Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 May;92(2):85-91.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.03.002. Epub 2014 Mar 13.

Cardiac reactivity to and recovery from acute stress: temporal associations with implicit anxiety

Bart Verkuil  1 , Jos F Brosschot  2 , Julian F Thayer  3
Affiliations

Cardiac reactivity to and recovery from acute stress: temporal associations with implicit anxiety

Bart Verkuil et al. Int J Psychophysiol. 2014 May.

Abstract

Excessive cardiac responses to stressful events are a risk factor for morbidity and mortality. Adverse cardiac responses are usually attributed to conscious negative stress and emotions. Yet, cardiac responses might also be affected by emotions that are not consciously reported. Here we tested this hypothesis. Sixty participants were randomly allocated to an evaluated speaking stressor or control condition. Trait, state and implicit anxiety were assessed with the State Trait Anxiety Inventory, visual analog scales and the Implicit Association Test for assessing anxiety, with the latter two assessed before and after the stressor. Results showed that the stressor did not significantly affect implicit anxiety. Yet, participants with high implicit anxiety after the stressor had an overall enhanced heart rate and larger stressor-induced decreases in heart rate variability. These associations were independent of conscious anxiety. The implications of the results for a better understanding of excessive cardiac activity are discussed.

Keywords: Anxiety; Heart rate variability; Implicit; Perseverative cognition; Stress; Unconscious.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles