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Effect of noise distraction during mental arithmetic on phasic cardiovascular activity.

The present study investigated the effects of four experimental variations of mental arithmetic on subjective stress, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate. The four conditions were: 1) mental arithmetic only, 2) mental arithmetic with steady 90dB(A) white noise distraction, 3) mental arithmetic with steady real-life noise distraction averaging 90dB(A), and 4) mental arithmetic with varying real-life noise distraction averaging 90dB(A). Subjects were 63 healthy young adults of both genders. The statistical analyses evaluated gender and conditions as independent variables and initial response magnitude as well as within-task adaptation of blood pressure and heart rate. Observed differences for the various experimental conditions were remarkably few: 1) more systolic blood pressure adaptation was found during steady real-life noise distraction than in other conditions; 2) there was a trend toward diastolic blood pressure adaptation for all conditions except the variable real-life noise; and 3) enhanced heart rate responses were displayed during varying real-life noise distraction relative to the other conditions. Overall, the findings are held to indicate that blood pressure and heart rate initial reactivity and adaptation are unaffected by noise distraction with the exception of an exaggerated heart rate response in conditions of high stimulus variability.