bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Activation Patterns to Aversive Stimulation in Man: Passive Exposure Versus Effort to Control
Authors: Lovallo William R. , Wilson Michael F. , Pincomb Gwendolyn A. , Edwards Gary L. , Tompkins Paul , Brackett Daniel J.
Published: February 2007

The present study contrasted physiological response patterns occurring when subjects coped passively and actively with aversive stimuli. In one condition, 29 healthy young men were exposed to unpredictable noise (115BA) and shock (3.5 mA) with no means of control, and in the other they attempted to avoid the noise and shock with rapid keypresses. Both tasks were characterized by maximal uncertainty as to locus of presentation, chance of occurrence, and type of stimulus to occur next in sequence. Dependent variables included: reports of moods, reaction times, muscle tension, plasma concentrations of free fatty acids, cortisol and catecholamines, heart rate, blood pressures, systolic time intervals, cardiac output, systemic vascular resistance, and an index of myocardial contractility. Both experimental conditions produced significant neuroendocrine, lipid, and cardiovascular changes from baseline. The active avoidance procedure produced further increases in cardiac function which were related to control efforts as indexed by muscle tension and task performance. The results point toward the effects of effort in the face of uncertainty in determining the patterns of response to aversive stimulation.
The Interpretation of the Component Structure of Event‐Related Brain Potentials: An Analysis of Expert Judgments
Authors: Kramer Arthur F.
Published: February 2007

The analysis of components of the event‐related brain potential (ERP) is accomplished through standardized statistical algorithms. However, visual inspection of ERPs is commonly used to guide the selection of the analytic techniques. Thus, the definitional criteria of components employed by the investigators may interact with the choice of analysis procedures. The present study examines the criteria which investigators employ to define components of the ERP, the relative importance assigned to different criteria, and the consistency with which investigators use the definitional criteria. ERPs are simulated so as to vary systematically the amplitude, latency, duration, and electrode distribution of the P300 component. Ten experienced ERP researchers rated the similarity of 153 pairs of simulated ERPs. The ratings were analyzed by a multidimensional scaling procedure. Eight unidimensional judgments on each of the 18 ERPs were also obtained. The results suggest that ERP investigators are capable of accurately recovering the underlying dimensions of a set of simulated ERPs. Furthermore, the degree of experience in analyzing and interpreting ERPs affects the weighting structure of the underlying dimensions. These findings support the commonly held, but previously untested, belief that judgments of ERPs based on visual inspection can be both accurate and reliable
Groin Skin Temperature: Testing the Validity of a Relatively Unobtrusive Physiological Measure of Psychosexual Arousal
Authors: Rubinsky Hillel J. , Hoon Peter W. , Eckerman David A. , Amberson Janis I.
Published: February 2007

The validity of groin skin temperature as a relatively unobtrusive physiological measure of psychosexual arousal was tested for both males and females. Groin skin temperature and hemodynamic (penile circumference, vaginal blood volume, and vaginal pulse amplitude) changes induced by erotic and non‐erotic film presentations were monitored in 10 male and 10 female volunteers. Significant positive correlations (p<.001) between the measures were obtained for 16 of 20 subjects. Implications of the findings for detecting low levels of psychosexual arousal are discussed.
The Pupil and Stimulus Probability
Authors: Qiyuan Jiang , Richer Françlois , Wagoner Brennis L. , Beatty Jackson
Published: February 2007

Three studies were conducted to examine the relationship of the task‐evoked pupillary response (TEPR) to the probability of the eliciting stimuli in Bernoulli sequences. Subjects counted target tones in sequences containing two types of tones differing in pitch. For a given probability level, both targets and non‐targets elicited pupillary dilations that were similar in amplitude. The dilation to both targets and non‐targets was inversely related to probability at low probability levels. This relationship appeared to break down at high probability levels, at least for non‐targets. When tone omissions were used as targets they elicited a larger dilation than tonal targets at very low target probability. The amplitude of dilations produced by omitted targets was also affected by probability. The data converge to indicate that the TEPR in random stimulus sequences is sensitive to the surprise value of events, whether involving a physical stimulus or not, and not to the target designation of these events.
Individual Differences in Autonomic Response: Conditioned Association or Conditioned Fear?
Authors: Hodes Robert L. , Cook Edwin W. , Lang Peter J.
Published: February 2007

Cluster analysis was used to define three groups of subjects whose conditioned heart rate response emphasized either acceleration, deceleration, or moderate deceleration. A subject pool (N = 148) was generated from four separate studies of differential classical conditioning in which colored slides served as conditioned stimuli (CSs) and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) was aversive auditory noise. Both the statistically generated Accelerator and Decelerator groups responded with a significant late interval deceleration to CS+. However, only Accelerators also displayed a significant mid‐interval heart rate increase to CS+. Conditioned electrodermal responses were significantly more resistant to extinction for Accelerators than for the other two cluster groups. Accelerators also differed from Decelerators in that their affective judgments of the slide stimuli became less positively valent and less dominant from pre‐ to post‐conditioning, effects not found for Decelerators. Moderate Decelerators produced mixed results across the several psychophysiological and verbal measures of conditioning, resembling Accelerators in their verbal report change, and Decelerators in their rapid electrodermal extinction.

