Data Cleaning
Cognitive Tasks. Data cleaning for the executive functioning tasks will follow individual task recommendations (e.g., in the flexibility task, trials with response times below 200ms and trials following errors will be eliminated; Friedman et al., 2008).
Physiological Data. Heart rate, HRV, and electrodermal activity will be analyzed using Mindware Technologies HRV Analysis Software (V3.2.11.). We will select the multi-events option to analyze heart rate between for each phase (see Figure 1): Baseline (between baseline and T1 questionnaires), reactivity (between MAST onset and T3 questionnaires), and recovery (between recovery onset and T4 questionnaires).
Heart Rate and HRV. The Mindware Technologies HRV software allows for the calculation of R-R intervals. The Very Low Frequency (VLF) Band (Hz) will be set between 0.003 and 0.040, the Low Frequency (LF) Band (Hz) between 0.04 and 0.12, and the High Frequency/RSA Band (Hz) between 0.12 and 0.40 (see Task Force recommendations, 1996). The minimum and maximum heart rates will be set at 40 and 200bpms, respectively. Each of the three phases will be divided into 60-second epochs, where any segments that are less than 30 seconds will not be deemed fit for analysis. In addition, any segment for which the respiration power (in volts2, as recorded through the respiration belt) falls outside the recommended LF and HF Bands will not be considered for analysis (Berntson et al., 1997). Each segment will be screened for peak artifacts (e.g., incorrectly identified peaks, missing heartbeats, or unusable peaks due to movement), which, on a case-by-case basis, will be deleted. Depending on the within-software recommendations, a mid-beat will be inserted to correct for these deleted artifacts. Following sufficient agreement between the two raters, the first author will carry out the remaining data visualization and modification. We will report the average number of normal R peaks, as well as the mean number of deleted segments. We will average heart rate and HRV values over each respective segments for each phase.
Skin Conductance Levels. Electrodermal activity will be analyzed using the Mindware Technologies EDA software, version 3.2.9., similarly to heart rate. The Event Related Skin Conductance Minimum Response Latency will be set at one second and the maximum at three seconds from the event (Levinson & Edelberg, 1985). The threshold level in µSiemens to detect a skin conductance response will be set at 0.05 (SPRAHCEM, 2012). A constant rolling filter of 500 data points per block will be applied to smooth the EDA signal and we will perform a visual inspection of the segments. Artifacts such as subject movement and respiration will be identified and edited out (e.g., using the spline function of the software). We will calculate mean skin conductance levels for the three phases.

Data Analysis

All data analyses will be conducted on RStudio and SPSS. Data and scripts will be made available to readers upon request.
Screening and Removal of Outliers. We will check for normality in distribution for all predictor and outcome variables. We will examine the standardized residuals from the regression analyses using the Q-Q plots. Any significant outliers will be removed from the analyses and the models will be reanalyzed without them.
Stress Induction Verification. For all stress indicators (physiological and subjective), we will use multilevel models with condition (MAST vs. placebo-MAST) and time (baseline, instructions, MAST, and recovery levels) as categorical variables, along with their interaction term to verify the efficacy of the stress induction. The potential influence of age and gender will be considered in the analyses (e.g., Shapiro et al., 1996).