Effects of three levels of arousal on 3-back working memory task performance.
This study investigated how three levels of arousal affected performance of a 3-back working memory task. Ten female and ten male university students participated in this experiment. With pictures selected from a group test, three levels of arousal were induced--i.e., tense, neutral, and relaxed emotions. Each subject was run through the procedure three times, once for each arousal level. The procedure consisted of six phases for each arousal condition: (1) Rest 1 (2 min), (2) Picture 1 (presenting emotion arousing photos for 2 min), (3) 3-back working memory task 1 (2 min), (4) Picture 2 (presenting emotion-arousing photos for 2 min), (5) 3-back working memory task 2 (2 min), and (6) Rest 2 (2 min). The skin conductance level of electrodermal activity was also measured during all phases of the experiment. The accuracy rate of 3-back working memory task performance was the highest at a neutral emotional state, followed by relaxed and then tense emotional states. There were no significant differences in reaction time.
a Department of Biomedical Engineering, Research Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical and Health Science , Konkuk University , Chungju , South Korea.
Mi-Hyun
MH
Choi
Yoon-Ki
YK
Min
Hyung-Sik
HS
Kim
Ji-Hye
JH
Kim
Hong-Won
HW
Yeon
Jin-Seung
JS
Choi
Boseong
B
Kim
Byung-Chan
BC
Min
Jang-Yeon
JY
Park
Jae-Hoon
JH
Jun
Jeong-Han
JH
Yi
Gye-Rae
GR
Tack
Soon-Cheol
SC
Chung
D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult