Comparison of Physiological Responses to Stroop Word Color Test and IAPS Stimulation.

The impact of stress on physical and mental health is widely acknowledged, with an estimated 90% of all primary care physician visits being attributed to stress-related problems. Despite this, there is a need for further research on stress-inducing experiments. This study aims to fill this gap (need) by examining the feasibility of stress-inducing experiments such as the Stroop word color test and IAPS images and evaluating the resulting stress levels through physiological data. This study evaluated the distribution of stress indicators, including pNN20, pNN50, and LF/HF, across different tasks using the Friedman test and time series analysis. The aim was to compare the stress-inducing potential of the Stroop Word Color Test and the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) task. Results from the time series graph suggest that participants perceived the Stroop Word Color Test as less stress-inducing compared to the IAPS task.