Why the study?
Does prior task exposure reduce cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress in undergraduate students?
Population
172 undergraduate students (60 men in Experiment 1, 112 men and women in Experiment 2)
Comparison
Repeated exposure to mental arithmetic pretest… vs Delayed exposure
Design
RCT, Randomly assigning participants
Authors
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Habituation from prior exposure warrants control in stress reactivity protocols; extends RCT evidence on adaptation to repeated psychological tasks.
Does prior task exposure reduce cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress in undergraduate students?
Prior exposure to a psychological stress task attenuates subsequent cardiac reactivity, demonstrating behavioral adaptation.
Kelsey et al. (1999) studied this question.