Effect of Stress on Crossmodal Interference During Visual Search; Conference paper

摘要

A key factor in determining the efficiency of target detection is the influence of distracting information during the search process. Using a response competition paradigm, the present study examined how induced stress influences crossmodal links with respect to perceptual load in a visual search task under conditions of no stress versus induced stress. Individuals were tasked to perform both an easy and a hard visual search task while ignoring either auditory or visual distractors. Under conditions of no stress, previous research findings were replicated in that visual distractors produced greater costs in easy searches whereas compatible auditory distractors produced benefits while incompatible auditory distractors produced costs. However, under conditions of stress, auditory distractors caused greater costs, especially under hard search conditions, while benefits were only seen during easy searches. Visual distractors caused little interference under conditions of stress in either easy or hard searches. Levels of physiological and perceived stress were substantiated by measures of salivary alpha-amylase and scores on the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist-Revised.