bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Responses to Behavioral and Exercise Stress
Authors: Stoney Catherine M. , Langer Alan W. , Gelling Paul D.
Published: February 2007

The present study was designed to compare the differential cardiopulmonary and hemodynamic responses of Type A and B women to an exercise and a psychological stressor. In addition, the effects of menstrual cycle phase on the resting and response levels of a wide range of physiological variables were explored. Thirty‐two women participated in a progressive exercise stress test and a threat of shock video game during both the luteal and follicular phases of the menstrual cycle. Half of these subjects expressed the coronary‐prone behavior pattern referred to as Type A, as assessed by the Jenkins Activity Survey. The remaining women were relatively free of these behaviors (Type B). Heart rate, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, minute ventilation, and end‐tidal carbon dioxide were monitored and recorded on a breath‐by‐breath basis. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure measures were taken at 2‐min intervals.

Results indicated similar baseline, exercise, and behavioral stress responses among Type A and B women. The stress responses were also the same between the follicular and luteal phases for all measured physiological variables. However, resting levels of heart rate, metabolism, and ventilation were all elevated at rest during the luteal phase. A regression analysis based on the exercise heart rate and oxygen consumption data demonstrated that a majority of subjects exhibited heart rate responses in excess of that expected during the psychological stressor. These data are discussed with special reference to possible mechanisms of the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease.
Circadian Temperature Rhythm Power Spectra: Is Equal Sampling Necessary?
Authors: Monk Timothy H. , Fookson Jeffrey E.
Published: February 2007

This paper uses the rectal temperature data from 7 free‐running experiments (132 subject‐days), and 3 forced desynchronization experiments (109 subject‐days) to address the question of whether equal spacing of data points is truly needed in order to estimate the “power spectra’ of circadian rhythmicity in that measure, and thus tau, the best fitting period. In particular, it compares a standard periodogram analysis of minute‐by‐minute temperatures, with a cosinor‐based analysis using only about six readings per day, collected at irregular intervals, limited to the time of wakefulness of the subject. In each case “power spectra’ were created for periods between 22.0h and 27.0h in steps of 0.1h. The results suggested that if there is a sufficiently large number of cycles (>14), and if interest is restricted to the “power spectrum’ and/or tau, then equal spacing is probably not required. In 9 out of the 10 subjects, the two techniques produced almost identical “power spectra’ and estimates of best‐fitting period, with the correlation coefficient between the two “power spectra’ exceeding .8, and the difference between the two estimates of tau never exceeding 18 min.
Bidirectional Voluntary Heart Rate Control During Static Muscular Exercise: Metabolic and Respiratory Correlates
Authors: Moses Jennifer , Clemens William J. , Brener Jasper
Published: February 2007

Following three sessions of instructed HR control with exteroceptive HR feedback (Group IFB) or without feedback (Group IC), subjects were required, on a fourth session, to increase and decrease HR whilst engaging in isometric arm exercises at 10%, 30%, and 50% of their maximal voluntary contractions. Significant increases and decreases from resting levels in HR were recorded during the first three sessions in which no exercise demands were made. When required to control HR whilst exercising, significant increases in HR above exercise‐only baselines were recorded but subjects were unable to decrease HR significantly below exercise‐only baselines. The extent of “voluntary’ HR control was inversely related to the concurrent level of isometric exercise and was unaffected by the provision of exteroceptive HR feedback. Since all significant variations in HR were accompanied by significant parallel variations in oxygen consumption and breathing patterns, it is concluded that subjects were unable to modulate the HR response to exercise.
Psychophysiological Response Patterns to Single, Double, and Triple Stressors
Authors: Myrtek Michael , Spital Susanne
Published: February 2007

Synergistic activation elicited by multiple stressors as compared to single stressors has received little attention in the literature. In the present study, mental arithmetic, cold pressor, and physical exercise tasks were administered to 54 male subjects alone and in all possible simultaneous combinations. The dependent variables measured were heart rate, cardiac output, RZ‐time, blood pressure, respiration rate, tidal volume, respiratory minute volume, oxygen uptake, oxygen equivalent, self‐report data of psychological and somatic tension, pain ratings during the cold pressor test, and performance on mental arithmetic. Results for physiological variables indicate synergistic effects for stressor combinations as compared to single stressors, depending on the respective combination or variable. Contrary to this finding, psychological variables revealed ceiling and depressor effects. Response patterns to the different stressors showed only moderate similarity and exhibited stimulus‐specific effects. Heart rate, diastolic blood pressure, and respiration rate were most appropriate in describing various response patterns.
Cardiovascular Effects of Caffeine and Stress in Regular Coffee Drinkers
Authors: Lane James D. , Williams Redford B.
Published: February 2007