It is suggested that cluster assignment may reflect subjects' pre‐conditioning learning set. All successfully conditioned subjects appear to learn a relationship between stimuli such that the appearance of the CS+ prompts an anticipatory orienting response (late interval heart rate deceleration). Accelerators differ from the other two groups in that they also condition a defensive response which is associated with a change in emotional judgments of the stimuli and may represent covert preparation for avoidance. The relationships between defensive responding, avoidance, and the concept of fear are considered, and the problem of desynchrony in emotional change (i.e., the Moderate Decelerators) is addressed. Finally, parallels are drawn between results from classical conditioning and clinical studies of fear and phobia, and further suggestions are made for utilizing the conditioning paradigm in the study of emotion.
Endurance as Opposed to Power Training: Their Effect on Sleep
Authors: Trinder John , Paxton Susan J. , Montgomery Jain , Fraser Geoff
Published: February 2007

There is evidence that sleep is affected by physical exercise and by factors derived from exercise such as physical fitness and body composition. In this context, this study assessed the effect of type of athletic training. The sleep of four groups of 10 young male subjects, who differed with respect to the type of athletic training in which they habitually engaged, was compared on 2 consecutive, non‐exercise nights. The groups were: aerobically trained endurance runners; power trained weightlifters and bodybuilders; athletes with mixed anaerobic, aerobic, and power training; and an unfit, non‐athletic sedentary, control group. Pre‐planned comparisons showed that the control group did not differ from the combined athletic groups on any sleep variable. However, the aerobic group had more SWS and NREM sleep, slept longer, and had shorter sleep onset latencies than the power group. The mixed group was intermediate on each of these variables. The data show that the type of physical training in which athletes engage has substantial effects on their sleep–a finding which emphasizes the relevance of peripheral physiological factors for sleep architecture and which has theoretical relevance.
Relative Discriminability of Heartbeat‐Contingent Stimuli Under Three Procedures for Assessing Cardiac Perception
Authors: Davis Mark R. , Langer Alan W. , Sutterer James R. , Gelling Paul D. , Marlin Michelle
Published: February 2007

The purpose of this study was to compare the relative discriminability of heartbeat detection tasks described by Whitehead, Drescher, Heiman, and Blackwell (1977) and Katkin, Morell, Goldband, and Bernstein (1980) with a third procedure designed to capitalize on the strengths of the other two. One‐hundred‐and‐eight subjects were given 2 blocks of 25 trials in which they attempted to discriminate whether a short train of auditory and visual pulses were contiguous with their ongoing cardiac activity. Subjects were divided into three experimental groups. When subjects were tested without knowledge of results (KR), all three procedures yielded approximately similar discrimination performances, with only the new procedure significantly exceeding that expected by chance. Over 25 trials with KR, the new procedure yielded significantly higher discrimination performance than baseline, an effect not achieved by the Katkin or Whitehead procedures. A second experiment assessed subjects' ability to discriminate S+ and S− trials in the new procedure based on a noncardiac input. Subjects could not reliably perform this discrimination.
Abnormal Motoneuronal Excitability in Hyperkinetic Children
Authors: Pivik R.T. , Bylsma F.W. , Margittai K.
Published: February 2007

To investigate the generality of reported spinal monosynaptic reflex amplitude reductions in hyperkinetic children, H‐reflexes were recorded in unmedicated male hyperkinetic and age‐matched control children during relaxed wakefulness. Reflex amplitude variations were examined in response to either paired stimuli delivered at varying inter‐pair intervals (recovery function procedure) or trains of stimuli delivered at varying rates (homosynaptic depression procedure). As a group, hyperkinetic children demonstrated reflex amplitude reductions in the recovery function region of secondary facilitation (50–300 ms). However, these subjects could be divided into those showing either significantly exaggerated or reduced secondary facilitation relative to controls. Group differences present during paired‐stimuli procedures were maintained during repetitive stimulation. Furthermore, response reduction or enhancement in both paradigms extended beyond stimulus intervals encompassing the region of secondary facilitation. The results demonstrate that hyperkinetic children homogeneous for commonly utilized diagnostic criteria may exhibit disparate resting levels of spinal motoneuronal excitability which vary significantly from normal levels. Current thinking regarding bases for secondary facilitation and homosynaptic depression suggests the presence of both neurochemical and neurophysiological disregulation in hyperkinesis.
In Vitro Studies of the Pulsatile Radiometric Signal
Authors: Tahmoush Albert J. , Francis Mildred E.
Published: February 2007

An in vitro model system was designed to permit simultaneous measurements of blood flow, blood pressure, and the pulsatile radiometric signal during flow studies with Ringer's solution and blood of hematocrit 32,41, and 51. When the in vitro system contained a cat carotid artery, increases in blood flow were associated with increases in the pulsatile radiometric signal. Changes in the pulsatile radiometric signal were linearly related to changes in mean flow and highly correlated with changes in the pulsatile flow, mean pressure, and pulsatile pressure. Results from the regression analyses suggest that the pulsatile radiometric signal may be attributed to reflection from the artery wall. When the in vitro system contained a glass cell, increases in blood flow were associated with decreases in the pulsatile radiometric signal. There was an inverse linear relationship between the pulsatile radiometric signal and mean flow, and changes in the pulsatile radiometric signal were highly and inversely correlated with changes in pulsatile flow and pulsatile pressure. These results suggest that when recording over the cutaneous microcirculation, the pulsatile radiometric signal is in part due to changes in the red blood cell scattering and absorption coefficients.
Guidelines for Human Electromyographic Research
Authors: Fridlund Alan J. , Cacioppo John T.
Published: February 2007

Guidelines are proposed for the collection, analysis, and description of electromyographic (EMG) data. The guidelines cover technological issues in EMG recording, social aspects of EMG experimentation, and limits to inferences that can be drawn in EMG research. An atlas is proposed for facial EMG electrode placements, and standard EMG terminology is suggested.
Maturation of Startle Modulation
Authors: Ornitz Edward M. , Guthrie Donald , Kaplan Andrea R. , Lane Shelly J. , Norman Robert J.
Published: February 2007

This study of the maturation of prestimulation‐induced modulation of startle in 3 to 8 year old children and adults demonstrated significant effects of age on both startle magnitude and onset latency. Startle was evoked by 104dB(SPL) 50‐ms bursts of white noise, and the amplitude and onset latency of the blink reflex were measured after integration of the obicularis oculi EMG. Prestimulation with 75dB 1000 Hz tones resulted in severe inhibition of both amplitude and latency in adults when 20‐ms tones preceded the startling stimuli by 120 ms or 250 ms. Following sustained prestimulation for 2000 ms, the adults showed modest nonsignificant response facilitation. Eight‐year‐old children showed mature inhibitory and facilitatory startle amplitude modulation, but significantly less inhibition and more facilitation of onset latency compared to adults. Preschool children showed significantly less amplitude and latency inhibition and more facilitation than 8‐year‐olds and adults. In response to prestimulation 120 ms before startling stimuli, the preschool children actually showed latency facilitation. Modulation of startle by prestimulation is mediated by brainstem neuronal networks. These findings suggest that brainstem mechanisms which mediate startle response modulation undergo development during early childhood and do not mature until about 8 years of age.
Predicting Response to a Reaction Time Task: Heart Rate Reactivity Compared with Type A Behavior
Authors: Lovallo William R. , Pincomb Gwendolyn A. , Wilson Michael F.
Published: February 2007

The present study measured somatic muscle, cardiovascular, and endocrine responses to an unsignalled, rewarded reaction time task and examined the relative contributions of heart rate reactivity and Type A behavior in accounting for variability in response to the task. Task responses were characterized by significant changes in muscle tension, heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac output, and plasma norepinephrine concentration. Subjects shown to be high heart rate reactors during an independent cold pressor test were found to produce the greatest changes in heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, ventricular ejection time, cardiac output, and rate‐pressure product during the reaction time task. In contrast, Type As did not respond differently from Type Bs. The results indicate that heart rate reactivity is a relatively stable trait which generalizes from cold pressor to a nonaversive task and which accounts for much of the between‐subject variability in cardiovascular response.
A Solution for Reliable and Valid Reduction of Ocular Artifacts, Applied to the P300 ERP
Authors: Semlitsch Heribert V. , Anderer Peter , Schuster Peter , Presslich Otto
Published: February 2007

The P300 ERP was measured in 10 subjects each for 9 days. The selection of instructions for subjects, the recording technique, the elimination of a few single trials significantly contaminated by eye movements, and the use of a correction procedure for ocular artifacts with calculable reliability and validity resulted in a set of data, in which 94% of the single trials were suitable for further analysis. The correction procedure relies on regression analysis. To reduce coherence between eyeblink activity and ongoing EEG, VEOG and EEG are averaged on eyeblinks. This yields a high reliability and validity of regression factors, determined per day, subject, and lead. In addition, this correction procedure allows for an estimation of the maximal error that must be taken into account. The efficiency of the procedure is demonstrated for single trials and averaged potentials.
Getting Individual Differences in Autonomic Reactivity to Work For Instead of Against You: Determining the Dominant “Psychological” Stress Channel on the Basis of a “Biological” Stress Test
Authors: Levis Donald J. , Smith Jane E.
Published: February 2007

