Strain and recovery activities over a week predict short-term changes in processing speed measured in everyday environments: A survey response-time study in workers from a large internet panel.

OBJECTIVE

Both recovery and strain are highly relevant to worker productivity and cognitive performance. Prior research suggests that survey response times (RTs) may serve as an approximation of everyday processing speed. We examined associations between strain-related experiences and recovery behaviors over a week, a time frame seldom considered prior, and subsequent survey RT-based processing speed.

METHOD: We analyzed approximately 1 year of data from 5,303 workers in a U.S.-based Internet panel study. Participants completed a survey on a biweekly to monthly basis regarding their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020-July 2021).

RESULTS

Within individuals, longer survey RTs (indicating slower processing speed) were associated with working 50 or more hours (B = 0.016 log seconds, 95% confidence interval [0.004, 0.025]), having work hours reduced (i.e., job insecurity, B = 0.031, 95% CI [0.016, 0.044]), a positive COVID test (B = 0.041, 95% CI [0.03, 0.055]), fever (B = 0.012, 95% CI [0.003, 0.024]), feelings of fatigue (B = 0.019, 95% CI [0.012, 0.025]), headache (B = 0.018, 95% CI [0.011, 0.027]), body aches (B = 0.017, 95% CI [0.009, 0.025]), higher stress levels (B = 0.006, 95% CI [0.001, 0.01]), and increased depressive symptoms (B = 0.009, 95% CI [0.006, 0.011]) in the week prior. Unexpectedly, for individuals who typically infrequently engaged in general relaxation or socializing, engaging in these activities more often in the prior week was associated with reduced processing speed (B = 0.005, 95% CI [0.002, 0.008] and B = 0.006, 95% CI [0.002, 0.01], respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Everyday processing speed, as measured by survey RT, was sensitive to strain and recovery engagement experienced over the week prior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).