Undoing Effect in Esports: Positive Emotions and Cardiovascular Recovery

Heightened physiological arousal increases the risk of stress-related illness, making effective recovery essential for long-term health. Competitive contexts such as traditional sports and esports often involve high-pressure demands, raising the question of how recovery can be improved. The undoing hypothesis proposes that positive emotions facilitate physiological recovery after stress, but evidence remains mixed. We tested the undoing hypothesis in two psychophysiological experiments in an esports context. Based on previous work, we hypothesized that positive emotions would facilitate recovery more effectively than a neutral state and that low-approach positive emotions (such as amusement) would outperform high-approach positive emotions (such as excitement). We employed a multiverse-analytic strategy, testing the hypotheses across several operationalizations of cardiovascular recovery to reflect the diversity of approaches in the existing literature. In Study 1 (N = 155), participants played a single 10-minute Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) match and then watched either amusing or neutral clips during recovery. In Study 2 (N = 199), participants completed three 5-minute CS2 matches, each followed by a recovery phase with CS2-related clips designed to elicit amusement, excitement, or a neutral state. Both studies were conducted in an esports tournament-like setting, during which we assessed self-reported affect and continuously recorded cardiovascular activity. Positive emotions did not reliably improve cardiovascular recovery overall, and in some instances, the neutral condition outperformed positive emotions. These findings suggest that the undoing effect may not reliably occur in the esports context.