The purpose of this study was to develop a procedure to increase the re liability of autonomic measures, such as skin conductance (SC) and heart rate (HR), when assessing negative emotional responding. The strategy was to capitalize on the individual difference factor by determining prior to the start of an experiment each subject's most reactive autonomic channel. To achieve this objective, a “biological” stress test (balloon‐burst test) was used. Subjects were then classified by using a median‐split, rank‐ordered procedure, as high SC responders, high HR responders. high responders in both channels, or low responders in both channels. The generality of the responder‐non‐responder classification was then assessed to a “psychological” stressor which involved presentations of a fear‐eliciting bodily‐injury slide. Transfer effects were obtained with those subjects defined as high responders on a given channel displaying greater reactivity on that channel when compared to subjects classified as low responders. The implications of these findings for clinical research were discussed.
The N1 Wave of the Human Electric and Magnetic Response to Sound: A Review and an Analysis of the Component Structure
Authors: Näätänen Risto , Picton Terence
Published: February 2007

This paper reviews the literature on the Nl wave of the human auditory evoked potential. It concludes that at least six different cerebral processes can contribute to (he negative wave recorded from the scalp with a peak latency between 50 and 150 ms: a component generated in the auditory‐cortex on the supratemporal plane, a component generated in the association cortex on the lateral aspect of the temporal and parietal cortex, a component generated in the motor and premotor cortices, the mismatch negativity, a temporal component of the processing negativity, and a frontal component of the processing negativity, The first three, which can be considered ‘true’ N1 components, are controlled by the physical and temporal aspects of the stimulus and by the general state of the subject. The other three components are not necessarily elicited by a stimulus but depend on the conditions in which the stimulus occurs. They often last much longer than the true N1 components that they overlap.
Effects of Stimulus Content on Second‐Order Electrodermal Conditioning in Humans
Authors: Siddle David A. T. , Bond Nigel W. , Friswell Rena
Published: February 2007

Two experiments investigated human second‐order conditioning with electrodermal activity as the dependent variable. In Experiment 1 (N = 144), Group PP received first‐order pairings of CS1 and a white noise US of 100dB. In phase 2, Croup PP received pairings of CS2 and CS1, Group PR received first‐order pairings of CS1, and the US during phase 1, and random presentations of CS: and CS, during phase 2. Group RP received random presentatiuns of CS2, and the US during phase 1, and pairings of CS: and CS, during phase 2. Within each of Groups PP, PR. and RP. the CSs were pictures of snakes and spiders, beetles and lizards, or flowers and mushrooms. All CS durations were 5 s, the US duration was 1 s, and the interstimulus interval was 5 s. First‐order conditioning was clearly established in Groups PP and PR. and in phase 2. second‐order conditioning was evident in Group PP. However, neither first‐order nor second‐order conditioning was affected, in either acquisition or extinction, by fear‐relevance of the CS. Experiment 2 (N‐ 72) employed only groups who received stimulus pairings in both phases, and crossed fear‐relevance of the CSs (fear‐relevant vs. fear‐irrelevant) with three US conditions (shock after work‐up, noise after work‐up, and noise of lOOdB). Second‐order responding during extinction was greater in the fear‐relevant condition than in the fear‐irrelevant condition regardless of the type of US employed. The results are discussed in terms of the preparedness theory of the acquisition of phobias.
Performing Mental Arithmetic Increases Total Respiratory Resistance in Individuals with Normal Respiration
Authors: Kotses Harry , Westlund Ronald , Creer Thomas L.
Published: February 2007

The effect of performing mental arithmetic problems on total respiratory resistance was examined in 30 male college students. Each student was assigned to one of two conditions: those in one group performed an easy arithmetic task whereas those in the other group performed a difficult arithmetic task. Total respiratory resistance, measured with the forced oscillation technique, increased more in individuals who performed the difficult arithmetic task than it did in individuals who performed the easy arithmetic task. These findings are consistent with respiratory resistance changes exhibited by asthmatic patients under conditions of stress.
Gender Differences in Pattern Reversal Evoked Potentials in Normal Elderly
Authors: Fein George , Brown Fiona F.
Published: February 2007

Pattern reversal evoked potentials (PREPs) were recorded in 51 normal elderly subjects (27 males. 24 females). Elderly females had shorter P100 and N150 latencies, greater P100‐N150 amplitudes, and higher noise power than elderly males. The N150 latency differences were significant even when P100 latency effects were partialled out statistically. Gender differences in P100‐N150 amplitude Mere independent of both noise power and PREP latency measures. These results provide evidence that, in the elderly, 1) gender differences in PREP amplitude reflect factors specific to CNS processing of visual stimuli rather than global CNS anatomic or physiological factors, 2) gender differences in P100 latency reported in younger groups are also present in the elderly, and 3) there are separable factors underlying gender differences in N150 and P100 latencies in the elderly.
Cardiovascular Responses to Stress: I. Measures of Myocardial Response and Relationship to High Resting Systolic Pressure and Parental Hypertension
Authors: Obrist Paul A. , Light Kathleen C. , James Sherman A. , Strogatz David S.
Published: February 2007