The effects of caffeine on cardiovascular activity at rest and in response to psychological stress were studied in a group of 30 healthy males who were regular coffee drinkers to replicate caffeine‐stress interactions found previously in caffeine‐naive subjects. Measures of heart rate, blood pressure, and forearm blood flow were recorded at rest and during the performance of a stressful mental task in two separate sessions. Caffeine (250 mg) or placebo was administered double‐blind in a within‐subject design. Relative to placebo, caffeine had a pressor effect at rest which persisted during stress and recovery such that blood pressure during stress was higher if caffeine had been consumed. Caffeine also magnified the forearm blood flow and forearm vascular resistance responses to stress, suggestive of a synergistic interaction of caffeine and stress. Analysis of individual difference variables suggested that caffeine effects on the forearm vascular variables were greatest in subjects who were Type B and had a positive family history of hypertension. Results suggest that regular caffeine use does not necessarily lead to tolerance for caffeine‐stress interactions and that certain characteristics may be associated with greater sensitivity to caffeine's effects.
Shock Threat and Sexual Arousal: The Role of Selective Attention, Thought Content, and Affective States
Authors: Beck J. Gayle , Barlow David H. , Sakheim David K. , Abrahamson Daniel J.
Published: February 2007

In an attempt to detail cognitive processes during anxiety and sexual arousal, 16 heterosexual males were presented with brief erotic audiotapes simultaneous with four levels of shock threat (no shock, half tolerance, tolerance, and twice tolerance threat). Subjects were instructed to pay close attention to the audiotapes, following which a sentence recognition task was administered to assess stimulus‐focused attention. Additionally at these times, they were given a thought‐listing task and completed a series of affect ratings. Tumescence and subjective arousal were monitored continuously during the erotic stimuli. Results revealed that tolerance shock threat decreased tumescence (p<.05). In contrast, recognition memory was greatest during tolerance shock threat and diminished during twice tolerance shock threat, which also produced increased reports of emotional stales. Issues regarding the relation between cognition and sexual arousal are discussed, including implications for understanding sexual dysfunction.
Contingent Negative Variation, P3 Evoked Potentials, and Antisocial Behavior
Authors: Raine Adrian , Venables Peter H.
Published: February 2007

While initial investigations have found significantly lower contingent negative variation (CNV) amplitudes in adult, institutionalised antisocial groups, others have found either no group differences or significantly higher amplitudes. This study attempts to circumvent some methodological and conceptual problems in previous stud its by assessing CNV in a classical forewarned reaction time experiment in two samples of non‐institutionalised normal adolescents where behavioral ratings and self‐report measures were used to define Antisocial and Pro social groups. A trend toward higher P3 amplitudes to the warning stimulus (SI) observed in a previous study was also investigated by recording evoked potentials to SI. Results indicated no significant group differences in CNV and Nl amplitudes, but a significantly larger P3 amplitude in the Antisocial group in both subject samples. This latter result was viewed as consistent with Jutai and Hare's (1983) finding that psychopathic anti socials have a heightened capacity to attend to events of immediate interest.
Slow Wave Sleep Deficiency Insomnia: A Problem in Thermo‐Downregulation at Sleep Onset
Authors: Sewitch Deborah E.
Published: February 2007

The following review article attempts to develop the argument that a regulated, rapid drop in rectal, core‐body temperature following sleep onset is a necessary prerequisite to the presence of sustained slow wave sleep (NREM Stage 4). Based upon this premise, a theory1 is presented to suggest that the slow wave sleep deficiency so commonly associated with chronic, primary insomnia (Gaillard, 1976, 1978) is the result of a failure in the thermoregulatory system to show a regulated, rapid decrease in body temperature with sleep onset which persists for the first 1–2 hrs into the sleep period.
Parameters of the Orcadian Temperature Rhythm Using Sparse and Irregular Sampling
Authors: Monk Timothy H.
Published: February 2007

This study addresses the question of whether reliable estimates of phase, level, and size of oscillation of the human dread inn temperature rhythm can be obtained using a “sparse and irregular” sampling strategy (every two hours, but limited to normal wakefulness (08W‐2200)) and a method of analysis based upon fitted sinusoids. The data set comprised continuously monitored rectal temperature collected for between 4 and 6 days from a heterogeneous group of 13 healthy subjects (4 female, age range 37–81) entrained to their habitual sleep/wake cycle under conditions of temporal isolation. The first analysis used only sinusoid‐based parameters (acrophase, mesor, and amplitude) comparing “frequent and regular” (every 30 min around (the clock) with “sparse and irregular” sampling strategies. Significant positive correlations were obtained (r >.78, p < .001 in all cases) between the two strategies, indicating that at least half of the variance could be explained by a linear relationship between the two. The second analysis compared sinusoid‐based sparse sampling parameters of phase, level, and size of oscillation, with equivalent measures obtained by an analysis that made no assumptions about the sinusoidality of the data. Again, significant positive correlations were obtained (r > .70, p < .005) confirming the possible value of sparse and irregular sampling strategies.
The Effects of a Psychological Stressor on Cigarette Smoking and Subsequent Behavioral and Physiological Responses
Authors: Pomerleau Cynthia S. , Pomerleau Ovide F.
Published: February 2007

