TY - JOUR

T1 - Failures of executive function when at a height

T2 - Negative height-related appraisals are associated with poor executive function during a virtual height stressor

AU - Newman, Vera

AU - Liddell, Belinda

AU - Most, Steven B.

AU - Beesley, Tom

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Acta Psychologica. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Acta Psychologica, 203, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102984

PY - 2020/2/29

Y1 - 2020/2/29

N2 - It is difficult to maintain cognitive functioning in threatening contexts, even when it is imperative to do so. Research indicates that precarious situations can impair subsequent executive functioning, depending on whether they are appraised as threatening. Here, we used virtual reality to place participants at ground level or at a virtual height in order to examine the impact of a threat-related context on concurrent executive function and whether this relationship was modulated by negative appraisals of heights. Executive function was assessed via the Go/NoGo and N-Back tasks, indexing response inhibition and working memory updating respectively. Participants with negative appraisals of heights exhibited impaired executive function on both tasks when performing at a virtual height (i.e., a threat-related context) but not at ground-level, demonstrating the importance of considering the cognitive consequences of individual differences in negative interpretations of emotionally-evocative situations. We suggest that a virtual reality approach holds practical benefits for understanding how individuals are able to maintain cognitive ability when embedded within threatening situations.

AB - It is difficult to maintain cognitive functioning in threatening contexts, even when it is imperative to do so. Research indicates that precarious situations can impair subsequent executive functioning, depending on whether they are appraised as threatening. Here, we used virtual reality to place participants at ground level or at a virtual height in order to examine the impact of a threat-related context on concurrent executive function and whether this relationship was modulated by negative appraisals of heights. Executive function was assessed via the Go/NoGo and N-Back tasks, indexing response inhibition and working memory updating respectively. Participants with negative appraisals of heights exhibited impaired executive function on both tasks when performing at a virtual height (i.e., a threat-related context) but not at ground-level, demonstrating the importance of considering the cognitive consequences of individual differences in negative interpretations of emotionally-evocative situations. We suggest that a virtual reality approach holds practical benefits for understanding how individuals are able to maintain cognitive ability when embedded within threatening situations.

KW - Executive function

KW - Stress

KW - Threat

KW - Appraisals

KW - Virtual reality

U2 - 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102984

DO - 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102984

M3 - Journal article

VL - 203

JO - Acta Psychologica

JF - Acta Psychologica

SN - 0001-6918

M1 - 102984

ER -