bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Personality and Individual Differences in Spinal Motoneuronal Excitability
Authors: Pivik R.T. , Stelmack R.M. , Bylsma F.W.
Published: February 2007

Although individual differences in sensation‐seeking are characterized by a wide range of differences in the expression of motor behavior, the psychophysiological correlates of these characteristics have not been extensively explored. In the present investigation the response characteristics of compound muscle action potentials, the H‐reflex and associated motor responses, were examined in young adult subjects who were administered the Sensation Seeking Scale (Zuckerman, 1979) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975). Variations in reflex responses were observed using two independent procedures. A paired stimulus method assessed the extent of reflex amplitude recovery at varying pulse intervals. A second method, termed homosynaptic depression, examined motoneuronal excitability in response to trains of pulses delivered at varying rates. The personality groups did not differ with respect to the intensity of stimulation required to elicit muscle action potentials or the nerve conduction velocities of those potentials. High disinhibition and high extraversion groups displayed reduced motoneuronal excitability as assessed by analysis of reflex recovery functions. For extraversion, similar effects were observed with the homosynaptic depression measure. These results demonstrate that individual differences in disinhibition and extraversion can be referred to discrete levels of CNS motor system activity. In this context, stimulus seeking behavior is not distinguished by a need for stimulation (initial hypoexcitability) but reflects instead reduced motor excitability which becomes evident once motoneuronal activity is initiated.
Cardiovascular Responses to an Extended Aversive Video Game Task
Authors: Miller Sydney B. , Ditto Blaine
Published: February 2007

Active coping stressors, which tend to produce increases in cardiac output disproportionate to metabolic need, may elicit compensatory autoregulatory responses elevating peripheral resistance if exposure is prolonged. Two studies (total N=24) were conducted in which healthy male undergraduates participated in both one‐hour shock avoidance and separate counterbalanced baseline sessions. In an attempt to maximize subject involvement, a somewhat unconventional, complex shock avoidance procedure was employed. The subject could avoid mild electric shocks depending on video game performance. The primary dependent measures were heart rate, digital blood volume pulse (DBVP), and blood pressure. In both studies, most subjects exhibited immediate and pronounced increases in heart rate in response to the stressor, followed by some habituation. In contrast, DBVP responses did not usually habituate. Similarly, blood pressure was more or less constantly elevated by the stressor. The results of multiple regression analyses indicated that individual differences in mean arterial blood pressure response to the stressor were significantly related to individual differences in heart rate response to the first 15 minutes, but increasingly unrelated to heart rate response, and more related to DBVP response, as the session progressed.
Physical Versus Psychological Determinants of Heart Rate Reactivity to Mental Arithmetic
Authors: Brown Thomas G. , Szabo Attila , Seraganian Peter
Published: February 2007

The feasibilty of partitioning heart rate response to a psychosocial streesor into physical versus psychological components was brought under experimental scrutiny. Two tasks were performed in a counterbalanced order. The psychological task consisted of a set of mental arithmetic problems for which verbal answers were requested. The physical task mimicked the speech demands of the psychological task but required no arithmetic processing. Heart rate increased significantly over baseline during both psychological and physical task but there was a greater increase seen with the former. During both tasks, heart rate attained peak levels at about 50s into the tasks and then declined. Degree of reactivity to the two tasks was correlated.Subjectively, the physical task was assesed as possessing almost no difficulty whereas the psychological task had intermediate difficulty. Since the physical demands of response verbalization may account for a substantial portion of the total reactivity to a psychosocial strssor, greater attention to precise identification of reactivity determinats may be indicated.
Heartbeat Detection: Judgments of the Simultaneity of External Stimuli and Heartbeats
Authors: Brener Jasper , Kluvitse Cecile
Published: February 2007

After practice in judging the simultaneity of brief visual and auditory stimuli, 32 subjects were examined on a heartbeat discrimination procedure in which tones were presented at intervals of 0, 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500 ms following each R‐wave. On each of 60 trials spread over two sessions, tones presented at these intervals could be inspected as frequently and for as long as subjects wished before reaching a decision on which interval yielded stimuli that were coincident with heartbeat sensations. The group as a whole judged tones that were 200–300 ms after the R‐wave to be most contiguous with heartbeat sensations. Although some subjects showed modal preferences for the 100‐ms and 400‐ms intervals, none preferred the 0‐ms or 500‐ms intervals. During each trial subjects inspected preferred intervals more frequently and for longer than non‐preferred intervals. Although interval preferences tended to be stable over the two sessions, preferences were less variable during the second session than during the first session. Furthermore, the number of intervals examined and the duration of each interval examination decreased significantly from Session 1 to Session 2 indicating the development of recognition criteria for heartbeat‐coincident tones.
For Distinguished Early Career Contribution to Psychophysiology: Award Address, 1988
Authors: Turner J. Rick
Published: February 2007

This program of experiments examined heart rate responses to mental arithmetic and a video game. Attention first focused on their metabolic relevance. Comparison with heart rate/oxygen consumption regression equations generated from isotonic exercise data revealed that the heart rate increases of certain individuals were considerably in excess of those necessitated by contemporary metabolic demand. Both temporal and intertask consistency of reaction were explored, and supportive evidence was obtained. The relationship between laboratory and real‐world reactions was investigated, and preliminary evidence found suggesting that in‐laboratory responses are indicative of responses to more naturalistic stressors. Finally, twin studies examining the genetic and environmental determinants of individual differences in heart rate change during the tasks revealed a substantial genetic component for these responses.
Continuous Recordings of Impedance and Phase Angle During Electrodermal Reactions and the Locus of Impedance Change
Authors: Boucsein Wolfram , Schaefer Florian , Neijenhuisen Henk
Published: February 2007

The relatively few studies that use alternating current (AC) in exosomatic electrodermal recording techniques focus on tonic measurement but not on phasic measures. AC methods of phasic measurement, however, are most useful in testing electrical models of the electrodermal response. Problems arising from AC recording of fast electrodermal changes are discussed, and an appropriate measurement concept for continuous recording of impedance and phase angle is developed. This enables tonic values of both parameters to be offset in order to sufficiently amplify small changes. An AC frequency of 100 Hz was used in recording electrodermal activity in 10 subjects during an habituation series of 80dB 1000 Hz tones. Comparison of transformed curves showed that the main component of electrical changes accompanying electrodermal response is a shift in conductance while susceptance shows only small fluctuations. According to a widely accepted simple electrical model of skin, these results indicate that electrodermal responses take place mainly in the resistive element which parallels the capacitance associated with the stratum corneum, but that other components may be involved too.
Aerobic Fitness and the Cardiovascular Response to Stress
Authors: van Doornen Lorenz J.P. , de Geus Eco J.C.
Published: February 2007

The observation that aerobically fit persons react to physical load with a smaller sympathetic response than do less fit subjects suggests that their response to psychological stress might also be reduced. The evidence for this, however, is far from consistent. It was argued that this inconsistency might be due to the incomplete measurement of the response system involved. In the present experiment two groups, which differed strongly in maximal aerobic power, were compared with respect to their cardiovascular response to a laboratory stressor. In addition to the traditional heart rate and blood pressure measurements, pre‐ejection period, cardiac output, and peripheral resistance were assessed. Since only the part of the stress response that isnotaccounted for by metabolic needs might have pathological significance, the so‐called “additional’ responses were also measured. Fitness was shown to be associated with smaller sympathetic effects on both heart and vessels. The decrement in pre‐ejection period and the heart rate response were smaller in the high fit group. The total peripheral resistance and diastolic blood pressure responses pointed to a much stronger vascular reactivity in the low fit group. Unexpectedly cardiac output did not increase during stress. The strong heart rate response in the low fit group was compensated by a reduction in stroke volume, which probably originated in an increased peripheral resistance. The largest discrepancy between the effects of sympathetic activation during stress and exercise occurred in the vessels, as demonstrated by the large “additional’ response in total peripheral resistance during stress. The data point to the often neglected role of vascular processes in experiments of this kind. Furthermore, it seems necessary to take the effect of fitness into account when comparing subjects with respect to their cardiovascular stress response.
Predicting Home and Work Blood Pressure Measurements from Resting Baselines and Laboratory Reactivity in Black and White Americans
Authors: Ironson Gail H. , Gellman Marc D. , Spitzer Susan B. , Llabre Maria M. , Carlo Pasin Rosemary De , Weidler Donald J. , Schneiderman Neil
Published: February 2007

The relationship between blood pressure in the laboratory (both at rest and in response to laboratory tasks) and ambulatory blood pressure at home and at work was evaluated. One hundred nineteen normotensive and unmedicated mild‐moderate hypertensive black and white females and males participated in laboratory blood pressure monitoring at rest and during four challenging tasks (structured interview, video game, bicycle exercise, and cold pressor test) as well as ambulatory blood pressure monitoring while at home and at work. Baseline blood pressure taken while subjects were at rest was the strongest predictor of ambulatory systolic blood pressure (r=.64) and diastolic blood pressure (r=.77) at work. Among reactivity tasks the strongest predictors of ambulatory blood pressure in the total population were the structured interview and the video game (both psychological tasks) followed by the cold pressor test. Racial comparisons, however, determined that the cold pressor test predicted diastolic blood pressure significantly better for blacks (r=.73) than for whites (r=.40), suggesting a possible difference in blood pressure regulation.
Event‐Related Potentials to Visual and Language Stimuli in Normal and Dyslexic Children
Authors: Taylor Margot J. , Keenan Nancy K.
Published: February 2007

