title: Trait self-focused attention, task difficulty, and effort-related cardiovascular reactivity.
abstract: Using motivational intensity theory as a framework, the present experiment examined how individual differences in self-focused attention interact with task difficulty to predict effort, assessed via cardiovascular reactivity. Participants (n = 50) worked on a cognitive task fixed at an easy, medium, or hard level of difficulty, and individual differences in private self-consciousness and self-reflection were measured. Regression models indicated that trait self-focus interacted with task difficulty to predict cardiovascular reactivity, particularly systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity. Participants low and high in trait self-focus showed similar SBP reactivity in the easy and medium conditions, but they diverged in the hard condition: High trait focus was associated with higher SBP reactivity, indicating greater effort, whereas low trait self-focus was associated with low SBP reactivity, indicating disengagement. The findings thus support the motivational intensity approach to effort and its interpretation of self-focus's role in effort mobilization.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, USA. p_silvia@uncg.edu
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Silvia
authors.forename: Hannah C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Casey S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zibaie
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011943:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D011943:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta