Cardiovascular response to stress, computational self-efficacy and perceived task difficulty in undergraduate Venezuelan students

This paper evaluated the cardiovascular response to stress in a laboratory situation, the computational self-efficacy, and the perceived difficulty of the task, in a sample of 115 undergraduate students of Simon Bolivar University. Results show that the sample distribution of systolic blood pressure (SBP) has a tendency to high values in the classical Stroop task; while the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) obtained in response to both versions of Stroop Test (classical and computerized) was in the low to medium values of the variable, with noticeable elevations during the Stroop tasks. A greater increase of heart rate (HR) was observed during exposure to the Classically administered version of the Stroop task. In general, ratings of perceived difficulty of the Stroop task were higher in response to the Classical administration. Finally, subjects rated their Computer Self-Efficacy as high, indicating confidence and comfort working with computers. These results represent an important contribution to the stress and coping literature as they illustrate the relationship between cognitive factors and physiological responses during cognitively demanding or difficult situations. In terms of the practical implications of these findings, situations experienced in academic environments can have a prominent impact on cardiovascular response, and thus, on health.