Event‐related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in 31 normal and 21 dyslexic children, the latter with visual processing impairment, in three visual reading‐related tasks: a nonalphabetic, an alphabetic, and a lexical decision task (two levels of difficulty in each). ERPs were recorded from fifteen active electrodes for 1.5 s following stimulus presentation; analyses were done on difference waves. N2 and P3 components were usually longer in latency and P3 was lower in amplitude in the dyslexic than in the normal children. The P3 had a flatter, broader distribution in the dyslexics than in the controls, which was very similar to the effect of difficulty in the two easier tasks. The lack of Group × Age interactions is inconsistent with either a maturational lag between the groups of children, or with the dyslexic children catching up to normals in terms of their speed of processing. Thus, the dyslexic children required more time to process the visual information across tasks (with only their letter classification being equal to that of the normal controls) and appeared to have a different developmental pattern in their ERPs from that of the normal children.
Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials (BAEPS) and Selective Attention Revisited
Authors: Hirschhorn Tatiana N. , Michie Patricia T.
Published: February 2007

Evidence of peripheral filtering of auditory information at the cochlear and brainstem levels was sought using brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) recorded during auditory and visual tasks. It can be argued that the discrimination tasks used in the past to investigate peripheral filtering of sensory information in humans involve two levels of discrimination, the consequences of which result in two independent types of inhibition: crossmodal inhibition as a result of between‐modality discrimination, and intramodal inhibition as a result of within‐modality discrimination. Therefore, the observed effects on the BAEPs may reflect the extent to which these two types of inhibition are engaged. In this investigation a paradigm that included two non‐discrimination (passive) tasks and two discrimination (active) tasks was employed. BAEPs recorded during listening (a passive auditory task) provided a baseline measure, against which comparisons of BAEPs recorded during auditory and visual discrimination could be made for independent evidence of crossmodal and intramodal inhibition.

The data in this study did not support the presence of two types of inhibition proposed above, or show evidence of peripheral filtering of auditory information at the cochlear and brainstem levels. However, the sensitivity of BAEPs to efferent system activation at the cochlea and hence their value as a tool in investigations of peripheral filtering in humans was questioned.
Awareness of P300‐Related Cognitive Processes: A Signal Detection Approach
Authors: Sommer Werner , Matt Juliana
Published: February 2007

Although the P300 component of the human event‐related potential is purported to indicate consciousness of an event, it is unclear which of the P300‐related processes, if any, are accessible to awareness. This study explored awareness of such processes in Bernoulli series of auditory stimuli using signal detection theory and selective averaging of ERPs according to the subjects’ classifications. Following targets eliciting appropriate P300 amplitudes, the subject was requested to classify his brain response as small, medium, or large, whereupon visual feedback was given about the correctness of the response. Averaging the ERPs according to the subjects’ classifications showed P300 amplitudes to increase with the classification category, whereas the prestimulus and post‐P300 event‐related potentials were unrelated to the category. Signal detection analysis revealed nonzero sensitivity measures for the P300 amplitude categories. Although no conclusive suggestion can be made at present as to the basis of the P300 discrimination ability found here, it was possible to rule out electro‐ocular and electromyographic activity, the preceding auditory stimulus, and the prior feedback given, as cues for discrimination.
Sleep Stage Physiology, Mood, and Vigilance Responses to Total Sleep Deprivation in Healthy 80‐Year‐Olds and 20‐Year‐Olds
Authors: Brendel D.H. , Reynolds C.F. , Jennings J.R. , Hoch C.C. , Monk T.H. , Berman S.R. , Hall F.T. , Buysse D.J. , Kupfer D.J.
Published: February 2007

Little is known about sleep and the effects of total sleep loss in the ‘old old’ (i.e., 80‐year‐olds). We investigated sleep, mood, and performance responses to acute sleep deprivation in healthy 80‐year‐olds (n–10) and 20‐year‐olds (n = 14). The protocol consisted of three nights of baseline sleep, one night of total sleep deprivation, and two nights of recovery sleep. Mood and vigilance were tested using visual analog scales and a Mackworth clock procedure in the morning and evening of each study day. Daytime sleepiness was measured by five naps on the days following the third and sixth nights. Old subjects had lower sleep efficiency and less delta sleep than young subjects. However, sleep continuity and delta sleep were enhanced in both groups on the first recovery night, indicating that sleep changes in old subjects are at least partially reversible by this procedure. Surprisingly, young subjects had shorter daytime sleep latencies than the old, suggesting a greater unmet sleep need in the former group. Mood and performance were disturbed by sleep loss in both groups, but to a greater extent among the young. This suggests that acute total sleep loss is a more disruptive procedure for the young than for the old.
Facial Coloration and Temperature Responses in Blushing
Authors: Shearn Don , Bergman Erik , Hill Katherine , Abel Andy , Hinds Lael
Published: February 2007

