Belgrad, 23.10.2015 Dr. Sebastian Schwab. Institute of Cognitive and Team/Racket Sport Research Hands-on session: alpha amylase alpha amylase as a saliva

Belgrad, 23.10.2015Dr. Sebastian Schwab

Dr. Sebastian SchwabInstitute of Cognitive and Team/Racket Sport Research

Hands-on session: alpha amylase

alpha amylase as a saliva based

biomarker for the analysis of stress

in a motivational fit-situation


• Most previous studies demonstrate that a regulatory fit in motor and cognitive tasks will lead to performance improvements.

o What could be the reason for that?o Which mechanism could be behind it?o Is it a neurobiological mechanism?

stress???

problem


Edwards et al., 2007, Work & Stress;

Wallace et al., 2009, Journal of Applied Psych.

Plessner et al., 2009, Psych.

of Sport and Exercise;

Memmert et al., 2009,

Zeitschrift für Sportpsych.;

Shah et al., 1998, Journal of

Personality and Soc. Psych.;

Keller & Bless, 2006, Euro.

Journal of Soc. Psych.;

Spiegel et al., 2004, Euro.

Journal of Soc. Psych.

Is stress as a

physiological parameter a

potential mediator to

explain the better

performances in

motivational fit-situations?

motivation

performancestress


The participants‘ stress level in fit-situations remains constant or

rather decreases, whereas under non-fit-conditions an increase of

the stress activity will be observed.

hypothesis


letter of agreement

personal questionnaire

questionnaire

(Keller & Bless, 2006, Euro. J. Soc. Psychol.)

(Friedman & Förster, 2001, J. Perso. and Soc. Psychol.)

(Friedman & Förster, 2001)

(Friedman & Förster, 2005, J. Perso. and Soc. Psychol.;

Friedman et al., 2003)


alpha amylase• is an index for stress-induced activity of the sympathetic

nervous system (SNS) (Rohleder & Nater, 2009, Psychoneuroendocrinology)

• non-invasive with a saliva sample

• responds to stress immediately and without great time delay in comparison to cortisol (Strahler, 2012)

• also applicable in possible field studies

• apeears to be a reliable, simple, saliva based indirect marker of the SNS-activity (Nater & Rohleder, 2009, Psychoneuroendocrinology; Rohleder & Nater, 2009, Psychoneuroendocrinology)


(Rohleder et al., 2004, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.; Chatterton et al., 1996, Clin. Physiol.)

alpha amylase correlates with (nor-)adrenalin


alpha amylase – sampling methods

drooling

spittingsucition absorption

Rohleder and Nater (2009) summarized that for saliva sampling, salivettes and passive drooling are both equally well suited.


alpha amylase – storage

up to 3 weeks

up to 12 months

up to 5 months


alpha amylase – analysis

Prof. Dr. C. KirschbaumBiopsychology - TU DresdenZellescher Weg 19, Raum 212D-01062 Dresden, Germany

Pack salivettes in zipper bags


briefing

• What are the methodic characteristics when measuring alpha amylase?

• Which are the influencing factors of alpha amylase?


alpha amylase – daily fluctuations

(Rohleder et al., 2004, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.)


alpha amylase – age

(Strahler et al., 2010, Psychophysiol.)


alpha amylase – caffeine

(Klein et al., 2010, Hum. Psychopharmacol. Clin. Exp.)


alpha amylase – food

(Fröhlich et al., 1987, Physiol. Behav.)


alpha amylase – gender

(van Stegeren et al., 2008, Int. J. Psychophysiol.)


alpha amylase – exercise

(Sariri & Damirchi, 2010, Pharmacologyonline)


methodic conclusionsdaily

fluctuations

age

caffeine

food

exercise

gender

test between 10 and 12 o‘clock

sport students

no coffee

no big meal

no exercise

men


(Schwab, Wolf & Memmert, 2015, Stress)

non-fit fit

64 male students between 20 and 33

years (M = 24.29, SD = 3.123)

r = -0.249, p < .05


• task enjoyment: r = 0.181, p = .076 (clear trend)

• motivation: r = 0.219, p < .05

Participants are more motivated when being in a relative fit-situation compared

to a relative non-fit-situation.

more results


64 male students between 20 and 33

years (M = 24.29, SD = 3.123)

Diff_1_2: t(1,58) = -2.540, p < .05 Diff_1_3: t(1,58) = -2.278, p < .05 (Schwab, Wolf & Memmert, 2015, Stress)


discussion

• Our data indicate that the SNS was influenced by a motivational

task: sAA activity of participants in a fit-situation decreased,

while it increased in a non-fit-situation.

• Differential effects on the SNS could be seen as a possible

mediator to explain the benefits of a fit-situation in contrast to a

non-fit-situation.


future prospects • Future research designs should try to replicate these findings

with the help of cognitive and motor performance tasks that

have already been used under rgulatory fit-aspects.

• With different tasks and questionnaires, it would be possible to

evaluate whether participants under fit-conditions perform better

than participants under non-fit-conditions, along with

determining sAA activity of participants in a fit-situation

decreases versus that of participants in a non-fit-situation.


Thank you for your attention!

[email protected]

Documents

Belgrad, 23.10.2015 Dr. Sebastian Schwab. Institute of Cognitive and Team/Racket Sport Research Hands-on session: alpha amylase alpha amylase as a saliva