Abstract
High-stress jobs require both appropriate physiological regulation and behavioral adjustment to meet the demands of emergencies. Here, we investigated the relationship between the autonomic stress response and behavioral adjustment after errors in special police cadets. Sixty-eight healthy male special police cadets were randomly assigned to perform a first-time walk on an aerial rope bridge to induce stress responses or a walk on a cushion on the ground serving as a control condition. Subsequently, the participants completed a Go/No-go task to assess behavioral adjustment after false alarm responses. Heart rate measurements and subjective reports confirmed that stress responses were successfully elicited by the aerial rope bridge task in the stress group. In addition, greater heart rate increases during the rope bridge task were positively correlated with post-error slowing and had a trend of negative correlation with post-error miss rate increase in the subsequent Go/No-go task. These results suggested that stronger autonomic stress responses are related to better post-error adjustment under acute stress in this highly selected population and demonstrate that, under certain conditions, individuals with high-stress jobs might show cognitive benefits from a stronger physiological stress response.
Highlights
Errors are inevitable in everyday life and sometimes are even more likely to happen under conditions of stress
The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between physiological responses to acute stress and post-error adjustment in highly selected special police cadets
The height exposure stressor was effective for triggering an acute stress response, as demonstrated by the higher heart rate (HR), higher subjective ratings of nervousness and fear in the stress group compared to the control group
Summary
Errors are inevitable in everyday life and sometimes are even more likely to happen under conditions of stress. To adjust one’s own behavior after detecting an error to avoid more errors is critical in adapting to the environment, especially when facing stressors [1,2]. Some populations, whose jobs are related to public safety, frequently meet high stress in their work, such as police officers, air traffic controllers, and firefighters. Such high-stress jobs require both an appropriate physiological response and behavioral adjustment to meet the demands of emergencies. Behavioral adjustment after detecting an error has typically been observed in the form of longer response times for correct trials immediately following an error, which is referred to as PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0159322. Behavioral adjustment after detecting an error has typically been observed in the form of longer response times for correct trials immediately following an error, which is referred to as PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0159322 July 18, 2016
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