Why the study?
Does attentional focus modulate the cardiac defense response to intense auditory stimuli in men?
Does attentional focus modulate the cardiac defense response to intense auditory stimuli in men?
Defensive cardiac reactions require allocation of attention to processing the aversive stimulus in detail, rather than provoking sensory rejection.
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Attentional focus may shape cardiac defense reactivity; leaves open extension to clinical stress assessment or interventions.
How cardiac components of the defense reaction are modulated by attentional factors related to sensory intake versus sensory rejection was examined. Forty-eight men participated in a test of the heart rate response to three presentations of an intense auditory stimulus while performing one of three attentional tasks during the 80 s following stimulus onset: (a) internal (rejection) task, (b) external (intake) task, and (c) no task. Results showed a potentiation of the defense response only under the external attention condition. We concluded that defensive reactions, far from provoking the rejection of the aversive stimulus, require allocation of attention to processing that stimulus in detail.
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Vila et al. (1997) studied this question.
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