Stressful stimuli have been reported to trigger increased smoking. The present experiment involved induction of differing levels of performance anxiety in 10 male smokers. In the high anxiety condition, subjects performed mental arithmetic with competitive pressure; in the low anxiety control condition, no competitive pressure was applied. Both sessions included smoking and sham smoking trials. Scores on the Profile of Mood States showed significantly more anxiety on the day of the high anxiety session than on the day of the low anxiety session, confirming the effectiveness of anxiety‐induction procedures. Nicotine intake as inferred from topographical measures was significantly greater under conditions of high anxiety. Greater post‐smoking decreases in anxiety in the high‐anxiety condition, as compared to the low‐anxiety condition and the two sham‐smoking conditions, were also observed. Both smoking and anxiety level significantly increased heart rate; lack of statistical interaction suggests additive rather than potentiating effects. Peripheral skin temperature rose in response to mental arithmetic, a trend counteracted by smoking. No significant smoking‐related changes in performance were found.
The Effects of Spatial Selective Attention on the Somatosensory Event‐Related Potential
Authors: Michie Patricia T. , Bearparic Helen M. , Crawford June M. , Glue Len C.T.
Published: February 2007

Event‐related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a selective attention task involving weak or strong electrical stimuli delivered to the index fingers of the left and right hands. In an attend weak condition, subjects were asked to count the number of weak stimuli (targets) interspersed amongst strong stimuli (standards) delivered to a designated hand, whilst ignoring a similar set of stimuli delivered to the other hand. In an attend strong condition, subjects were asked to count the number of strong targets interspersed amongst weak stimuli. In both conditions, targets and standards occurred with probabilities of .10 and .40 respectively on each hand. Counting weak targets was found to be more difficult than counting strong targets. The latency of the earliest significant effect of selective attention on ERPs to standards was dependent on stimulus intensity: N80 in the case of weak standards, P105 for strong standards. There was no evidence of a later prolonged negative shift in attended standard ERPs. Rather, an enhanced N150 component post‐centrally was followed by a prolonged positive shift of attended standard ERPs. This Late positive shift had a similar scalp distribution to the late positive component elicited by attended target stimuli.
Hemispheric Asymmetry and Human Classical Conditioning to Verbal and Non‐Verbal Visual CSs
Authors: Hugdahl Kenneth , Kvale Gerd , Nordby Helge , Overmier J. Bruce
Published: February 2007

A new paradigm called “the dichoplic acquisition paradigm” was developed to study Ihc effects of hemispheric asymmetry on classical etcctrodcrmal conditioning. The paradigm involves three phases: 1) A habituation phase where two different color‐words written in two incongruent colors are tachistoscopically displayed bilaterally to the visual half‐fields left and right of center fixation; 2) An acquisition phase, wherein the display is followed by a 105dB white noise on each trial; and 3) An extinction phase, where each of the four CS cues (two color‐words and two colors) are separately presented bilaterally for simultaneous input to both hemispheres. Here the color‐words are now presented in grey against a black background, and the colors as color‐bars against the same background. A control group had no UCS presentations. Bilateral skin conductance responses (SCRs) of right‐handed males were used to evaluate conditioning. Conditioning to the CS color‐word previously presented in the right half‐field (i.e. initial left‐hemisphere input) during acquisition led to larger SCRs during extinction, than the color‐word previously presented in the left half‐held (i.e. initial right‐hemisphere input). In contrast, the CS color cue previously presented in the left half‐field during acquisition resulted in larger SCRs during the first extinction trial, than the CS color cue previously presented in the right half‐field. Thus, the present experiment revealed effects of hemispheric asymmetry on human electrodermal conditioning.
Combined Use of Microreflexes and Event‐Related Brain Potentials as Measures of Auditory Selective Attention
Authors: Hackley Steven A. , Woldorff Marty , Hillyard Steven A.
Published: February 2007

Two versions of a selective listening experiment were conducted in an attempt to specify the level of the nervous system at which selective attention first influences auditory information processing. Post‐auricular reflexes (PARs), preputse inhibition of reflexes, and the N1 component of the event‐related potential (ERP) were measured concurrently to assess auditory processing in the hindbrain. midbrain. and forebrain. respectively. Sequences of intense, reflex‐eliciting tones were presented to the two ears in random order and at a rapid rate as subjects listened to a designated ear to detect rare tones of slightly lower intensity. The ERPs showed the typical enhancement of early and late negativity (Nd) to attended car tunes, with the early Nd overlapping the evoked N1 component. Although there was an overall effect of attention direction on the efferent limb of the post‐auricular reflex, no effect of selective attention on the afferent limb was observed. A selective sensory attentional effect was found for prepulse inhibition of the post‐auricular reflex: Inhibition of PAR amplitude was enhanced when the immediately preceding tone was in the attended ear relative to when it was in the unattended ear. These results, together with findings from prior studies of reflexes and ERPs. indicate that evoked auditorv activity in the lower brainstem is obligatory and invariant with attention, whereas later activity mediated in the upper brainstem can be modulated by attention.
The Influence of Aerobic Exercise on Physiological Stress Responsivity
Authors: Plante Thomas G. , Karpowitz Dennis
Published: February 2007

The present study examined the relationship between aerobic exercise participation and physiological stress responsivity to psychosocial stressors. Male subjects (N = 107) who were either intense aerobic exercisers, moderate aerobic exercisers, or nonexereisers completed a telephone interview, a personality assessment battery, a life stress questionnaire, and a physical exercise and hobby questionnaire. Subjects then participated in a stressful laboratory procedure where they faced two stressors: an electric shock procedure, and a difficult “intelligence test.” Pulse rate, finger pulse volume, and skin resistance were assessed during the entire laboratory procedure.

Although results demonstrated consistent significant cardiovascular (i.e., pulse rate and pulse volume) differences among the exercise groups during the entire laboratory procedure in that exercisers were less physiologically reactive to the stressors and the recovery periods, most of these results failed to reach significance when statistically controlling for the baseline/anticipation‐of‐stressors physiological measures. The implications of this study for further research are discussed.
Acceleration of the Menstrual Cycle by Intercourse
Authors: Stanislaw Harold , Rice Frank J.
Published: February 2007

Hazard statistics were applied to an extensive set of prospective data to test for an acceleration of the menstrual cycle by intercourse. Intercourse appeared to accelerate both the basal body temperature (BBT) shift and the onset of menses. Menses was accelerated more by a combination of follicular and luteal intercourse than by luteal intercourse alone (using the BBT shift as an ovulation indicator). The accelerator effects of intercourse therefore appear to cumulate across the menstrual cycle.
Effects of Auditory Stimulation on Respiration
Authors: Harver Andrew , Kotses Harry
Published: February 2007

Each of 40 college students received 6 presentations of white noise at an intensity of either SO or 110 dB during either inspiration or expiration. Changes in tidal volume, inspiratory period, and expiratory period elicited by that stimulation were studied. Auditory stimulation produced respiratory changes which could be regarded conveniently as two phasic responses. We labeled these responses the initial phasic response and the delayed phasic response. The initial response was limited to the respiratory period during which stimulation was delivered, it consisted of a brief inspiratory movement which increased the speed of inspiratory periods during which it occurred but decreased the speed of expiratory periods during which it occurred. In either case, the initial phasic response increased ventilation. The delayed phasic response was an increase both in speed and tidal volume of respiratory cycles subsequent to the period during which stimulation was delivered. Like the initial response, the delayed response increased ventilation. The effects of the delayed response were more widespread when stimulation was delivered during expiration rather than during inspiration. Stimulus intensity and stimulus repetition respectively potentiated and attenuated both the initial and the delayed phasic response. The findings are compared with those of earlier research on respiratory changes elicited by auditory stimulation.
Comparison of P300 from a Passive Tone Sequence Paradigm and an Active Discrimination Task
Authors: Polich John
Published: February 2007

The P300 (P3) event‐related potential elicited with a passive tone sequence paradigm was compared with an active auditory discrimination task. Each stimulus situation was replicated successively to study repetition effects. The first stimulus of the tone sequences produced a positive‐going potential with a scalp distribution and peak latency similar to the P3 from the active discrimination task, although its amplitude was smaller than that obtained from the active paradigm. The first block of trials demonstrated the strongest correlations for both P3 latency and amplitude between the sequence and discrimination tasks. The results suggest that the passive tone sequence paradigm may provide P3 measures which approximate those acquired from an active discrimination task.
Electrogastrography: Current Issues in Validation and Methodology
Authors: Stern Robert M. , Koch Kenneth L. , Stewart William R. , Vasey Michael W.
Published: February 2007

In this review we present some current applications of electrogastrography, relationships between the electrogastrogram (EGG) and electrical and contractile activity of the stomach, EGG recording technique, and the current status of electrogastrography. The authors conclude the following: (1) The 3 cpm frequency of the EGG reflects the frequency of pacesetter potentials occurring at the serosal and mucosal surfaces of the stomach. (2) An increase in the contractile activity of the corpnsantrum is associated with an increase in the amplitude of the 3 cpm EGG signal. (3) Tachygastria (5–9 cpm waves) recorded with the EGG reflects identical frequencies recorded with mucosal electrodes from the gastric antrum. (4) Low frequency components (approximately 1 cpm) appear in the EGG signal but their physiological significance is unknown at this time.
Enhanced P3 Evoked Potentials and Longer P3 Recovery Times in Psychopaths
Authors: Raine Adrian , Venables Peter H.
Published: February 2007

