Daily negative affect and reaction time inconsistency in emerging adults: An ecological momentary assessment study (Preprint)

Abstract

Emotional disorders like depression and anxiety are characterized by high levels of negative affect (NA), frequent fluctuations in NA, and deficits in cognitive performance. College students are among the most vulnerable to emotional disorders.

Despite recent advances in cognitive ecological momentary assessment (EMA), it remains unclear how daily experiences of NA impact momentary cognitive performance in emerging adults. Our primary objective was to test the hypothesis was that fluctuations in NA would be associated with RT inconsistency.

Undergraduate and graduate students (N=99) completed an online baseline assessment as part of a 14-day EMA protocol. Baseline included self-report questionnaires measuring emotional disorder symptoms (neuroticism, anxiety, depression, insomnia) and a battery of cognitive tasks. Daily EMAs measured affect using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and cognition using a Choice Reaction Time (RT) task. We evaluated correlations among emotional disorder symptoms at baseline as a validity check. We ran multilevel models examining within- person associations between NA and trial-level RT inconsistency.

Between individuals, NA, neuroticism, depression, and anxiety symptoms were all positively and significantly correlated at baseline. Within individuals, greater NA predicted greater RT inconsistency, controlling for several demographic and clinical variables.

Partially consistent with hypotheses, we observed greater RT inconsistency on days when NA was higher than usual. However, this main effect was moderated by practice effects, and within-person effect of NA on RT inconsistency diminished over time in the study. Results have implications for mental health and academic performance. Specifically, performance may be more inconsistent when individuals experience higher NA and stress.

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