The Subjective Experience of PASAT Testing: Does the PASAT Induce Negative Mood?

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between mood and attentional testing in 80 college students. Participants were randomly assigned to a sad, anxious, or positive mood induction procedure, or to a neutral procedure. Following mood induction, sad and anxious groups reported significantly more negative affect than the positive and neutral groups. Following completion of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT), no group differences were found. Sad and anxious groups retained their elevated negative mood states, whereas positive and neutral mood groups showed significant increases in negative mood states. These results are consistent with clinical reports that the PASAT is a stressful test. PASAT performance was essentially similar across groups, with the only significant difference found between the sad and control conditions at the 1.2-sec rate of presentation. Results raise the question to what extent participants' subjective experience of the PASAT may interfere with their performance on the task.

Distress tolerance across self-report, behavioral and psychophysiological domains in women with eating disorders and healthy controls

“…The current study extends the current literature on distress tolerance in EDs by integrating self-report, behavioral and psychophysiological measures (RSA, SCRs and tonic SCLs) of emotion responding to a distress tolerance task (Daughters et al, 2005;Feldner et al, 2006;Holdwick & Wingenfeld, 1999;Schloss & Haaga, 2011). Although there was a lack of group differences on PASAT-C performance (latency to quit and termination of task), findings were consistent across self-report and psychophysiological measures.…”

“…Performance on the PASAT-C was operationalized as termination of the task when given the option and latency to quit. The PASAT-C has been shown to reliably induce negative affect (Daughters, Lejuez, Kahler, Strong, & Brown, 2005;Feldner et al, 2006;Holdwick & Wingenfeld, 1999;Schloss & Haaga, 2011) and short-term anxiety, frustration, and irritability (Gratz et al, 2006;Lejuez et al, 2003).…”

A Longitudinal Evaluation of Cognitive Fatigue on a Task of Sustained Attention in Early Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

“…13 In addition, the PASAT is often perceived as unpleasant 35 and has been shown to elicit high levels of anxiety and frustration, particularly when the test is novel. 36 However, the novelty of the task diminishes with repeated exposure and, thus, the anxiety effects associated with the test are likely reduced. As such, individuals may have performed better at follow-up simply because they felt less anxious throughout the task.…”

Distress Tolerance Treatment for Early-Lapse Smokers

“…The physical challenge tasks consisted of inhalations of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) enriched air (for details, see Lejuez, Forsyth, & Eifert, 1998) and of a timed, breath-holding procedure (Hajek, Belcher, & Stapleton, 1987). The psychological challenge consisted of the modified Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT; Diehr, Heaton, Miller, & Grant, 1998), a mental arithmetic challenge task requiring sustained attention despite aversive auditory feedback for incorrect responses that has been shown to produce elevated levels of stress (Holdwick & Wingenfeld, 1999). Participants were instructed to continue the tasks for as long as they liked but not to continue past the point at which they became uncomfortable.…”