The effects of cognitive and emotional workload on physiological reactions in Word Association Test in healthy adults

0343888 - PSÚ 2011 RIV SK eng J - Journal Article
Lukavský, Jiří
The effects of cognitive and emotional workload on physiological reactions in Word Association Test in healthy adults.
Studia Psychologica. Roč. 52, č. 1 (2010), s. 15-22. ISSN 0039-3320
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70250504
Keywords : Word Association Test * electrodermal activity * pupillary activity
Subject RIV: AN - Psychology
Impact factor: 0.254, year: 2010

The project focuses on physiological reactions during the Word Association Test (WAT). The author tests the hypothesis about separable cognitive and emotional workload, where the cognitive workload is manifested in reaction times (RT) and the emotional workload in physiological reactions. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of young healthy adults (N=80), with a protocol consisting of 40 Czech nouns. The stimuli varied in their level of concreteness and their emotional valence. During the experiment RTs, electrodermal activity (EDA) and pupillary responses (PR) were measured. In agreement with the original hypotheses it was found that the cognitive workload is manifested most in RTs, and negative stimuli elicit the highest EDA reactions, but the two effects could not be separated. In fact the cognitive workload was manifested significantly in the physiological parameters as well. Therefore where emotions are of interest, it is necessary to take cognitive workload into account.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0186262