Relevance. The problem of change in cognitive performance under more complicated activity conditions is of interest to psychologists and scholars in neuro- and informational sciences. Without its solution it’s impossible to model cognitive activity and predict its efficiency in different situations. Tasks that access attention and working memory resources are of particular interest. The level of emotional tension is often considered a factor hampering the task solution. Previously, authors showed that emotional tension leads to change in spatial distribution of attention and in cognitive strategies that provide solutions to more complex tasks.

Objective. To determine how test anxiety influences the mental rotation task performance. 

Methods and sampling. Two groups of subjects were asked to solve the mental rotation task either under emotionally neutral conditions or under the conditions when task performance was significant to the subject. The emotional state of subjects was controlled with questionnaires. In addition, the individual level of stress resistance was measured.

Results. We obtained a linear effect of test-stimulus orientation on reaction time (that was Shepard and Metzler’s discovery). In the situation of emotional tension the average solving time slightly increased and the number of correct answers slightly decreased. Any significant change in task solving strategies was related to the level of stress resistance in subjects.

Conclusion. The cognitive strategies are transformed under impact of emotional tension and whether the subject would choose a constructive strategy or a non-constructive one depends on the subject’s stress resistance. Subjects with lower stress resistance have difficulty distributing cognitive resources, rotating figures in the mental space. 

The purpose of the cycle of works — analysis of the syndromes of occupational stress, developing in the context of the implementation of the various modern types of labor, and individually-personal characteristics of the working of the human factors that determine resistance to stressful conditions of activity on the part of ensuring the success of the work safety of mental health and personal well-being. Describes two developed in the framework of structural-integrative approach to the stress analysis of a comprehensive technology for stress management: “Integrated assessment and correction of stress” and “Individual assessment of stress resistance”. Characterized by their application to solve practical problems in the prevention and correction of stress conditions of different types of labor.