Little work on the psychophysiology of blushing has been done since Darwin's 1872 observations. Facial vascular and temperature changes have been largely ignored in psychophysiology. We had 16 female and 16 male undergraduate volunteers watch a videotape intended to produce blushing (the individual's singing recorded the previous day), and a videotape not intended to produce blushing, but elicit physiological responses for comparison (a segment from Hitchcock's movie Psycho). Four people were present as a subject watched these video segments. Cheek and ear coloration, measured photoplethysmographically, cheek temperature, and finger skin conductance responses were significantly greater during stimulation intended to elicit blushing than during comparison stimulation. Gender interacted statistically with kind of stimulation only in cheek temperature. Only video segments of the subject's face that coincided with maximal cheek coloration during stimulation intended to produce blushing were judged reliably as blushing, and then more often in females than in males.
The Effect of an Acoustic Warning Stimulus Upon the Electrically Elicited Blink Reflex in Humans
Authors: Boelhouwer A.J.W. , Teurlings R.J.M.A. , Brunia C.H.M.
Published: February 2007

In a warned Go/No‐Go reaction time experiment blink reflexes were elicited electrically immediately before, at, and shortly after the onset of a low intensity acoustic warning stimulus. This provided the opportunity to study the mutual effects of two stimuli of different modalities arriving at the facial nucleus. The warning stimulus was followed after 3 s by an acoustic response stimulus.

Sixteen subjects participated in the experiment. They were informed by the response stimulus if a response (a voluntary blink of the right eye) was required.

R1 magnitude was increased from 10 ms to 100 ms after warning stimulus onset, with a pronounced peak at 50 ms. The bilateral late component R2 was enhanced when the reflex eliciting stimulus preceded the warning stimulus. Between 20 ms and 30 ms after warning stimulus onset, R2 returned to control level, whereas an eliciting stimulus presented 40 ms or later after warning stimulus onset produced a pronounced inhibition. R2 latency was facilitated immediately after warning stimulus onset.

It was concluded that the mutual effects of stimuli of different modalities can be interpreted only if the moment of arrival at the motor nucleus is taken into consideration.
Effects of Body Heating and Mental Arithmetic on Facial Sweating and Blood Flow in Unilateral Migraine Headache
Authors: Drummond Peter D.
Published: February 2007

Facial sweating and pulse amplitude during body heating were investigated during the headache‐free period in 38 subjects who suffered from unilateral migraine headache that usually recurred on the same side. In 22 of these subjects, pulse amplitude recorded from the forehead circulation was examined during a computerized mental arithmetic test. Thermally‐induced increases in forehead pulse amplitude were smaller on the side habitually affected by headache than on the other side of the forehead. Although sweating from the upper part of the forehead did not differ consistently between the two sides, asymmetry of sweating correlated significantly with asymmetry of the vascular response. Sweating and vascular responses were symmetrical in the cheeks. During mental arithmetic, mean increases in forehead pulse amplitude did not differ consistently between the two sides, but the maximum increase was greater on the nonsymptomatic side. These findings suggest that vascular sympathetic outflow was reduced on the symptomatic side of the forehead, possibly because of damage to the sympathetic plexus surrounding the internal carotid artery in the carotid canal during repeated episodes of migraine. Sympathetic fibers to the upper part of the forehead and cheeks bypass the carotid canal, which may account for symmetrical responses during body heating. A reduction in sympathetic outflow could influence vasodilation at the site of migraine headache.
Hemodynamic and Respiratory Concomitants of Learned Heart Rate Control During Exercise
Authors: Engel Bernard T. , Talan Mark I.
Published: February 2007

Each of three monkeys was trained to slow its heart, to exercise (lift weights), and to attenuate the tachycardia of exercise by combining these two skills. During all experiments, heart rate, stroke volume, intra‐arterial blood pressure, O2 consumption, and CO2 production were recorded on a beat‐to‐beat basis. All animals reliably attenuated the tachycardia of exercise, indicating that this expression of central command is, at least in part, a learned motor skill. Double‐product (heart rate × systolic pressure) was attenuated during combined sessions relative to exercise only sessions, and heart rate was always lower at similar levels of cardiac output, indicating that under the combined conditions, animals were performing with better cardiac efficiency at comparable levels of mechanical effort. Analyses of O2 consumption, CO2 production, and respiratory quotient (the ratio of CO2 production to O2 consumption) suggested that the animals also might have been delivering more O2 to their working muscles during combined sessions.
Responses of the T‐Wave Amplitude as a Function of Active and Passive Tasks and Beta‐Adrenergic Blockade
Authors: Rau Harald
Published: February 2007

This paper presents evidence that phasic changes in T‐wave amplitude vary as a function of task conditions and beta‐adrenergic drugs. Three experiments were designed to test the sensitivity of T‐wave amplitude to manipulations in sympathetic arousal. In the first experiment, T‐wave amplitude was recorded during an active behavioral task in which 32 subjects believed that they could control the duration of an aversive white noise and during a passive behavioral task in which another 30 subjects knew that they had no control. T‐wave amplitude decreased to a greater extent in the active behavior group than in the passive group. In the second experiment, 9 subjects receiving one of two beta‐adrenergic blockers and 10 subjects receiving placebo completed the active task. Task‐induced reductions in T‐wave amplitude were systematically blocked by the beta blockers. In the third experiment, 5 subjects received placebos and 15 received one of two different beta blockers. All subjects performed a mental arithmetic task. Subjects receiving a placebo, but not those receiving beta blockade, exhibited a significant reduction in T‐wave amplitude during mental arithmetic.
Children's Cardiovascular Reactivity: Stability of Racial Differences and Relation to Subsequent Blood Pressure over a One‐Year Period
Authors: Murphy Joseph K. , Alpert Bruce S. , Walker Sammie S. , Willey Elaine S.
Published: February 2007