A recent study by Raine and Venables (1987) reported increased P3 amplitudes in antisocial adolescents, a replicable result indicating enhanced processing of task‐relevant events. The present study assesses whether adult psychopaths similarly show enhanced P3 amplitudes; latency of P3 recovery to baseline was also measured to assess Jutai et al.'s (1987) finding of sustained late positivity in psychopaths. EPs were measured at T3, T4, P3, and P4 to targets and nontargets during a continuous performance task in 14 psychopathic and 14 nonpsychopathic top‐security prisoners. Psychopaths showed larger P3 amplitudes to targets relative to nontargets at parietal but not temporal sites, and larger P3 recovery times. Psychopaths also scored higher on WAIS subtests sensitive to parietal lobe functioning but not on non‐parietal subtests. No laterality effects were uncovered to support a left hemisphere dysfunction theory of psychopathy. It is argued that this evidence for proficient information‐processing on parietal‐related tasks may underlie clinical reports of enhanced short‐term attentional ability in psychopaths.
Attentional Effects on Sexual Arousal
Authors: Dekker Joost , Everaerd Walter
Published: February 2007

Lang's theory on emotions was applied to the sexual response: the cognitive processing of information on sexual responses (in contrast to information on sexual stimuli) was predicted to elicit the sexual response. Each of 48 men and 48 women imagined a sexual interaction, looked at a series of slides, and listened to an erotic story. Subjects were instructed to attend to images of sexual stimuli or to images of sexual stimuli plus responses. During imagery the genital response and the experience of sexual arousal were stronger when subjects focused on stimuli plus responses than when they focused on stimuli only. This effect occurred in both men and women. During slides and story a similar effect was found in men, but not in women. The genital response and the experience of sexual arousal were found to correlate more strongly when attentional focus was on stimuli plus responses instead of on stimuli only: in women, and, although marginally significant, also in men.
Electrodermal Lability Predicts Presentation Rate Effects and Stimulant Drug Effects on Paired Associate Learning in Hyperactive Children
Authors: Conte Richard , Kinsbourne Marcel
Published: February 2007

Hyperactive children were divided into three groups (electrodermal labiles, electrodermal stabiles, and a medium group which fell in between) on the basis of the frequency of spontaneous electrodermal activity. Subsequent tests on a paired associate learning task revealed that the stabiles and medium groups performed poorly when stimulus‐response pairs were presented at a relatively slow rate, while for labiles there was no difference across rates. Treatment with stimulant medication abolished the differences across rates for the stabiles and the medium groups, but led to significantly more learning on the fast rate relative to the slow rate for labiles. While the placebo findings were consistent with a low arousal view of hyperactivity, the drug results suggested that stimulant medication corrects an imbalance in the mechanisms which govern sensitivity to task‐related stimulation, but induces an imbalance where none is present on placebo.
Eye Movements and the Detection of Sleep Onset
Authors: Ogilvie Robert D. , Mcdonagh Donna M. , Stone Sharonne N. , Wilkinson Robert T.
Published: February 2007

The convergence of behavioral, EEG, and respiratory measures has been shown to increase the accurate detection of sleep onset (SO) (Ogilvie, 1985; Ogilvie & Wilkinson, 1984). The present investigation used a behavioral response (BR) measure and standard EEG indices to examine slow eye movement (SEM) activity during the transition from wakefulness to sleep. Several methods of scoring and assessing slow eye movements were employed in order to determine their usefulness as an index in the detection of sleep onset. Correlations between SEM activity and behavioral and EEG sleep stages were low to moderate. In multiple regression analyses, slow eye movements were shown to be a fairly stable but less powerful predictor of sleep onset than either behavioral or EEG measures. The data confirmed earlier observations linking the appearance of slow rolling eye movements with drowsiness and the disappearance of them with the beginning of behaviorally defined sleep. In most people this pattern is consistent enough to be useful in studying sleep onset. The applicability of this measure as a co‐indicator of sleep onset was discussed.
Cardiovascular Responses to Mental Arithmetic and Handgrip During Different Conditions of Postural Change
Authors: Goldstein Iris B. , Shapiro David
Published: February 2007

Twenty healthy male subjects, aged 18–29 yrs, were studied during three sequences of four different postural trials‐sitting, sitting to standing, standing, and standing to sitting. The first sequence was a baseline, without other stimulation. In the remaining two, subjects performed a mental arithmetic task and an isometric handgrip task during each trial (counterbalanced). Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and skin conductance were recorded during the trials. The physiological responses to the two tasks were shown to vary as a function of the specific postural trial. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were generally more sensitive to these effects than heart rate or skin conductance. The two tasks facilitated increases in blood pressure during the sitting to standing trials, especially during the standing phase. The increases in blood pressure were comparable to those reported previously for voluntary control and biofeedback procedures. Mental and physical strategies are effective in increasing blood pressure during postural change and may be useful in the management of orthostatic hypotension.
Cardiovascular Reactivity to Psychological Stress in Healthy Children
Authors: Murphy Joseph K. , Alpert Bruce S. , Willey Elaine S. , Somes Grant W.
Published: February 2007

