This study investigated the influences of both perceived control and physical effort on cardiovascular reactivity. Undergraduates (N = 32) played a video game task interrupted by aversive noise. Perceived control of the noise was manipulated by instructions indicating the presence or absence of a contingency between performance and noise presentations. Physical effort was manipulated by controlling the physical force required to perform the task. There was a significant main effect of control on systolic blood pressure (SBP) and total peripheral resistance (TPR), with both increasing more during low than high control conditions. The results suggest that high perceived control over aversive noise in an effortful task reduces SBP and TPR reactivity relative to low perceived control. The results are consistent with the idea that control buffers the reactivity associated with task performance under aversive conditions.

This study tested various sources of changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Twenty-two healthy participants participated in three experimental conditions (mental stress, relaxation, and mild physical exercise) that each consisted of three breathing parts (normal breathing, breathing compressed room air, and breathing compressed 5% CO2-enriched air). Independent contributions to changes in RSA were found for changes in tonic vagal modulation of heart rate, central respiratory drive (i.e., PaCO2), respiratory depth, and respiratory frequency. The relative contributions to changes in RSA differed for mental stress and physical exercise. It is concluded that uncorrected RSA will suffice to index within-subject changes in tonic vagal modulation of heart rate in most situations. However, if the central respiratory drive is expected to change, RSA should ideally be corrected for changes in PaCO2, respiratory depth, and respiratory frequency.

Two dimensions of narcissism were related to psychophysiological responses to stress in 50 young women. Cardiovascular, electrodermal, task performance, and stress appraisal measures were recorded during rest, mental arithmetic, and a computerized Thematic Apperception Test (Murray, 1943). The Egocentricity and Alienation scales of the Bell Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory (Bell, 1995) served as measures of overt/inflated and covert/deflated narcissism. Egocentricity correlated consistently with heightened preejection period reactivity, whereas Alienation correlated consistently with diminished electrodermal reactivity (all p < .05). Multivariate analyses supported specific relationships between Egocentricity and preejection period hyperreactivity, and between Alienation and electrodermal hyporeactivity. These results have implications for narcissism, cardiovascular disease risk, and a variety of psychiatric disorders.

Previous studies demonstrated distinct cardiovascular patterns associated with threat and challenge appraisals for groups of participants. We extend these results by assessing whether appraisals continue to be associated with these cardiovascular response patterns within an individual as appraisals change. Participants completed four verbal mental arithmetic tasks for which they made appraisals before and after each task. Cardiac reactivity and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were calculated for the first and last minutes of each task, and the number of responses and percent correct were measured for each task. In line with our prediction, pretask appraisals were related to some task-related cardiac responses across the four tasks. In addition, task-related cardiovascular reactivity and behaviors both influenced appraisals following the task. Our findings suggest that an idiographic analysis of appraisals, cardiovascular physiology, and task-related behaviors provides a richer understanding of the appraisal process and reveals sex differences deserving further assessment.

The purposes of the present study were to determine the autonomic origins of a bradycardiac response to a moderate intensity nonsignal auditory stimulus and the changes in autonomic cardiac control of this response as a function of habituation. Pure tone stimuli were repeatedly presented to participants while phasic changes in heart period (HP), preejection period (PEP), and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were observed. Tone stimuli initially elicited an increase in HP, an increase in RSA, and a decrease in PEP, suggesting a coactivation of the parasympathetic and sympathetic inputs mediating changes in the bradycardiac HP response. As expected, HP responses habituated with repeated presentations of the tones. PEP and RSA responses, however, demonstrated different habituation rates than HP. These data demonstrate that cardiodeceleratory responses to nonsignal stimuli can arise from changes in activity of both autonomic divisions and document the importance of considering the autonomic origins of habituating cardiac responses in order to fully understand the process of response habituation.

We hypothesized that patterns of sympathetic and parasympathetic reactivity observed in adults would be apparent in a sample of children and adolescents and that these patterns would be consistent across tasks. We explored the relationship between these patterns and psychosocial risk factors for cardiovascular disease. We measured preejection period (PEP) and an index of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (mean successive difference [MSD] statistic) during three reactivity tasks. We classified participants into four groups based on increases or decreases in PEP and MSD. Ninety percent of the sample exhibited the same pattern during at least two of the tasks. PEP and MSD demonstrated consistency, suggesting individual response stereotypy. Exhibiting a consistent pattern of decreased PEP and increased MSD was associated with less child- and parent-reported family conflict. These results are discussed in the context of vagal regulation of environmental demands.