Impact of Cognitive Workload and Emotional Arousal on Performance in Cooperative and Competitive Interactions

We examine whether changes in the social environment (competitive or cooperative), affect the relationship between the internal state (cognitive workload and emotional arousal), and the performance in a given task. In a controlled experimental game setting, participants played cooperatively and competitively with different partners. EEG activity and heart rate changes measured cognitive workload and emotional arousal respectively. Cognitive workload was associated negatively with performance in the competitive but not the cooperative mode. By contrast, arousal was associated negatively with performance in the cooperative mode but not the competitive mode.