Pay attention to your manipulation checks! Reward impact on cardiac reactivity is moderated by task context

Abstract

Two experiments assessed the moderating impact of task context on the relationship between reward and cardiovascular response. Randomly assigned to the cells of a 2 (task context: reward vs. demand) x 2 (reward value: low vs. high) between-persons design, participants performed either a memory task with an unclear performance standard (Experiment 1) or a visual scanning task with an unfixed performance standard (Experiment 2). Before performing the task-where participants could earn either a low or a high reward-participants responded to questions about either task reward or task demand. In accordance with the theoretical predictions derived from Wright's (1996) integrative model, reactivity of pre-ejection period increased with reward value if participants had rated aspects of task reward before performing the task. If they had rated task demand, pre-ejection period did not differ as a function of reward. MANIPULATION CHECKS AND CARDIAC REACTIVITY 4Pay Attention to Your Manipulation Checks! Reward Impact on Cardiac Reactivity is Moderated by Task Context.Common sense suggests that the more you desire something the harder you will work to get it. In cardiovascular psychophysiology this idea is reflected by the hypothesis that cardiovascular responses are a direct function of reward value: the more valuable a reward, the higher the cardiovascular response (e.g., Belanger & Feldman, 1962;Brenner, Beauchaine, & Sylvers, 2005;Elliot, 1969;Fowles, 1983;Lipsitt, Reilly, Butcher, & Greenwood, 1976;Tranel, 1983;Smith, Allred, Morrison, & Carlson, 1989;Smith, Nealey, Kircher, & Limon, 1997;Smith, Ruiz, & Uchino, 2000).Drawing on an analysis by Wright (1996), , 2009

Effects of Subliminal Priming on Nonconscious Goal Pursuit and Effort-Related Cardiovascular Response

“…Moreover, PTT can only refl ect changes in sympathetic nervous system activity if the changes in total peripheral resistance are negligible. Even if our results support our predictions, future researches should aim to test our hypotheses more precisely by considering more reliable and sensitive cardiovascular measures of the sympathetic nervous system activity such as the pre-ejection period (Richter, 2010).…”

“…Variability in this band has been shown to decrease during effortful mental tasks (e.g., Capa et al, 2008aCapa et al, , 2008bDuschek et al, 2009;Fairclough et al, 2005). However, as midfrequency band of heart rate variability is an index of blood pressure pattern, it is also a common fi nding that this measure is not systematically sensitive to effort investment (e.g., Richter, 2010). Moreover, PTT can only refl ect changes in sympathetic nervous system activity if the changes in total peripheral resistance are negligible.…”

Not everyone's heart contracts to reward: Insensitivity to varying levels of reward in dysphoria

“…However, there are also several important exceptions that found evidence for motivational intensity theory's predictions on cardiac measures but not on SBP (e.g., Annis et al, 2001;Freydefont, Gendolla, & Silvestrini, 2012;Richter, 2010).…”

“…In order to assess the impact of our reward manipulation and to ensure that reward value was salient (see Richter, 2010), we asked all participants to "answer five questions about the upcoming task" on 7-point scales ranging from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much). Two questions assessed participants' perception of success importance ("How important is it for you to succeed in the task?…”

Blunted cardiovascular reactivity during social reward anticipation in subclinical depression

“…The total score is calculated by summing all negative and reverse-scored positive items and varies from 0 to 60 (Cronbach's α at the experimental session = .95). 1 In order to assess the impact of our reward manipulation and to ensure that the social reward was salient (see Richter, 2010), we asked all participants to indicate their perception of success importance ("How important is it for you to succeed in the task? "; "How satisfied will you be after successful task performance?")…”