A comparison of pre‐ejection period (PEP), heart rate (HR), and systolic (SBP) and diastolk (DBP) blood pressure responses to the cold pressor test and a pseudo‐shock avoidance reaction time task was performed in 183 young men. These tasks differ in the extent to which they evoke enhanced myocardial and vascular adrenergic activity. Decreases in PEP were more pronounced during the reaction time task, while DBP increased more during the cold pressor test. MR and SBP responses did not differentiate the two tasks. PEP decreases occurred in the absence of any apparent increase in cardiac preload or decrease in afterload. Parental hypertension as determined by physician reports was associated with higher SBP across all conditions. A subgroup of individuals (15%) showed SBP levels >140 mm Hg when typical clinical stethoscopic determinations were made, but less than half as many showed such elevations during a more extended resting baseline using remotely operated devices. High stethoscopic SBP was associated with greater cardiovascular responses to the stressors, while high SBP during the extended baseline was not.
Cardiovascular Responses to Stress: II. Relationships to Aerobic Exercise Patterns
Authors: Light Kathleen C. , Obrist Paul A. , James Sherman A. , Strogatz David S.
Published: February 2007

A sample of 174 men aged 18–22 years were divided into thirds based on self‐reported levels of weekly aerobic exercise. Heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and pre‐ejection period responses of these low, moderate, and high exercise groups were compared during a pretask rest and a later acclimated rest, a bicycle exercise task, a purported shock‐avoidance reaction time task, and the cold pressor test. The low exercise subjects showed higher heart rates and marginally higher diastolic blood pressures than the high exercise subjects at rest. The low exercise subjects also showed greater myocardial responses to the mild exercise task and the reaction time task than the high exercise subjects, as reflected by group differences in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and pre ejection period measures after covariance adjustment for baseline differences. Group differences observed in response to the cold pressor test were smaller and generally nonsignificant. These results were interpreted as evidence that aerobic exercise training may decrease beta‐adrenergic myocardial responses to physical and behavioral challenges.
On the Validity of Heartbeat Tracking Tasks
Authors: Flynn Deborah M. , Clemens William J.
Published: February 2007

We attempted to test the hypothetical involvement of gender, cerebral laterality, and repeated trials in the performance of a heartbeat tracking task similar to ones previously reported. Subjects were told to press a key in synchrony with their heartbeats or with counter clicks for 250 trials with each hand. Key presses were sorted into six 100‐ms bins following each R‐wave; so, unlike previous heartbeat tracking studies which simply looked for similar rate properties of key press and heartbeat latencies, we sought congruence between the two distributions. No evidence of nonrandom key pressing could be adduced while subjects attempted to track heartbeats; whereas subjects did display nonrandom key presses with respect to heart driven counter clicks. It is concluded that such heartbeat tracking procedures are unsuited to assess cardiac perception, much less to detect any presumed correlate of such perception.
How Many Blood Pressure Measurements are Enough?: An Application of Generalizability Theory to the Study of Blood Pressure Reliability
Authors: Llabre M.M. , Ironson G.H. , Spitzer S.B. , Gellman M.D. , Weidler D.J. , Schneiderman N.
Published: February 2007

Generalizability theory was applied to blood pressure measurements collected under various designs in order to determine the number of readings needed to attain reliable estimates. The designs assessed variation within the same day in the laboratory, home, and work; variation across days in the laboratory; and variation across measuring devices. Two samples of normotensive (n=40 and n=79) subjects participated in the study. Blood pressure was measured using either a mercury sphygmomanometer, a Dinamap Adult/Pediatric monitor, or a Spacelabs Ambulatory monitor.

The results showed that only one reading is necessary whenever generalizations are restricted to the same day in the laboratory. At least six readings of systolic blood pressure are needed at home and at work, and 6 to 10 diastolic blood pressure readings may be required from work and home, respectively. To generalize across days, one or two readings from each of two days for systolic blood pressure and from more than three days for diastolic blood pressure may be required. At least one replication with each of two instruments is necessary in order to generalize across instruments in the laboratory.
The Influence of Self‐Focused Attention on Heartbeat Perception
Authors: Weisz Julia , Bálazs Lászloa , ÁDám Gyöurgy
Published: February 2007

The present study investigated the effect of a self‐attention enhancing manipulation on heartbeat perception in 22 females using a within‐subject design. Self‐attention was enhanced by placing a mirror in front of the subjects. Heartbeat perception was assessed using both heartbeat discrimination and heartbeat tracking procedures. It was found that subjects performed heartbeat discrimination more accurately when facing a mirror but heartbeat tracking performance was not affected by the same manipulation. The possible reasons for these conflicting results are discussed.
Inter‐task Consistency: An Integrative Re‐evaluation
Authors: Turner J. Rick
Published: February 2007

