Document Detail


Emotion self-regulation, psychophysiological coherence, and test anxiety: results from an experiment using electrophysiological measures.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20559707     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Process    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
This study investigated the effects of a novel, classroom-based emotion self-regulation program (TestEdge) on measures of test anxiety, socioemotional function, test performance, and heart rate variability (HRV) in high school students. The program teaches students how to self-generate a specific psychophysiological state--psychophysiological coherence--which has been shown to improve nervous system function, emotional stability, and cognitive performance. Implemented as part of a larger study investigating the population of tenth grade students in two California high schools (N = 980), the research reported here was conducted as a controlled pre- and post-intervention laboratory experiment, using electrophysiological measures, on a random stratified sample of students from the intervention and control schools (N = 136). The Stroop color-word conflict test was used as the experiment's stimulus to simulate the stress of taking a high-stakes test, while continuous HRV recordings were gathered. The post-intervention electrophysiological results showed a pattern of improvement across all HRV measures, indicating that students who received the intervention program had learned how to better manage their emotions and to self-activate the psychophysiological coherence state under stressful conditions. Moreover, students with high test anxiety exhibited increased HRV and heart rhythm coherence even during a resting baseline condition (without conscious use of the program's techniques), suggesting that they had internalized the benefits of the intervention. Consistent with these results, students exhibited reduced test anxiety and reduced negative affect after the intervention. Finally, there is suggestive evidence from a matched-pairs analysis that reduced test anxiety and increased psychophysiological coherence appear to be directly associated with improved test performance--a finding consistent with evidence from the larger study.
Authors:
Raymond Trevor Bradley; Rollin McCraty; Mike Atkinson; Dana Tomasino; Alane Daugherty; Lourdes Arguelles
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback     Volume:  35     ISSN:  1573-3270     ISO Abbreviation:  Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback     Publication Date:  2010 Dec 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-11-08     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9712383     Medline TA:  Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  261-83     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Institute for Whole Social Science, Aorangi Retreat, Hikurangi RD 1, Northland, New Zealand, wholesocialscience@gmail.com
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