RESUMO
The aim of the present study was to establish whether there is dependence of vascular reactivity to mental stress on the levels of neuroticism and anxiety in left- and right-handers. Thirty-two left-handed and 32 righthanded volunteers (16 males and 16 females in each group) between 18 and 30 years of age were studied. During mental stress both groups demonstrated a "standard" type of response, indicating an increase of the sympathetic-adrenal activity. In left-handers, however, the magnitude of the stress vascular reactivity was significantly higher (p<0.05) in comparison with that of right-handers. In left-handed females a moderate negative correlation between vascular reactivity and the levels of neuroticism (r = -0.39) and trait anxiety (r = -0.47, F = 4.04, p = 0.06) was established. In right-handed males a moderate positive correlation between neuroticism and vascular reactivity (r = 0.35) and significant positive correlation between trait anxiety and vascular reactivity (r = 0.60, F = 7.92, p = 0.01) was found. The results obtained show that vascular reactivity to mental stress is not influenced in a specific to left- and right-handers way by the levels of negative emotionality (neuroticism and trait anxiety).