Cardiovascular reactivity to stress has been implicated as a marker and/or mechanism in the development of cardiovascular disease. No normative data exist to classify children's reactivity to psychological stress. This investigation presents normative percentile data on the hemodynamic responses (heart rate and blood pressure) of 310 healthy, black or white, children between the ages of 6 and 18 years to the stress of a television video game. A series of three video games, played under three increasing levels of stress, elicited progressively higher values of blood pressure and heart rate. Both the child's race and gender, as well as the experimenter's race, significantly affected reactivity. Children demonstrated a wide range of interchild reactivity, thus allowing separation of individuals into high and low risk percentile groups.
Parental History of Hypertension and Myocardial Infarction Predicts Cardiovascular Responses to Behavioral Stressors in Middle‐aged Men and Women
Authors: Stoney Catherine M. , Matthews Karen A.
Published: February 2007

The present study had two objectives: to examine the influence of parental history of hypertension on cardiovascular responses during behavioral stress in middle‐aged men and women; and to study the impact of parental history of myocardial infarction on stress responses. Participants were separated into four groups: no parental history of cardiovascular disease; parental history of hypertension only; parental history of myocardial infarction only; or parental history of both hypertension and myocardial infarction. Heart rate and blood pressure were monitored at rest and during serial subtraction, mirror image tracing, and isometric handgrip. Analyses of residualized difference scores showed that like younger, male offspring of hypertensives, middle‐aged men and women with a parental history of hypertension exhibited exaggerated diastolic blood pressure responses during all stressors. Men with a parental history of myocardial infarction, with or without a parental history of hypertension, exhibited exaggerated systolic blood pressure responses during all stressors. These data are the first to show that family history of hypertension influences middle‐aged men's and women's stress responses, and that family history of myocardial infarction influences men's stress responses. Results suggest the importance of parental history of cardiovascular diseases in understanding acute psychophysiological responses of middle‐aged adults.
Toward a Functional Categorization of Slow Waves
Authors: Ruchkin Daniel S. , Johnson Ray , Mahaffey David , Sutton Samuel
Published: February 2007

This study is concerned with slowly varying, long‐duration brain event‐related potential (ERP) components, referred to as Slow Wave activity. Slow Wave activity can be observed in the epoch following P3b, suggesting that it reflects further processing invoked by increased task demands, beyond the processing that underlies P3b. The present experiment was designed to distinguish Slow Wave activity related to specific types of task demands which arise during difficult perceptual (pattern recognition) and conceptual (arithmetic) mental operations.

Three late ERP components that respond differentially in amplitude to manipulation of perceptual and conceptual difficulty were identified: 1) A P3b, with a topography focused about Pz, evidently related to the subjective categorization of easy and difficult conceptual operations, that increased when the subjective low‐probability operation was performed; 2) A longer latency, centroparietal positive Slow Wave that increased directly with perceptual difficulty but was not affected by conceptual difficulty; 3) A very long latency negative Slow Wave, broadly distributed over centroposterior scalp, that increased directly with conceptual difficulty while its onset was delayed when perceptual difficulty increased.
Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Bilateral Electrodermal Measures of the Orienting Reflex
Authors: Lyvers Michael , Boyd Gayle , Maltzman Irving
Published: February 2007

Bilateral skin conductance was recorded in 6 male and 6 female smokers and in 6 male and 6 female nonsmokers on two different days. On the first day, a 10‐min rest period during which 3 male and 3 female smokers smoked a cigarette was followed by a taped series of common and uncommon innocuous tone stimuli to which evoked responses were measured. Nonsmokers did not smoke prior to presentation of the tones. On the second day, one week later, evoked responding was again measured during two further presentations of the tone stimuli after a 10‐min rest period during which the remaining smokers smoked a cigarette. During the first presentation, subjects listened to the tones as before. During the second presentation, subjects performed a pedal‐press whenever they heard the uncommon tone in the series. Results showed that smoking depressed responding to common and uncommon tones on the first day, but elevated responding to both tones on the second day during the passive listening phase. During the pedal‐press task, smoking selectively elevated responding to uncommon tones. Male smokers gave larger responses to uncommon tones in their left than right hands during the pedal‐press task, especially after smoking. Results are interpreted in terms of nicotine‐induced enhancement of the voluntary orienting reflex possibly mediated by the left frontal cortex.
The Effect of Repeated Tense‐Release Sequences on EMG and Self‐Report of Muscle Tension: An Evaluation of Jacobsonian and Post‐Jacobsonian Assumptions About Progressive Relaxation
Authors: Lehrer Paul M. , Batey David M. , Woolfolk Robert L. , Remde Alan , Garlick Talma
Published: February 2007

