STRESS AND HUMAN INFORMATION PROCESSING: A DESCRIPTIVE FRAMEWORK PRESENTED IN A NOVEL MANNER

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STRESS AND HUMAN INFORMATION PROCESSING: A DESCRIPTIVE FRAMEWORK
PRESENTED IN A NOVEL MANNER
P.A. Hancock, P. Ward, J.L. Szalma, S. Stafford, and H.C.N. Ganey
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL 32816
INTRODUCTION
Understanding the effects of stressors upon human
performance and how these effects differ as a function of
task, information process and/or mediator has been a
long-standing endeavor of the scientific community.
Research that has attempted to collectively address some
of these issues has examined the relationship between a
range of stressors, such as anxiety, heat, and noise, upon
task performance assessing, for example, alertness and
short term memory, with the aim of revealing common
features that apply across tasks (e.g., Hockey &
Hamilton, 1983). More recently, research has examined
the stress-performance relationship and has identified a
number of potential factors which may moderate this
relationship, such as social support, locus of control,
perceived control, trait anxiety, self-efficacy, self-
control, and experience (e.g., Weaver, Morgan, Adkins-
Holmes, Hall, 1992; see also Bowers, Weaver, &
Morgan, 1996). To date, research on stress and
performance has been concerned with specific sources of
stress in particular contexts with tasks that require
specific forms of information processing. A broad based
comprehensive descriptive framework has yet to be
formulated. The current work aims to develop such a
framework, building upon earlier work by Hockey and
Hamilton (1983) and Bowers, Weaver and Morgan
(1996).
A difficulty in describing the effects of stress on
performance is that such effects depend upon features of
the environment (including the task) and of the
individual operator. The transactional theory of stress
addresses this issue by defining the construct in terms of
person-environment interactions. Within the framework
of a transactional model, stress states may be viewed as
abstracted representations of the relation between
individuals and the external demands placed upon them
(Matthews, 2001). Lazarus and Folkman (1984) defined
psychological stress as a case in which individuals
appraise their environment as taxing or exceeding their
resources and/or endangering their well being. The
negative effects of stress are most likely to occur when
individuals view an event as a threat, and when they
assess their coping skills as inadequate for handling the
stressor.
A second difficulty in creating a descriptive
framework is that the effects of various sources of stress
are not uniform across all forms of information
processing. Indeed, Hockey’s (1984) cognitive state
model relates particular sources of stress in the
environment to specific patterns of cognitive activity and
performance change. Thus, different environmental
stressors are associated with different patterns of change
in information processing. Moreover, such changes can
be associated with either the structure of these processes
(e.g. working memory demands; rate of information
transmission) or the strategies individuals employ in
response to stress (e.g. allocation of resources; decision
criteria; Hockey & Hamilton, 1983). Strategy and
structure effects seem to reflect different aspects of
cognitive function, and as such, should show different
performance outcomes in the presence of particular
stressors.
The descriptive framework we propose would
incorporate both theoretical perspectives, as well as that
of Hancock and Warm (1989), who pointed out that the
tasks that operators perform are themselves sources of
stress. Our framework defines a three dimensional
matrix. Along one dimension will be forms of
information processing, including information processing
requirements for perceptual and cognitive tasks. The
second dimension will be sources of stress (e.g. noise,
temperature, social stressors, etc). Finally, the third
dimension consists of moderators of stress and
performance. These are variables that influence the
relation between the sources of stress and the
information processing for task performance, and will
likely depend to some degree upon the transaction
between the operator and the task.
At first glance, this project provides a vast empirical
resource from which the effects of different stressors
across a variety of information processing tasks can be
examined. Moreover, the current program will identify
shortfalls in the literature base highlighting potential
avenues for future research. At a statistical level, the
matrix also serves as the basis for a meta-analytic review
providing the impetus for meaningful data to drive
theoretical developments and to test existing models of
stress and performance.

An objective in the development of the matrix was
to inform current evaluatory processes used to model
soldier-system performance under stressful conditions
and to examine the taxonomic classification (taxons)
used in performance prediction within IMPRINT
(Improved Performance Research Integration Tool) (see
O’Brien, Simon, & Swaminathan, 1992; Allender,
Kelley, Archer, & Adkins, 1997). The current system
within IMPRINT used for deriving taxons is mainly
adapted from Berliner’s (1966) task taxonomy with some
attempt made to incorporate Wickens’ (1981) structure
for processing resources (see O’Brien et al., 1992). The
matrix will provide both a theoretical and empirical basis
for supporting or modifying the existing taxonomy used
for task prediction, or for creating a new taxonomy with
greater capability for predicting task performance.
SUMMARY
Our framework describes a three dimensional matrix
with types of information processing along the first
dimension, stressors along the second, and moderators of
the stress-performance relationship along the third. The
purpose of the matrix is to provide a comprehensive
review of the extant literature which will not only
identify avenues for future research but will provide
empirical support for addressing current models of
soldier-system performance under stressful conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was supported by a grant from the
Army Research Organization, P.A. Hancock, principal
investigator. (Grant# DAAD19-01-1-0621). The views
expressed in this article are those of the authors and do
not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of
the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or
the US Government. The authors wish to thank Dr.
Sherry Tove, Dr. Elmar Schmeisser, and Dr. Mike
Drillings for providing administrative and technical
direction for the Grant.
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