September 2019
Volume 19, Issue 10
Open Access
Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting Abstract  |   September 2019
Physical, mental and social stress selectively modulate inhibitory control during search of natural scenes
Tom W Bullock; Mary H MacLean; Alex P Boone; Tyler Santander; Jamie Raymer; Alex Stuber; Liann Jimmons; Gold N Okafor; Scott T Grafton; Michael B Miller; Barry Giesbrecht
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Tom W Bullock
    Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Mary H MacLean
    Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Alex P Boone
    Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Tyler Santander
    Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Jamie Raymer
    Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Alex Stuber
    Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Liann Jimmons
    Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Gold N Okafor
    Dept. of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA
  • Scott T Grafton
    Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Michael B Miller
    Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Barry Giesbrecht
    Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Journal of Vision September 2019, Vol.19, 283. doi:https://doi.org/10.1167/19.10.283
  • Views
  • Share
  • Tools
    • Alerts
      User Alerts
      You are adding an alert for:
      Physical, mental and social stress selectively modulate inhibitory control during search of natural scenes
      You will receive an email whenever this article is corrected, updated, or cited in the literature. You can manage this and all other alerts in My Account
      The alert will be sent to:
      ×
      This feature is available to authenticated users only.
      Sign In or Create an Account ×
    • Get Citation
      Citation

      Tom W Bullock, Mary H MacLean, Alex P Boone, Tyler Santander, Jamie Raymer, Alex Stuber, Liann Jimmons, Gold N Okafor, Scott T Grafton, Michael B Miller, Barry Giesbrecht; Physical, mental and social stress selectively modulate inhibitory control during search of natural scenes. Journal of Vision 2019;19(10):283. https://doi.org/10.1167/19.10.283.

      Download citation file:

      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

      ×
    • Get Permissions
  • Supplements
Abstract

Acute stress can affect cognitive performance. The goal of this study was to test the impact of several different types of acute stress on inhibitory control during a task involving search for people in natural scenes. Participants completed a go/no-go task where they were required to view a pseudoran-domized stream of scenes (1 Hz presentation) and respond immediately to each image unless there was a human present in the image (p=.07) or if the image was repeated (p=.07). This task was designed to be demanding and to induce frequent errors of commission. Participants completed the task in three sessions on three separate days: baseline, treatment and control. Base-line was always completed first, followed by treatment and control in a counterbalanced order. During the treatment session, stress was induced prior to the task with either the cold pressor test (CPT, n=44), a 2-hour mentally fatiguing scheduling task (MF, n=31) or the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST, n=28). During the control session participants were exposed to stress-specific scenarios that matched the stress conditions on key factors. Different patterns of behavior were observed as a function of each stressor. During CPT participants made fewer errors of commission during both treatment (.34±.03), and control sessions (.36±.03) relative to baseline (.42±.03) [p< .05], indicating a learning effect during both sessions. In contrast, participants made more errors of commission during MF in treatment (.45±.03) relative to baseline (.40±.03) but not control (.39±.03) [p< .05, p>.05, respectively]. Error rates were not modulated by the TSST in either the treatment (.45±.03) or control (.44±.03) sessions relative to baseline (.45±.04) [p>.05]. These data suggest that although there may be learning due to repeated exposures, different types of acute stress selectively impact inhibitory control during search of natural scenes.

Acknowledgement: This work was generously supported by US Army Research Office Grant W911NF-09-0001 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
Copyright © 2025 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.
×
×

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

Sign in or purchase a subscription to access this content. ×

You must be signed into an individual account to use this feature.

×
This site uses cookies. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our privacy policy.Accept