This study tested three psychophysiological hypotheses generated from assumptions underlying post‐Jacobsonian progressive relaxation techniques and assumptions that conflict with the rationale for Jacobson's progressive relaxation method. Twenty‐eight subjects tensed and released tension from the forearm extensor and frontalis muscles during a series of trials interspersed with intervals of relaxation. Correlations between self‐report of tension and EMG were moderate during relaxation, but did not increase across successive tense‐release trials, thus indicating no increase in self‐awareness of muscle tension. As predicted by Jacobson, paying attention to either muscle produced increased tension in the frontal area, but Jacobson's prediction of increases in forearm tension while paying attention to the forearm was not confirmed. Evidence was equivocal for the existence of the “pendulum effect” predicted by Bernstein and Borkovec. Tense‐release trials produced gradual decreases in frontal EMG, but no changes in forearm EMG. Declines below baseline in self‐reported muscle tension occurred only several minutes after the end of the tense‐release trials, and did so for the forearm despite lack of EMG decreases in that area. This finding may reflect the influence of cognitive rather than muscular processes.
Psychophysiological Correlates of Electrodermal Lability
Authors: Schell Anne M. , Dawson Michael E. , Filion Diane L.
Published: February 2007

This study of 75 college student subjects investigated the psychophysiological correlates of electrodermal lability. Resting‐stabile and resting‐labile subjects were defined as those who were respectively below and above the median of all same‐sex subjects in frequency of nonspecific skin conductance responses during rest, whereas stimulus‐stabile and stimulus‐labile subjects were those respectively below and above the median in trials to habituation of the skin conductance orienting response. These two classification systems were found to be highly correlated with one another, but not entirely equivalent. With both lability measures, labiles had higher resting skin conductance levels than stabiles and also exhibited larger skin conductance orienting responses to both signal and nonsignal tones. Labiles produced orienting responses with shorter latencies, rise times, and half recovery‐times. Resting‐labiles also differed from resting‐stabiles in the components of the triphasic heart rate response to the tones, having larger decelerative responses. The data are consistent with the view that labiles are better able than stabiles to allocate attentional capacity to environmental events and to respond to changing demands in an attentional situation.
Sex Differences in Lipid, Lipoprotein, Cardiovascular, and Neuroendocrine Responses to Acute Stress
Authors: Stoney Catherine M. , Matthews Karen A. , Mcdonald Robert H. , Johnson Cheryl A.
Published: February 2007

This study had two objectives: (a) to examine whether or not lipids and lipoproteins change in response to acute behavioral stress in young adults; and (b) to test the extent of sex differences in the magnitude of the lipid, lipoprotein, neuroendocrine, and cardiovascular changes during stress. Nineteen women and 22 men participated in a serial subtraction task, a videotaped speech task, and a self‐evaluation task. The cholesterol portions of low density and high density lipoproteins, triglycerides, free fatty acids, epinephrine, norepinephrine, heart rate, and blood pressure were examined at rest and during each stressor. Repeated measures analyses of variance indicated that stress‐related levels of low density and high density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, triglycerides, free fatty acids, norepinephrine, heart rate, and blood pressure were elevated, relative to baseline, and that these responses were partially task or order dependent. Subsequent analyses of sex differences showed that males had larger low density lipoprotein‐cholesterol and blood pressure increases during all tasks, relative to those of females, and females had larger heart rate responses to the speech task, relative to those of males. There were no sex differences in plasma catecholamine adjustments. These data demonstrate that the cholesterol fractions of high and low density lipoproteins increase during acute psychological stress, and are the first to systematically examine male/female differences in those stress responses.
Event‐Related Potentials During Memory Search and Selective Attention to Letter Size and Conjunctions of Letter Size and Color
Authors: Wijers Albertus A. , Mulder Gijsbertus , Okita Tsunetaka , Mulder Lambertus J.M.
Published: February 2007

The analysis of event‐related potentials was used in two experiments to investigate the structure of information processing in a task in which subjects selectively attended to letter size (Experiment 1) or a conjunction of letter size and color (Experiment 2) and searched for target letters within the attended stimulus category. The event‐related potentials showed that selective attention to letter size resulted in the enhancement of a central N2b component (onset about 200 ms), which was assumed to reflect feature nonspecific orienting of attention. When attention was directed to conjunctions of letter size and color an earlier effect was found (onset about 150 ms) consisting of positivity at the anterior electrodes and negativity at Oz. This earlier effect was assumed to reflect feature‐specific selective processing. Although the early effect showed a hierarchical pattern of results, in which the effect of attending to size was contingent on the relevance of the color attribute, the N2b showed a more independent pattern of results, in which the relevance of either the color or the size attribute resulted in an enhancement of this component, independent of the relevance of the other attribute. An increase in the duration of the memory search process resulted in a prolonged negativity with an onset of about 200 ms which was maximal at Cz. In both experiments the initial phase of this negativity was also found in the event‐related potentials to the unattended stimulus categories, suggesting that the search process was initiated nonselectively and terminated after the selection cues were identified. Detection of attended target letters resulted in a parietal P3b component. In both experiments there was an earlier effect discriminating targets and nontargets in the range 200–300 ms.
Evidence for Circadian Influence on Human Slow Wave Sleep During Daytime Sleep Episodes
Authors: Campbell Scott S. , Zulley Juergen
Published: February 2007

