Mental Tasks as Stressors

The cardiovascular reactions to mental tasks may reflect the way in which the subject copes with the demands of the task. Different methods of information processing are described. These include controlled processing, in which task performance is effortful and attention demanding. Tasks also become effortful if they have to be performed under stressful conditions (noise, loss of sleep, prolonged work etc). The cardiovascular measures that are sensitive to mental effort and to different forms of information processing are described, together with methodological problems that have to be taken into account. The usefulness of this approach in applied field settings is also outlined.

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