RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL VARIABLES AND COGNITIVE TEST-PERFORMANCE BEFORE AND AFTER OPEN-HEART-SURGERY

Impending surgery provides a natural stress paradigm within which the effect of stress on cognitive functioning can be assessed. Cardiac patients scheduled for open-heart surgery were tested for cognitive and emotional status on the day before (N = 130) and 7 days after surgery (N = 109). We correlated the self-reported anxiety and depression scores with the performance on 11 neuropsychological tests on both pre- and postoperative examinations. The results indicate that the significantly elevated emotional arousal in these patients has no relevant effect on their cognitive performance. This finding underlines the validity of neuropsychological testing in more acute clinical settings.