Burned out employees are more sensitive to negative tones of voice
Press release 6/2015
Job burnout is often associated with memory, learning and concentration difficulties. A brain research project at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) showed that people suffering from burnout react more sensitively to negative tones of voice and more slowly to positive tones of voice than others. The study has been published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology.
”The results of this study help improve our understanding of job burnout and the difficulties in processing information that sufferers often experience. The study conditions were similar to, for example, work in an open-plan office,” says Laura Sokka, Psychologist at FIOH.
”Sufferers of burnout react quickly to speech in the background that has a negative, for example, angry tone. But in order to do their work, their attention should be directed towards other things altogether.”
The research was carried out at FIOH’s Brain Work Research Centre, and studied 41 working people with different degrees of work burnout symptoms, and 26 control subjects.
”Using different speech sounds, we studied the participants’ sound detection accuracy, and the extent to which their attention was distracted by rarely occurring, emotionally-loaded stimuli,” Sokka explains.
“There were no problems in the detection accuracy of the participants suffering from job burnout. However, the emotional stimuli, such as tones of voice, affected them. Those with burnout are more sensitive and react more quickly to negative voices, and more slowly to positive voices than other people,” Sokka continues.
The participants’ work tasks were not related to speech sounds during the study: their work required them to direct their attention elsewhere. We used scalp recordings to measure the electrical activity of the participant’s brain.
”We must use research to intervene in job burnout in Finnish work life. These results, in addition to new work burnout brain studies under preparation, help occupational health services, for example, plan treatment for work burnout,” informs Minna Huotilainen, the FIOH Research Professor in charge of the study.
Further information:
Laura Sokka, Psychologist, tel. +358 43 8245039, laura.sokka(at)ttl.fi
Minna Huotilainen, Research Professor, tel. +358 438244215, minna.huotilainen(at)ttl.fi
Video (in Finnish): Professor Minna Huotilainen and psychologist Laura Sokka discuss the issues above on a video, at http://blogs.helsinki.fi/cicero-brainandlearning/
Article: Sokka Laura, Huotilainen Minna, Leinikka Marianne, Korpela Jussi, Henelius Andreas, Alain Claude, Müller Kiti, Pakarinen Satu
Alterations in attention capture to auditory emotional stimuli in job burnout: An event-related potential study. International Journal of Psychophysiology Dec2014, Vol. 94 Issue 3, p427-436
The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health researches, develops and specializes in well-being at work. It promotes occupational health and safety and the well-being of workers. It is an independent institution under public law, working under the administrative sector of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. It has six regional offices, and its headquarters are in Helsinki. It employs about 700 people.