After measuring blood pressure and heart rate at rest and during a video game procedure in 477 children enrolled in 3rd grade, 434 (91%) children had these measurements repeated a year later in 4th grade. Black children demonstrated greater blood pressure and heart rate reactivity than White children in both years, and an increase in heart rate reactivity from 3rd to 4th grade. Gender effects were inconsistent. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures during the video game were more highly correlated from year‐to‐year than were the resting measures. Regression analysis indicated that systolic reactivity was significantly related to subsequent systolic pressure at rest, particularly among Black girls. Diastolic reactivity was associated with subsequent resting diastolic pressure only among White children. Associations between reactivity and future blood pressure were independent of initial resting blood pressure. This study suggests that cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress may be one important factor in future level of blood pressure and that the increased heart rate reactivity of Black children may be associated with the prevalence of hypertension among Black adults.
Effects of Isoproterenol on T‐Wave Amplitude and Heart Rate: A Dose‐Response Study
Authors: Contrada Richard J. , Dimsdale Joel , Levy Linda , Weiss Theodore
Published: February 2007

This report examines the hypothesis that electrocardiographic T‐wave amplitude is sensitive to graded increases in beta‐sympathetic stimulation of the heart. Beta‐adrenergic activity was manipulated pharmacologically in 9 healthy men by bolus infusion of isoproterenol in each of six doses: 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 micrograms. Results indicated that elevations in heart rate above placebo values increased as a linear function of isoproterenol dose. In contrast, the dose‐response curve for T‐wave amplitude was best described by a quadratic function: An initial reduction in T‐wave amplitude at low levels of isoproterenol infusion was followed by a significant reversal of this effect at higher doses. Comparison of the heart rate and T‐wave amplitude data points to limitations in the use of the latter as an index of beta‐adrenergic activity. One of several possible explanations for the T‐wave results would entail a mechanism that preserves ventricular function at high levels of beta‐sympathetic stimulation.
Temperature, Time‐of‐Night of Testing, and Responsiveness to Stimuli Presented While Sleeping
Authors: Lammers W.J. , Badia P. , Hughes R. , Harsh J.
Published: February 2007

The present study examined how time‐of‐night of testing and body temperature related to responsiveness to stimuli presented in sleep. Nine males slept for two nonconsecutive nights in the sleep laboratory. On Night 1, tympanic temperature was assessed at 30‐min intervals. On Night 2, responsiveness was assessed with an incremental series of tones (5dB steps) presented in sleep stages 2, 3/4, and REM throughout the night (0030–0800 h). Subjects were instructed and given practice prior to sleep to make a microswitch closure to the tones. Results showed a curvilinear pattern of responsiveness across the night in that the intensity of tones required for a response increased until about 0530 h, then decreased thereafter. This pattern of responsiveness was positively related to the circadian rhythm of body temperature. A close correspondence was also found between the temperature trough and the performance trough (both occurred at about 0530 h). A greater emphasis on circadian factors may help understand previously reported but contradictory findings. The present results also suggest that measures of responsiveness follow a circadian factors may help understand previously reported but contradictory findings. The present results also suggest that measures of responsiveness follow a circadian pattern regardless of the sleep/wake state.
A Comparison of Field and Laboratory Polygraphs in the Detection of Deception
Authors: Patrick Christopher J. , Iacono William G.
Published: February 2007

This study compared the effectiveness of field and laboratory polygraphs in discriminating guilty and innocent subjects tested using the Control Question Technique (CQT). Subjects were 48 prisoners examined regarding a mock theft in a peer threat context; physiological responses were recorded simultaneously on a Lafayette field polygraph and a Sensor Medics laboratory polygraph. Overall hit rates were essentially the same whether classifications were based on quantitative measures from the laboratory polygraph or on numerical scores from the field polygraph (i.e., 73% and 79%, respectively), and in both cases the best discriminating measures were electrodermal activity and indices of respiration suppression. Further analyses revealed that errors of classification were mostly due to the failure of the available measures to differentiate between relevant and control questions for innocent subjects. These results indicate that the CQT is susceptible to false positive errors when subjects are tested under field‐like circumstances, a problem that is not likely to be eliminated by refinements in instrumentation and scoring.
Response Inhibition Initiates Cardiac Deceleration: Evidence from a Sensory‐Motor Compatibility Paradigm
Authors: Jennings J. Richard , Van Der Molen Maurits W. , Brock Kay , Somsen Riek J.M.
Published: February 2007