In contrast to results presented by other investigators, several previous reports from this laboratory have documented low inter‐task consistency of heart rate responses to pairs of active psychological challenges. In an attempt to resolve this discrepancy, our data were re‐examined in two ways. The first involved taking into account the precise metabolic demands of each task; the second way involved consideration of the order in which tasks were undertaken. Analyses resulting from each of these strategies increased the magnitudes of correlation coefficients calculated from heart rate responses to the pairs of tasks. A combination of the two approaches led to increases in coefficient magnitudes from .32 to .50, and from .46 to .74 for the data from two recent studies. The re‐analysis presented in this paper thus indicated a reconciliation between our previous assessments of inter‐task consistency and those reported by other research groups.
Psychophysiological Predictors of Attentional Dysfunction in Children with Congenital Heart Defects
Authors: O'Dougherty Margaret , Berntson Gary G. , Boysen Sarah T. , Wright Francis S. , Teske Douglas
Published: February 2007

Cardiac responses to non‐signal stimuli and to signal stimuli in a vigilance task were examined in children born with congenital heart defects (CHD), and in normal and attention deficit disordered (ADD) subjects. Overall task performance was lower in subjects with heart defects and in the ADD group. Cardiac measures revealed that normal children displayed significantly larger heart rate deceleration to the target stimuli than did either of the clinical groups. Moreover, although no group differences were observed in the cardiac response to non‐signal auditory stimuli, exaggerated heart rate deceleration was observed to vibrotactile stimuli in both the clinical groups. Regression analyses revealed that the magnitude of the cardiac response to somatosensory stimuli was predictive of task performance (both within and between subject groups), with larger responses associated with higher error rates and lower perceptual sensitivity. Results were suggestive of a predictive relationship between somatosensory reactivity and neuropsychological maturation.
Effects of Task Difficulty on Regional Cerebral Blood Flow: Relationships with Anxiety and Performance
Authors: Gur Ruben C. , Gur Raquel E. , Skolnick Brett E. , Resnick Susan M. , Silver Frank L. , Chawluk John , Muenz Larry , Obrist Walter D. , Reivich Martin
Published: February 2007

Associations have been described between task difficulty and autonomic arousal. This study addresses task difficulty effects on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), a measure of cortical activity. Earlier work suggested that in contrast to a positive association between anxiety and autonomic arousal, there is a curvilinear, inverted‐U relationship between anxiety and cortical activity. A sample of 26 normal volunteers (14 men, 12 women) was administered the 133‐Xenon inhalation technique for measuring rCBF. Measurements were taken under three conditions: Resting baseline, and Easy and Hard verbal analogy tasks. Subjects were grouped into three anxiety levels on the basis of their average score on a self‐report measure. The rCBF was higher during task performance than at rest, but did not differ between the two difficulty conditions. There were Task × Hemisphere interactions showing the expected asymmetry of activation, with higher left hemispheric increase for the verbal task. Anxiety had an inverted‐U relationship with both performance and rCBF, which were themselves positively related. These results with measures of central nervous system activity differ from those reported for autonomic responses. They indicate that anxiety effects on cortical activity may mediate the relation between anxiety and performance.
Differentiation of Deception as a Psychological Process: A Psychophysiological Approach
Authors: Furedy John J. , Davis Caroline , Gurevich Maria
Published: February 2007

If psychophysiology is the study or differentiation of psychological processes by means of physiological measures, then the experimental demonstration of deception as a psychophysiological phenomenon requires a comparison of physiological responses to two conditions (experimental and control) which differ only with respect to deception. To this end, the Differentiation‐of‐Deception Paradigm controls for differential question significance and frequency of occurrence. Thirty‐two subjects were tested in this paradigm, with the skin conductance response as the dependent variable. We examined, within subjects: a) the basic deception comparison which contrasted relatively neutral autobiographical questions answered deceptively with those answered honestly, and b) the mode of answering, which was either an immediate answer to the question (conventional method) or an answer delayed by 10 seconds. The deception phenomenon (greater responding to deceptive relative to honest trials) emerged significantly (and nondifferentially) to both the immediate and delayed questions, but (perhaps because of response interference) not when responding was measured immediately following the delayed answers. Future research should vary other conditions and measure additional dependent variables with the aim of investigating possible psychological and physiological mechanisms, as well as extending the deception phenomenon beyond its present electrodermal form.
A Control System Approach to Cardiovascular Reactivity: Behavioral Models That Behave
Authors: Pavloski Raymond
Published: February 2007

The control system mode of analysis of organism‐environment interactions is described and used to derive an explanation of cardiovascular reactivity. This description reveals that a negative feedback control system continuously realizes a goal or purpose over time by producing output that negates the effects of unpredictable and uncontrollable disturbances on a physical variable corresponding to that purpose.

Data from tracking experiments fit the control system analysis, but cannot be described by S‐O‐R analyses or by cognitive analysis that, unlike the control system analysis, do not correctly introduce physical time. Simple computer simulations of negative feedback control systems produce data that are almost perfectly correlated with each subject's behavior over time–these models behave. The existence of consistent behavioral results despite uncontrollable and unpredictable influences, the simple requirements for a negative feedback system, and the identification of continuously varying purposes as representing the unfolding of behavioral events over time argue for the testable hypothesis that most behavior is produced by negative feedback control.

