Effects of Concurrent Negative Feedback On Performance of Two Motor Tasks. Working Paper Number Six.

The effects of stress on state anxiety and heart rate of male high school subjects were investigated. Two psychomotor tasks were used. In the stress condition, subjects received negative feedback about performance; the subjects in the nonstress condition were given rest intervals. Subjects in both conditions showed differing regression lines. The nonstress group maintained the same state anxiety level across the tasks, with increased heart rate occurring as a result of the motor tasks. The stress group increased in state anxiety and heart rate measures. The two groups were significantly different (at the .01 level) on all within-task measures and the stress group performed better on the two motor skill tasks. (Author)