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that response selection processes alter the timing of the shift between anticipatory cardiac deceleration and acceleratory recovery. Experiment 1 compared changes in cardiac interbeat interval induced by the manipulation of sensory‐motor compatibility in a four choice reaction time task. A direct spatial mapping between a linear array of light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) was compared to randomly assigned, indirect (non‐compatible) mappings. Experiment 2 repeated these two tasks and added a two choice condition with direct spatial mapping, a task frequently employed to examine heart rate deceleration. Fifteen college aged males participated in Experiment 1; 18 college aged males participated in Experiment 2. In both experiments anticipatory cardiac deceleration either reached a plateau or shifted to acceleration by the interbeat interval in which the stimulus occurred. In contrast to previous reports, a secondary deceleration, rather than cardiac acceleration, often followed the stimulus. The secondary deceleration was greater with non‐compatible mapping, slow response speeds, and short intertrial intervals. The findings suggested that the motoric inhibition required during response selection induces a phasic cardiac deceleration.
Psychological Correlates of Nonspecific Skin Conductance Responses
Authors: Nikula Reiner
Published: February 2007

Previous research has indicated that the frequency of skin conductance responses without external stimulation or motor activity is a reliable indicator of psychophysiological states and traits. Some authors have suggested that cognitions elicit nonspecific skin conductance responses. These cognitions may resemble the stimuli that evoke a specific skin conductance response. In a within subjects design (n=31 graduate students) the onset of nonspecific skin conductance responses triggered a signal for the subject to rate cognitions on several indices. These ratings (“absent” to “fully present”) were compared with samples in the absence of phasic electrodermal activity. The subjects’current concerns, negative emotion, subjective arousal, and inner speech were rated to be significantly more intense at the time of nonspecific skin conductance responses compared to electrodermal nonresponding periods. Cognitive processes seem to be concomitants of nonspecific skin conductance responses.
Guidelines for Reducing the Risk of Disease Transmission in the Psychophysiology Laboratory
Authors:   SPR Ad Hoc Committee on the Prevention of Disease Transmission, Putnam Lois E. , Johnson Ray , Roth Walton T.
Published: February 2007

The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic has highlighted the need for safeguards against the inadvertent transmission of infectious disease in the psychophysiology laboratory. These Guidelines identify factors contributing to the risk of bloodborne disease transmission to subjects or technicians, and recommend procedures to minimize such risk, given current knowledge and techniques.

The lowest risk is associated with the application of devices, such as surface electrodes, to non‐abraded, intact skin. Such devices should be clean, but do not require disinfection.

The potential risk of infection is higher when surface electrodes are applied to non‐intact skin. Abrasion, or other breaks in the skin, can allow seepage of blood products carrying such pathogens as hepatitis B virus and the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. Thus electrodes require high‐level disinfection before reuse on non‐intact skin. In addition, technicians should wear gloves during skin preparation and should abrade the skin no more than necessary, using only sterile, preferably non‐sharp materials.

The highest risk is that associated with items that enter sterile tissue, such as subdermal electrodes and the needles and lancets sometimes used in skin preparation. Such items must be sterile at the time of use and must be handled with extreme caution.
Scopolamine Effects on Visual Information Processing, Attention, and Event‐Related Potential Map Latencies
Authors: Brandeis Daniel , Naylor Hilary , Halliday Roy , Callaway Enoch , Yano Lovelle
Published: February 2007

We measured performance and event‐related brain potential (ERP) map latencies in 12 subjects during four visual discrimination tasks to compare the timing of scopolamine effects on information processing and attention. “Topographic component recognition” found ERP map latencies at times of best fit with a component model map. This “common topography” criterion minimized topographic differences among conditions to facilitate latency interpretations. Scopolamine slowed N1 latency in all tasks, and P3 and reaction time in some tasks. The drug delayed responses to easy targets more than to hard targets. It also induced a disproportionate N1 delay for unilateral high spatial frequency gratings. Both effects reflect a scopolamine‐induced impairment when processing targets that usually capture attention. Scopolamine also impaired accuracy for unilateral high spatial frequency gratings, and for gratings presented at probable locations, confirming and extending previous findings. Scopolamine‐induced P1 and N1 delays showed that visual processing was affected. Several results were inconsistent with a serial stage model. We suggest that scopolamine both delays selected processes and impairs a processing mode based on automatic capture of attention, inducing more serial processing.
Digital Filtering: Background and Tutorial for Psychophysiologists
Authors: Cook Edwin W. , Miller Gregory A.
Published: February 2007

Digital filtering offers more to psychophysiologists than is commonly appreciated. An introduction is offered here to foster the explicit design and use of digital filters. Because of considerable confusion in the literature about terminology important to both analog and digital filtering, basic concepts are reviewed and clarified. Because some time series concepts are fundamental to digital filtering, these are also presented. Examples of filters commonly used in psychophysiology are given, and procedures are presented for the design and use of one type of digital filter. Properties of some types of digital filters are described, and the relative advantages of simple analog and digital filters are discussed.
The Effects of Scopolamine on Event‐Related Potentials in a Continuous Recognition Memory Task
Authors: Potter Douglas D. , Pickles Charles D. , Roberts Richard C. , Rugg Michael D.
Published: February 2007

