) to 6 (most mindful)	Questionnaire completed on day of enrollment (<30 minutes)
PEBL Continuous Performance Task Foil Accuracy Rate	For trials where participants were presented with a foil, the percent in which the participant did not commit a commission error (participant correctly did not press spacebar). Ranges from 0 - 100% accuracy.	14 minute attention task on the day of the experiment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Redlands
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lisa E Olson, Ph.D., University of Redlands

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R. A global measure of perceived stress. J Health Soc Behav. 1983 Dec;24(4):385-96. No abstract available.
• Brown KW, Ryan RM. The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003 Apr;84(4):822-48. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822.
• Spielberger, C.D., R.L. Gorsuch, and R.E. Lushene, Manual for the state-trait anxiety inventory. 1970: Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA.
• The PEBL Project. (2019). PEBL. Retrieved from https://pebl.sourceforge.net

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 17, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 25, 2013
• Study Completion (Actual): September 25, 2013

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 18, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 18, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): October 24, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 24, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 18, 2023
• Last Verified: October 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: anxiety; stress; blood pressure; heart rate variability; attention; skin conductance level
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2013-31-REDLANDS

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Anonymized participant data will be provided upon request
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Starting after publication, and up to 10 years after publication
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Will be provided to researchers affiliated with an academic institution upon request
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No