Interactions of Respiratory and Cardiovascular Adjustments to Behavioral Stressors

• Published in: Psychophysiology 1986-09, Vol.23 (5), p.532-541
• Main Authors: Allen, Michael T., Sherwood, Andrew, Obrist, Paul A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aversive reaction time stress; Biological and medical sciences; Cardiorespiratory control. Arterial mecano- and chemoreceptor; Cardiovascular reactivity; Cardiovascular System - physiopathology; Cold pressor; Exercise stress; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Impedance cardiography; Male; Respiration; Respiratory response; Stress, Physiological - physiopathology; Stress, Psychological - physiopathology; Vertebrates: respiratory system
• ISSN: 0048-5772; 1469-8986; 1540-5958
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1986.tb00669.x

ABSTRACT The relationships among a variety of cardiovascular and respiratory measures were examined in young college males subjected to a cold pressor task, reaction‐time shock avoidance task, and three levels of graded exercise. As expected, the relationships between cardiovascular (e.g., heart rate and cardiac output) and respiratory (e.g., oxygen uptake and minute ventilation) variables were tightly linear when considering rest and exercise values. However, the range of individual cardiopulmonary responses during cold pressor and reaction time was considerable, often leading to disruptions in the cardiovascular/respiratory interactions. Analyses of extreme high and low ventilation reactors during both reaction time and cold pressor revealed that the excessive ventilation responders in cold pressor showed clear signs of hyperventilation. Increases in ventilation by the high reactors during reaction time were of smaller magnitude than during cold pressor, with potential hyperventilation much less clear. Increases in minute ventilation by reactors during the cold pressor task were primarily due to large increases in tidal volume, with only modest increases in respiratory rate. For reaction time, however, the increases in ventilation by reactive individuals stemmed from rate increases with tidal volume remaining essentially unchanged.