Event‐related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a task requiring continuous recognition memory for visually‐presented words. Twelve subjects each performed the task twice, once following the administration of scopolamine, and once after receiving a saline placebo. In the placebo condition, correctly detected “old” words (i.e., words that had been presented once before during the task) evoked more positive‐going ERPs than did “new” words. Scopolamine caused a substantial impairment in task performance, but did not reduce the size of these old‐word/new‐word ERP differences. It is concluded that old/new ERP effects are unlikely to reflect cholinergically‐mediated neural activity underlying normal recognition memory.
An Electrophysiological Study of Semantic Processing in Young and Middle‐Aged Academics
Authors: Gunter Thomas C. , Jackson Janet L. , Mulder Gijsbertus
Published: February 2007

This study explored age differences in the N400 component, described by Kutas and Hillyard as an index of semantic expectancy. A group of young students and a group of middle‐aged academics read a number of congruent and incongruent sentences followed by a recognition task. Age differences were found in both accuracy and speed in the recognition task. The N400 elicited in the reading task was both delayed in latency and reduced in amplitude in the older group. These aging effects could not be attributed to early stimulus input processes because the N1 did not differ between the age groups. A re‐averaging of the event‐related potentials during reading as a function of subsequent recognition showed a small memory‐related positivity for the younger group and a large memory‐related positivity for the older group, suggesting a difference in the encoding strategies of the two groups. To check the generalizability of the results of this particular age group, a further task (a memory scanning task) was carried out. The results, a delayed P3b and an increased reaction time, matched those found in the literature.
Physiological Arousal and Perception of Bodily State During Parachute Jumping
Authors: Schedlowski Manfred , Tewes Uwe
Published: February 2007

Heart rate and respiration rate were recorded with a portable data recording system before and during a parachute jump in 36 male sport parachutists with differing degrees of experience. The recordings were analyzed at 12 psychologically relevant points in time along with the subjective ratings of physical arousal. Novice parachutists showed a higher degree of self‐rated arousal during jumps. However, the two groups displayed nearly parallel curves for heart and respiration rates, differing significantly from each other only in the level of their respective heart rates. Furthermore, experienced jumpers seem to be better informed about their state of physiological arousal during the jump than are novice jumpers. These results do not confirm the proposed anxiety inhibition process, postulated by Epstein (1967).
Psychometric Properties of Resting Anterior EEG Asymmetry: Temporal Stability and Internal Consistency
Authors: Tomarken Andrew J. , Davidson Richard J. , Wheeler Robert E. , Kinney Linda
Published: February 2007

We examined whether resting anterior electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry in the alpha frequency band has psychometric properties that would be expected of a measure assessing individual differences. In each of two experimental sessions, separated by three weeks, resting EEG in midfrontal and anterior temporal sites was recorded from 85 female adults during eight 60‐s baselines. Resting alpha asymmetry demonstrated acceptable test‐retest stability and excellent internal consistency reliability. Analyses including other frequency bands indicated that degree of stability varied somewhat as a function of band and region. In addition, asymmetry was less stable than absolute power. Discussion focuses on the implications of the present findings for the measurement and conceptualization of resting anterior asymmetry.
Blood pressure responses and incentive appraisals as a function of perceived ability and objective task demand
Authors: WRIGHT REX A. , DILL JODY C.
Published: February 2007

This experiment examined the role perceptions of ability may play in determining the impact of task demand on cardiovascular responses indicative of active coping. Subjects first performed a scanning task and received feedback indicating that they had either low or high scanning ability. They then were presented with the opportunity to earn one of two incentives by attaining either an objectively low or objectively high standard of performance on a second scanning task. Immediately prior to and during the 1‐min performance period, systolic and diastolic blood pressure responses were greater in the difficult standard condition than in the easy standard condition for those who received high‐ability feedback but were somewhat diminished in the difficult standard condition as compared with the easy standard condition for those who received low‐ability feedback. Whereas high‐ability subjects tended to have less pronounced pressor responses than did low‐ability subjects when the second task was objectively easy, they had more pronounced pressor responses than low‐ability subjects when the second task was objectively difficult. Analysis of goal attractiveness ratings obtained just prior to task performance showed a general correspondence between subjects' anticipatory blood pressure responses and their appraisals of the incentives. Implications for several lines of investigation are discussed.
Measuring the time course of anticipatory anxiety using the fear‐potentiated startle reflex
Authors: GRILLON CHRISTIAN , AMELI REZVAN , MERIKANGAS KATHLEEN , WOODS SCOTT W. , DAVIS MICHAEL
Published: February 2007

