SEMANTIC PROCESSING IN THE CONTEXT OF HIGH EMOTIONAL

TENSIONProf. Anna Leonova,

Dr Maria Kapitsa,Anna Matveeva

Moscow State Lomonosov UniversityLaboratory of work psychology

Anagram solution task An anagram is a nonsense string of letters which can be rearranged to form a word (e.g.,

ouseh is an anagram of house). Anagram solution tasks are frequently used to investigate such cognitive phenomena as problem solving

(specifically, insight or the “aha” phenomenon, see Novick & Sherman, 2008), mapping orthographic information onto lexical representations during reading and some other.

Anagram solution task requires interaction between working memory and long-term memory

Problem-solving strategies (Novick, Sherman, 2003)

Search solution (consecutive information processing)

These strategies deposit intermediate results in working memory. Solvers gradually accumulate and control the partial information on the way to solution.

Pop-out solution (parallel information processing)

The solution simply pops into mind suddenly without any conscious awareness of how it was generated.

Background of our study(Papsdorf et al.,1982)

A single-solution anagram task was administered to high and low test-anxious students under conditions of high and low external distraction.

No significant main effects were found linking solution time to either test-anxiety level or the presence or absence of distracting stimuli.

There were two categories of task difficulty: «hard» and «easy» anagram tasks.

A significant main effect for the level of test anxiety was found for 'hard' anagrams, indicating that the test anxiety debilitates performance only when the task is really difficult.

The aim and hypothesis of our study

The aim of the study was to analyze the dependence of anagram tasks solving strategies on the level of emotional tension.

Hypothesis – the level of emotional tension influences various parameters of anagram solution task:temporal characteristicsquality (number of errors)strategies

Method Subjects: 19 students (9 men, 10 women), aged from 18 to 25. Procedure and tasks:

Integral level of individual stress resistance was evaluated by

1) STRESIS inventory set (Individual Assessment of stress resistance)

2) ECG (cardiovascular activity indexes)

3) The hormonal mobilization indexes (cortisol concentration in saliva)

Emotional tension was modeled by a strict instruction before a subject fulfilled an IQ test (Raven’s advanced progressive matrices)

Anagram solution tasks were given twice – before (session 1) and after (session 2) the IQ test.

Qualitative and quantitative data analyses

Experimental set

Integral level of individual

stress resistance

assessment IQ level assessment

Hormonal mobilization testmeasurement 1 measurement 2 measurement 3 measurement 4

Current state measurement

•Emotional state•Vegetative

indexes•Anagram

solving

Current state measurement

•Emotional state•Vegetative

indexes•Anagram solving

Integral level of individual stress resistance and emotional tension

assessment Integral level of stress resistance was evaluated with the help of

STRESIS just before the simulation experiment. STRESIS consists of subscales which evaluate personality traits

and emotional states (see Lazarus R.S., 1993; Spielberger C. D., Vagg P. R., 1995)

Personality trait subscales Emotional state subscales

Trait Anxiety Inventory State Anxiety Inventory

Trait Anger Inventory State Anger Inventory

Trait Depression Inventory State Depression Inventory

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Test Well-being Scale

IQ test (Raven’s progressive matrices,

Advanced Scales Series) Progressive matrices test includes multiple choice intelligence

tasks of abstract reasoning which were developed by Dr. John C. Raven

Advanced Scales Series contain 48 items which are presented in black ink on a white background, and become increasingly difficult as progress is made through each set.

These items are appropriate for adults and adolescents of above-average intelligence.

IQ test was used in different researches to rise emotional tension (see Elliot, McGregor, 1999; Zeidner, Mathews, 2005)

Moreover in our research time limit (20 minutes) was added.

Raven’s progressive matrices

A

Raven’s progressive matrices

E

Physiological indicators Vegetative indexes

• heart rate• mode and amplitude of RR interval mode• performance of the main spectral components of the heart rate• parameters of sympathetic and parasympathetic links• the integral index of vegetative regulation

All these indexes with the help of factorial analysis were reduced to four essential indexes:• total vegetative tension• sympathetic mobilization• parasympathetic imbalance• heart rate variability

Hormonal mobilization test• the level of cortisol concentration in saliva

Anagram solution task• Anagram consists of scrambled letter strings that can be arranged into a valid

lexical form in 100 % cases• A pool of 100 Russian 4-letter words was used.• Letters were presented one by one on the monitor with 500 ms presentation time• Time interval between each letter was 500 ms• There were two sets of words

• 50 words of high frequency (e.g., the annagram puzzle ноко (inwwdo) is окно (window))

• 50 words of low frequency (e.g., тнук (pihw) is the anagram for кнут(whip))

Results Two sub-groups were singled out

Subjects with high stress resistance (10 ss)

Subjects with low stress resistance (9 ss)

Low level of state anxiety, aggression, depression and discomfort

High level of state anxiety (p≤0.1), aggression (p≤0.05), depression (p≤0.1) and discomfort (p≤0.001)

Positive balance of sympatho - parasympathetic regulation

High level of sympathetic mobilization (р≤0.1) in session 1 and high level of parasympathetic disbalance (р≤0.05) in session 2

Low level of cortisol High level of cortisol ( ≤0.01)р

Subjects` well-being

Subjects with high stress resistance(state aggression increased (p≤0.1))

Subjects with low stress resistance(state anxiety decreased (p≤0.05))

Vegetative indexes

Subjects with high stress resistance Subjects with low stress resistance(sympathetic mobilization decreased (р≤0.05), heart rate variability increased

(р≤0.1))

Hormonal mobilization indexes (cortisol consentration in saliva)

For low stress resistant subjects significant differences between measurements 1,2 and 3 were noticed (p≤0.05)

Anagram solving task Session 1

Reaction time (ms) High stress resistant subjects spent significantly longer time to solve

anagram tasks, especially for high frequency words (p≤0.05)

Anagram solving task Session 1, quality (%)

High stress resistant subjects gave significantly more correct answers for high frequency words (p≤0.1)

Anagram solving taskSession 2

Reaction time (ms)

Anagram solving task Session 2, quality (%)

Conclusions Growing emotional tension results in decrease of

performance and forces subjects to use parallel pop-out solution strategy

Subjects with high stress resistance

Subjects with low stress resistance

Session 1 consecutive search

(subjects with high stress-resistance spent significantly longer time to solve the problem)

pop-out strategy with parallel search(results are worse than in the other group)

Session 2 pop-out strategy (the number of errors grows)

pop-out strategy with parallel search(results slightly better than in the other group)

Pabulum for reflection