The occurrence of slow wave sleep within spontaneously initiated daytime sleep episodes was studied to examine hypothesized associations with prior wakefulness and circadian factors. There was a strong relationship between measures of slow wave sleep and the proximity of sleep episodes to the maximum of body core temperature. Those sleep episodes that began within 4 hours of the maximum in body core temperature contained significantly more slow wave sleep than did all other daytime sleep periods, approximating proportions typical of nocturnal sleep. Multiple regression analysis revealed no relationship between measures of slow wave sleep and prior wakefulness. These findings are consistent with an hypothesized approximately‐12‐hour rhythm in the occurrence of slow wave sleep and they underscore the influence imposed on human sleep by the endogenous circadian timing system.
Event‐Related Potentials, Spatial Orienting, and Reading Disabilities
Authors: Harter M. Russell , Anllo‐Vento Lourdes , Wood Frank B.
Published: February 2007

Event‐related potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate the effects of visual‐spatial orienting on selective neural processing in boys with learning disabilities. Twenty‐seven 8–12 year old boys were classified into four groups depending on whether or not they had a reading disability or attention deficit disorder. Event‐related potentials were recorded over the left and right occipital, central, and frontal cortical regions. The behavioral task required the subjects 1) to rapidly switch their attention from the center to the periphery of the visual field (spatial component), and 2) to selectively respond to a target versus a nontarget flash when the target was presented in the relevant visual field (nonspatial component).

The amplitude of two ERP components was enhanced in response to relevant as compared to irrelevant stimuli. The enhancement of an early negative occipital‐central component, which peaked 180–200 ms following targets (N1), indicated that selective neural processing associated with spatial attention could be switched in 600 ms. This enhancement of N1 was greater in boys with than without a reading disability, which implies that reading disability is associated with enhanced spatial attention. The enhancement of a later positive component, which peaked 300–340 ms following targets (P3), suggested that nonspatial target selection was reduced in boys with a reading disability, particularly over the left occipital hemisphere. Target relevance and reading disability also influenced trial‐to‐trial variability in the ERP waveform. The effects of reading disability on event‐related potentials did not vary as a function of attention deficit disorder, indicating that these two disorders are distinct.
On Approaches to Explaining Cardiovascular Reactivity: Toward Explanations that Explain
Authors: Furedy John J.
Published: February 2007

The control‐system mode of analysis proposed by Pavloski for cardiovascular reactivity phenomena is a purposive or teleological form of explanation, because the explicans has purpose as the central term. The problem with such explanations is that they are circular and empty, providing only a rhetorical feeling of understanding, and absence of strong‐inference research. The S‐O‐R approach, which Pavlovski opposes, provides at least the potential for non‐circular explanations, provided that the O‐related explanatory constructs are specified in normal cause‐effect terms so that, in another context, the explicans can also serve as an explicandum, and vice‐versa. Pavloski may be right in suggesting that the evidence requires a feedback, “control‐system’ construct to account for cardiovascular reactivity phenomena (although he is far from having proved this in his paper), but such a view would need to be supplemented by (non‐purposive) control‐system explanations that really explain in the logical rather than the merely rhetorical sense of that term.
A Psychometric Study of Surface Electrode Placements for Facial Electromyographic Recording: I. The Brow and Cheek Muscle Regions
Authors: Tassinary Louis G. , Cacioppo John T. , Geen Thomas R.
Published: February 2007

Despite the burgeoning literature using facial electromyography (EMG) to study cognitive and emotional processes, the psychometric properties of facial EMG measurement have received little attention. Two experiments were conducted to assess the reliability and validity of facial EMG as a measure of specific facial actions. In Experiment 1, two recording sites in the brow region were compared for their ability to differentiate facial actions hypothesized to be due to the activation of the corrugator supercilii from facial actions presumed to be due to the activation of proximate muscles (e.g. depressor supercilii, procerus, frontalis, levator labii superioris alaeque nasi, orbicularis oculi), and four sites in the infraorbital triangle were compared for their ability to differentiate facial actions hypothesized to be due to the activation of the zygomaticus major from facial actions presumed to be due the activation of proximate muscles (e.g. zygomaticus minor, risorius, buccinator, orbicularis oculi, orbicularis oris). Fifteen subjects were instructed to pose a series of facial actions while EMG activity was sampled simultaneously at all sites. In Experiment 2, 5 subjects returned to the laboratory for a more extensive investigation of surface EMG activity over the zygomaticus major muscle region. The results of this experiment confirmed the findings of Experiment 1. Overall, the results demonstrate that certain recording sites located over specific facial muscle regions are more sensitive and valid indices of particular facial actions than other nearby sites.