It is suggested that error in the operation of negative feedback control systems modulates cardiac performance. The ability of control systems to behave gives this explanation advantages over other theories of reactivity. A program for testing this explanation is described.
Stimulus Novelty and Significance as Determinants of Electrodermal Responsivity: The Serial Position Effect
Authors: Ben‐Shakhar Gershon , Asher Tamar , Poznansky‐Levy Aya , Asherowitz Rami , Lieblich Israel
Published: February 2007

Three experiments examined the effects of stimulus novelty and significance on the skin conductance component of the orienting response. The test stimuli used in the different experiments involved either a neutral change in stimulation (i.e., adding or deleting components to the standard stimuli), or an introduction of a significant element to the standard stimulus. The serial position of the test stimulus was manipulated in all three experiments. In Experiment 1, nonsignificant test stimuli were introduced at the second, fourth, sixth, or eighth trial of the complex sequence of eight stimuli (i.e., a sequence comprised of varying standard stimuli). None of the test stimuli produced enhanced skin conductance responses under these conditions. Experiment 2 utilized the same design with only one difference: the test stimuli were presented following a simple stimulus sequence (i.e., repetition of a fixed standard stimulus). In this design enhanced skin conductance responses to the test stimuli were observed in almost all experimental conditions, with an advantage of a late over an early presentation of the test stimulus. Experiment 3 was designed to compare serial position effects of significant and neutral test stimuli. A serial position effect was obtained only for the neutral test stimuli, showing once again an advantage for late presentations. It was suggested that different mechanisms might underlie skin conductance responses to significant stimuli and to novel neutral stimuli.
Components of Type A Behavior and Task‐Induced Cardiovascular Activation
Authors: ÖHman Arne , Nordby Helge , Svebak Sven
Published: February 2007

The present study sought to determine whether there are subcomponents of the Type A behavior pattern that are more closely related to cardiovascular reactivity than others. The components studied were factor analytically derived subscales of the Jenkins Activity Survey denoting Irritation and Impatience, on the one hand, and Hard‐Driving and Competitive, on the other. Heart rate, pulse transit time, forearm electromyography, and palmar skin conductance were measured while the subjects performed a continuous perceptual motor task, as well as during baselines before and after the task. The Irritation and Impatience dimension was consistently related to task‐induced changes in heart rate, both in regression analyses and in extreme group analyses of variance. A significant relation was also observed for pulse transit time but not for electromyography. The Hard‐Driving and Competitive dimension, on the other hand, was not related to any psychophysiological measures. These results were interpreted to mean that Irritable and Impatient subjects showed a cardiovascular reaction pattern indicative of active coping processes during task performance.
The Relationship of Symptomatology and Medication to Electrodermal Activity in Schizophrenia
Authors: Green Michael Foster , Nuechterlein Keith H. , Satz Paul
Published: February 2007

An electrodermal assessment procedure using mild innocuous tones, task‐relevant tones, and loud white noise was administered to a sample of schizophernic patients (n=77). The present study investigated the relationship of schizophrenic symptomatology and anticholinergic level of neuroleptic medication to electrodermal variables. Each patient was evaluated for positive (florid) and negative (defect) symptoms. The neuroleptics that patients received were rated according to their anticholinergic effect.

No significant differences in symptomatology were observed between electrodermal responders and nonresponders; however, nonresponders showed a nonsignificant tendency to have more positive and negative symptoms than responders. Both negative symptoms and anticholinergic levels were significant predictors of lower tonic levels of skin conductance. Patients receiving high anticholinergic neuroleptics showed significantly reduced measures of electrodermal responsivity and tonic levels. Thus, both symptomatology and type of neuroleptic are related to electrodermal measures, with the anticholinergic effect of neuroleptic medication being more pronounced.
Influences of the Normal Menstrual Cycle on Physiologic Functioning During Behavioral Stress
Authors: Stoney Catherine M. , Owens Jane F. , Matthews Karen A. , Davis Mary C. , Caggiula Anthony
Published: February 2007

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of the normal menstrual cycle on lipoprotein, cardiovascular, and neuroendocrine stress responses. Fifteen normally‐cycling, healthy women participated in a series of behavioral tasks during the menstrual, follicular, and luteal phases of their menstrual cycle. These women had established menstrual cycle regularity for the three months prior to enrollment in this study, were free from menstrual cycle disturbances, biochemically confirmed that they ovulated, and displayed appropriate patterns of reproductive hormone fluctuations during the study period. Heart rate, blood pressure, low density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, and total cholesterol all demonstrated significant elevations from baseline levels during tasks. No differences in the magnitude of stress responses during the three menstrual cycle phases were noted for any physiological variable. We conclude that the hormonal fluctuations that occur in healthy, normally‐cycling women during the menstrual cycle do not influence the stress responses that were investigated here. Significant influences of menstrual cycle phase previously reported in the literature, albeit not in a consistent direction, may have been due to the recruitment of women with menstrual cycle irregularities, and to the failure to adequately verify menstrual cycle phase.
Cardiovascular and Metabolic Activity at Rest and During Psychological and Physical Challenge in Normotensives and Subjects With Mildly Elevated Blood Pressure
Authors: Sims Jane , Carroll Douglas
Published: February 2007

Heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and respiratory and metabolic activity were recorded prior to and during mental arithmetic and a video game task in 20 young men with mildly elevated casual systolic blood pressures. Twenty‐five unambiguously normotensive young men were tested under the same protocol. For pretask baseline physiological activity, group differences emerged for all cardiovascular and metabolic variables; thus the elevated blood pressure group displayed not only higher resting cardiovascular levels than normotensive subjects, but higher levels of metabolic activity too. With regard to change in physiological activity from rest to task, the group with mildly elevated blood pressure showed reliably larger increases in heart rate to the mental arithmetic task than the normotensive subjects. These effects, however, were not paralleled by group differences in metabolic activity increase. Physiological measures were also taken prior to and during graded dynamic exercise. The subsequent calculation of individual heart rate‐oxygen consumption exercise regression lines allowed the comparison of actual and predicted heart rates during psychological challenge. The subjects with mildly elevated blood pressure displayed significantly greater discrepancies between actual and predicted heart rate values than normotensives during the psychological tasks in general and menta1 arithmetic in particular. Group differences in physiological activity during exercise largely reflected the pattern seen at rest. A possible exception here was systolic blood pressure. Not only were systolic blood pressure levels higher throughout the exercise phase for mildly elevated blood pressure subjects, but this group evidenced more of an increase from rest to exercise than the normotensives.
Psychophysiological Reactivity in Cardiac Transplant Recipients
Authors: Sloan Richard P. , Shapiro Peter A. , Gorman Jack M.
Published: February 2007

To assess the contribution of the heart's autonomic innervation to reactivity to psychological stressors, hemodynamic responsiveness of the denervated human heart was examined in two studies. In Study 1, cardiac output measured by thermodilution. heart rate, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure responses to a 4‐min mental arithmetic task were studied in 7 cardiac transplant patients during routine post‐transplant cardiac catheterization. In Study II, 6 cardiac transplant patients, 5 normal controls, and 5 renal transplant patients participated in a 78‐min psychophysiological stress protocol during which heart rate, systolic and diastolic pressure, and cardiac output (measured noninvasively by impedance cardiography) as well as serum epinephrine and norepinephrine were measured at baseline and while subjects performed mental arithmetic and reaction time tasks.

In Study I, transplant patients showed significant increases, relative to baseline, in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and cardiac output in response to mental arithmetic. The diastolic blood pressure response was marginally significant. In Study II, mental arithmetic produced significant reactivity in systolic blood pressure and marginally significant increases in heart rate and diastolic blood pressure in cardiac transplant patients. Reaction time produced only marginally significant diastolic blood pressure reactivity. Hemodynamic reactivity of the cardiac transplant group generally was lower than that of the two innervated groups, which generally were similar to each other.

Although the small number of subjects makes conclusions tentative, these data suggest that: 1) Cardiac transplant patients are capable of significant reactivity to psychological stressors despite the absence of innervation of the heart, and 2) reactivity to these stressors is diminished relative to innervated control subjects. In the absence of cardiac innervation, reactivity is due to the vascular system and cardiac effects mediated by humoral factors.
Cross‐Modal Selective Attention Effects on Retinal, Myogenic, Brainstem, and Cerebral Evoked Potentials
Authors: Hackley Steven A. , Woldorff Marty , Hillyard Steven A.
Published: February 2007

Short latency evoked potentials were recorded during a cross‐modal selective attention task to evaluate recent proposals that sensory transmission in the peripheral auditory and visual pathways can be modified selectively by centrifugal mechanisms in humans. Twenty young adult subjects attended in turn to either left‐ear tones or right‐field flashes presented in a randomized sequence, in order to detect infrequent, lower‐intensity targets. Attention‐related enhancement of longer‐latency components, including the visual P105 and the auditory N1/Nd waves and T‐complex, showed that subjects were able to adopt a selective sensory set toward either modality. Neither the auditory evoked brainstem potentials nor the early visual components (electroretinogram, occipito‐temporal N40, P50, N70 waves) were significantly affected by attention. Measures of retinal B‐waves were significantly reduced in amplitude when attention was directed to the flashes, but concurrent recordings of eyelid electromyographic activity and the electro‐oculogram indicated that this effect may have resulted from contamination of the retinal recordings by blink microreflex activity. A trend toward greater positivity in the 15–50 ms latency range for auditory evoked potentials to attended tones was observed. These results provide further evidence that the earliest levels of sensory transmission are unaffected by cross‐modal selective attention, but that longer latency exogenous and endogenous potentials are enhanced to stimuli in the attended modality.