Stroop vs. Rest

Blood pressure differences between rest and the Stroop task.

The Stroop task is a color-word naming task consists of 3 separate parts:

1. Reading color words

2. Naming colors of non-word stimuli

3. Naming the color of a word that describes a color but is printed in a different color. This condition is an incongruent set of stimuli and requires inhibition of our automatic mental reading abilities. Therefore, it requires more time (i.e. response time) to name the colors.

A Stroop effect or score can be computed from the accuracy (number of mistakes) and time to read through the list. Thereby, timing and accuracy of all 3 conditions are considered.

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Recording of the exact timing of each word, however, is difficult in the laboratory. In our case, we record the total time of each block (condition) and the accuracy. However, what is most important to us is not the exact cognitive performance, but the physiological reactions to this task, as it is cognitively demanding and therefore more “stressful”.

Data

OSA 2019: OSA vs. CONTROL

OSA2013:

OSA2010:

Signals

1. Heart rate

2. Blood pressure

3. Respiration as a control to verify the timing of signals 1 and 2; i.e. while we don’t have exact timing of the onset of the spoken words, the respiration signal tells us roughly when the person inhaled before speaking.

4. The cardiac signal makes less sense to investigate, since it’s highly affected by the word speaking.

Analysis steps Acqknowledge

1. Copy raw data into shared folder → copy to local folder

2. Separate valsalva, inspiratory loading and breath hold into separate filesthe Stroop task and save as a separate file (keep about 90 seconds before and after Stroop block wherever possible)

3. Create focus areas for each task/file

   Run cardiac signal detection

4. Visually inspect markers on signal

5. Manually correct markers

Export excel spreadsheet with all ECG intervals: will only use HR and R-R interval

:

1. Word reading

2. Color naming

3. Incongruent word-color naming

6. Run blood pressure signal detection and manually correct markers for each focus area

   1. Export excel spreadsheet with blood pressure data: systolic and diastolic

7. Run respiration peak detection and manually correct markers

   1. Find cycle inspiration-to-inspiration to get breath-to-breath breathing rate

   2. Find cycle inspiration-to-expiration for inspiration time

   3. Find cycle expiration-to-inspiration for expiration time

Excel calculations

Create excel spreadsheet for each task and subject that contains:

1. HR

2. R-R

3. Systolic blood pressure

4. Diastolic blood pressure

5. Breathing rate

6. Inspiration time

7. Expiration time

Matlab analysis

Import excel spreadsheets into Matlab

Analyses to answer the following research questions:

1. What is the difference between breathing rates* for

   1. Word reading vs. color naming vs. incongruent vs. rest period: repeated measures ANOVA and simple effects analysis (i.e. which conditions differ significantly)

   2. Variables*:

      1. Breathing rates

      2. Inspiratory duty cycle (inhale/(inhale+exhale))

      3. Systolic blood pressure

      4. Diastolic blood pressure

      5. Mean blood pressure