Examining the Effects of Cellphone Separation on Cognitive Engagement and Behavioral Performance in A Stroop Task

Cellphone has become an integral part of people’s daily life. Anxiety may arise from cellphone separation. Although negative cognitive effects of cellphone separation were reported, the mechanism of how cellphone separation anxiety influences cognition. In the present study, we examined the effects of cellphone separation on state anxiety and physiological indicators of cognitive engagement, heart rate (HR), and high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV). Seventy-five college-aged participants were assigned into three groups (explicit separation, implicit separation, and control groups) and performed a Stroop task. Anxiety, HR and HF-HRV at baseline and during the task were measured. Additionally, trait anxiety, working memory capacity, and daily cellphone usage were measured as covariates. The dependent variables were submitted to repeated-measure mixed-model analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Although there were no group effects on state anxiety and HF-HRV, the implicit cellphone separation group showed the highest level of HR response and the Stroop effect on RTs. The results suggest that the activation of the mental representation of a cellphone, which occurred in the implicit separation group, facilitates cognitive engagement and enlarge the effects of inhibition on the speed of Stroop responses.