Heart rate and blood pressure responses to a competitive role-playing game

The effects of the outcome of competitive encounters on physiological param eters have been studied, especially testosterone levels, but hardly on othe r systems that, however, present a high sensitivity to stress. This study a ssessed the effect of a competitive game on heart rate (HR) and blood press ure (BP) in a sample of university students. In addition, the influence of anxiety and attributions of the outcome was also explored. Only winners sig nificantly showed a rise in HR during the competition followed by a decreas e along the posttask phase in addition to more internal attributions. On th e contrary, the average HR for losers during the competition was lower comp ared with their baseline values. No differences depending on the outcome we re found in BP. The cardiovascular response as well as the subjective inter pretation of the outcome suggest a more active strategy employed by winners vs. a more passive strategy of losers. Future studies should specifically investigate the importance of coping strategies for psychophysiological ada ptation to contests and for the outcome reached. This would permit an advan ce in the understanding of the role of individual differences in the proces ses of stress and in associated diseases. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.