Investigation of emotional and physiological recovery from tracking tasks

This study was conducted to investigate subjects' emotional and physiological recovery from tension. Subjects (N=36) were assigned tracking tasks under three conditions: (1) the "Rest" condition in which subjects were not presented a task but asked to stay relaxed; (2) the "Non-performance" condition in which subjects were presented a task but were not required to perform it; (3) the "Performance" condition in which subjects were required to perform the task. We successively recorded eyeblinks, respiration, and heart rate in the pre-task rest period, during the task, and the post-task rest period. Subjects completed a questionnaire to rate their emotions for each period. Results indicated: that eyeblink rate decreased during the task under the non-performance and the performance condition; that respiratory rate and heart rate increased during the task in the performance condition; and that during the post-task period these alterations showed a rapid recovery back to initial levels. As for subjective ratings of emotions, various changes were recorded in addition to recovery: "Disappointment" seemed to last long, "activation" recovered, and "tension" rebounded in the post-task period.