The time course of the facilitation of the acoustic startle reflex induced by anticipation of electric shocks was measured in 20 normal volunteers. Shocks could be administered during the last 10 s of 45‐s threat conditions but not during 50‐s no‐threat conditions, each condition being signaled by a different light. Consistent with previous data, overall eyeblink startle levels were higher during the threat than during the no‐threat conditions. However, the magnitude of this fear‐potentiated startle effect became progressively larger in the threat condition the longer the light was on and then abruptly decreased with the onset of the light signaling the no‐threat condition. These effects of the threat of shock on startle were interpreted in terms of anticipatory anxiety. Other interpretations, such as changes in selective or generalized attention, were also discussed. This paradigm provides a method to assess the time course of anticipatory anxiety in humans.
Detection of EMG onset in ERP research
Authors: VAN BOXTEL G. J. M. , GERAATS L. H. D. , VAN DEN BERG‐LENSSEN M. M. C. , BRUNIA C. H. M.
Published: February 2007

Many researchers have used off‐line techniques for the automatic detection of electromyogram (EMG) onset. However, very little is known about the accuracy of these methods. In the present study, five such methods are evaluated and their accuracy is reported. Five subjects were asked to produce fast (ballistic) and slow (ramp) contractions with thumb and index finger of the right hand in a simple reaction time task. EMG was recorded from the first dorsal interosseus muscle, and onsets were visually determined in the raw EMG. These onsets were compared with the onsets produced by the automated methods on the rectified and low‐pass filtered EMG. Four of the automated methods produced very reliable estimates of the visually determined onsets, at least when additional constraints upon the initial estimates were made. Studies using automated methods for EMG onset detection should report findings about their accuracy.
Effects of cigarette smoking on electrodermal orienting reflexes to stimulus change and stimulus significance
Authors: LYVERS MICHAEL , MIYATA YO
Published: February 2007

Skin conductance responses (SCRs) evoked by novel, signal, and frequent tone stimuli were measured in 20 male heavy smokers and 10 male nonsmokers over two sessions. All smokers abstained from smoking for 12 hr prior to each session. Half of the smokers smoked a cigarette of their preferred brand prior to SCR measurement in the first session, whereas the remaining smokers smoked in the second session. Nonsmokers did not smoke. Results combined across the two sessions indicated that abstinence was associated with selective depression of SCRs to the novel tone. Separate analyses of results from each session revealed that, in the second session, SCRs to both novel and signal tones were depressed in abstinent smokers, partially replicating previous findings. By contrast, first session results showed no significant effects of smoking or abstinence. Results were interpreted in terms of nicotine's effects on nonspecific arousal, with some reservations.
Ongoing ischemic pain as a workload indexed by P3 amplitude and latency in real‐versus feigned‐pain conditions
Authors: ROSENFELD J. PETER , JOHNSON MARY M. , KOO JENNY
Published: February 2007

We tested four independent groups: real pain, real pain/tracking, feigned pain, and feigned pain/tracking. After baseline (auditory oddball task only, .8/.2), the real pain groups had an ischemia cuff applied, which generated intense pain after 14 min. The pain feigners were instructed to simulate pain. The oddball task was repeated during low pain (6 min following cuff application) and during high pain (7‐15 min following application). Real pain ratings were affected by low versus high pain and by tracking (reporting pain regularly), which elevated ratings. Nontracking feigned‐ and real‐pain subjects differed in oddball‐evoked P3 amplitude and latency during high pain. Oddball P3 amplitude decreased and latency increased from real low pain to high pain. Tracked but not untracked real low pain affected oddball P3 amplitude. Real and feigned pain‐tracking subjects did not differ in P3 amplitude. P3 latency differed between real‐pain and feigning subjects during low‐pain tracking. A 91 % individual hit rate (real vs. feign) obtained.
The psychophysiology of disgust: Differentiating negative emotional contexts with facial EMG
Authors: VRANA SCOTT R.
Published: February 2007

The goals of this study were (a) to examine differing views on the relationship between self‐report of emotion and physiological expression of emotion, (b) to differentiate between negative emotional contexts during imagery using facial electromyogram (EMG), and (c) to describe the facial muscle patterning and autonomic physiology of situations that involve expelling or avoiding disgusting sensory stimulation. Fifty subjects imagined situations eliciting disgust, anger, pleasure, and joy in 8‐s trials using a tone‐cued imagery procedure. Heart rate, skin conductance level, and facial EMG at the corrugator, zygomatic, and levator labii superioris/alesque muscle regions were recorded during imagery, and self‐reports of emotion were collected after imagery trials. Self‐reports of emotion produced results consistent with the affective categorization of the images. Activity at the levator labii region was higher during disgust than during anger imagery. Corrugator region increase characterized the negative as compared with the positive emotional contents, and activity at the zygomatic region was higher during joy imagery than during the other three emotions. Heart rate acceleration was greater during disgust, anger, and joy imagery than during pleasant imagery. Disgust imagery could be discriminated from anger imagery using facial EMG, and the expressive physiology of disgust was occasioned by the action set of active avoidance or rejection of sensory stimulation.