bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Male Sexual Arousal as a Function of the Content and the Vividness of Erotic Fantasy
Authors: Smith David , Over Ray 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTPhysiological and subjective arousal were measured across 5 sessions, each separated by a day or more, in which males attempted to induce erection through fantasy. Stable individual differences in the capacity to achieve voluntary enhancement of penile tumescence were found. The men who were most able to enhance erection were those who reported the greatest use of sexually arousing fantasy themes. In a second experiment, which employed structured rather than unstructured fantasy, sexual arousal was studied as a function of the content of fantasy and tbe vividness with which participants could form images (as assessed by Beits Q.M.I. Scale). Fantasy themes that had been independently rated as high in erotic value produced greater changes in penile circumference relative to baseline than themes of lower erotic value. Men with vivid imagery were more sexually aroused during fantasy than men with non‐vivid imagery. The interaction between the content and vividness of fantasy was not significant. These results indicate that the extent to which men can induce erection through fantasy depends not only on the sexual themes that the men use during fantasy, but on the vividness of the images they form.
Frontal Negative and Parietal Positive Components of the Slow Wave Dissociated
Authors: Loveless N.E. , Simpson M. , Näätänen R. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThe so‐called ‘slow wave’ of tbe event‐related potential is composed of a slow frontal negative shift and a slow parietal positive shift which usually arc both present or both absent in records. A persistent question has been whether these slow shifts are generated by one and the same cerebral process or by two cerebral processes which tend to be evoked in very similar conditions, i.e., whether these two slow shifts can be dissociated. The present paper demonstrates such a dissociation. By recording these shifts to very infrequent auditory stimuli deviating in pitch from the frequent homogeneous stimuli of the sequence, a multitude of such data was obtained which permitted the identification and measurement of the slow frontal negative and the slow parietal positive shifts at the level of single trials. These data revealed no positive relationship between the amplitudes of the two shifts. Rather, the results showed an opposite tendency, i.e., a large frontal negativity was often associated with a small parietal positivity (or none) and vice versa.
Electrodermal Activity in Patients with Huntington's Disease and Their Progeny
Authors: Iacono William G. , Roshi Daniel , Lacoste Diane 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTSkin conductance was examined in patients with Huntington's disease (HD) and progeny at risk for HD to determine if electrodermal characteristics had potential to identify those progeny likely to succumb to HD. The two experimental groups chosen for study consisted of 7 patients in the early stages of HD and 29 progeny of HD patients. Because the HD and at‐risk groups differed in age and sexual composition, each was matched by age and sex to separate psychiatrically and medically healthy normal control samples. Skin conductance was recorded bilaterally while subjects listened to three series of stimuli: 8 85dB tones, 12 105dB tones, and two familiar sounds. Dependent measures included skin conductance level, number of nonspecific responses, number of responses elicited by each tone series and the sounds, the amplitude, latency, rise time, and half‐recovery rime of the first tone‐elicited response in each series, and habituation rate to the soft and loud tones. The data analysis was carried out by comparing each experimental group to its matched comparison sample. A variety of parametric and nonparametric tests were carried out; no significant differences emerged either between the HD patients and their control group or between the at‐risk subjects and their normal comparison group. Ninety‐seven percent and 86% of the at‐risk and HD subjects, respectively, responded at least once to the experimental stimuli, compared to 90% and 86% of the corresponding control groups.
Functional Differences Between Members of the P300 Complex: P3e and P3b
Authors: Ruchkin D.S. , Sutton S. , Mahaffey D. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThe main findings of this study bear upon differences in the functional roles of P3b and a shorter latency, more centrally distributed endogenous positive component denoted as P3e. At the present writing, we have observed P3e only in conjunction with P3b. As in the case of P3b, P3e is fully endogenous in that it can be‐ elicited by omission of a stimulus if stimulus omission conveys relevant information to the subject. It was found that P3e and P3b relate differently to information delivery. Information delivery was manipulated by varying event probabilities and the discriminability of the events. The well known properties of P3b, namely that its amplitude is large when elicited by low probability (high information content) events and is reduced by perceptual difficulty (information loss‐equivocation), were replicated in the current study. In contrast to P3b, variation of event probability had no effect upon P3e amplitude, but increased perceptual difficulty markedly reduced P3e amplitude.In addition, two CNV‐type negativities were observed in the epochs prior to presentation of the informative signal event: 1) A negativity that was maximal over central scalp related to the subject's prediction that a rare or frequent event would be presented; 2) A negativity that was maximal over occipital scalp related to a stimulus that informed the subject whether the subsequent discrimination of the signal would be easy or difficult. Finally, there was a serendipitous Hading of an apparently new short duration component, tentatively labeled Px, which is elicited by presentation of the signal that informs the subject whether the subsequent discrimination will be easy or difficult.
The Effect of Prestimulus Alpha Activity on the P300
Authors: Jasiukaitis Paul , Hakerem Gad 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTTrials on which highly discrepant, auditory ‘oddball’ stimuli were presented were sorted into two bins on the basis of prestimulus alpha band RMS magnitude. The trial bins were then separately averaged to produce a ‘high alpha’ auditory ERP (event‐related potential) and a ‘low alpha’ ERP for each subject. Study 1 found that larger amplitude P300s were obtained in the ‘high alpha’ ERP. No effect of alpha was found on the N100. Study 2 employed extra factors of stimulus intensity change (increases and decreases) and alpha measurement period (before and after the ‘oddball’ stimulus). It was found that P300 amplitude enhancement was independent of both stimulus intensity and the amount of alpha poststimulus. The data are discussed in terms of cascaded inhibition from the mesencephalic reticular formation to nucleus reticularis of the thalamus to a thalamo‐cortical system responsible for the generation of both alpha and the P300.
Circulatory Effects of Anticipation in a Light Isometric Handgrip Test
Authors: Mantysaari Matti J. , Antila Kari J. , Peltonen Tuomas E. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThe effects of anticipation on circulatory reactions to a light isometric handgrip test (5% of maximal force maintained 1 min) and to a sham test, in which the active handgrip was omitted, were studied in a group of 10 young healthy male volunteers. Circulatory parameters were measured using ECG, sphygmomanometry, and impedance cardiography 60 s and 30 s before provocations as well as after 5, 15, 30, 45, and 60 s during provocations (blood pressure after 15, 30, and 45 s) in both supine and upright positions. Before the real handgrip diastolic and mean blood pressure as well as systemic vascular resistance were higher than before the sham test and these differences were similar in the supine and upright positions. In the real handgrip test the elevations in blood pressure and systemic vascular resistance were greater than in the sham test while heart rate, stroke volume, and cardiac index did not show any differences. In the reactions caused by the handgrip, the only difference between the two positions was seen in systolic blood pressure which increased more in the upright position.It is concluded that anticipation of the real handgrip was associated with elevations in blood pressure and systemic vascular resistance as compared to anticipating the sham test, and this difference was similar in the two positions. Thus the anticipatory circulatory alterations did not seem to be dependent on the pre‐test hemodynamic state, which was quite different in the supine and upright positions. The circulatory effects of anticipation and light isometric exercise were rather similar suggesting that the central nervous activation associated with anticipating handgrip is not very different from that associated with the handgrip itself.
Stimulus‐Specific Patterns of Cardiovascular Reactivity in Type A and B Subjects: Evidence for Enhanced Vagal Reactivity in Type B
Authors: Muranaka Motoyasu , Lane James D. , Suarez Edward C. , Anderson Norman B. , Suzuki Jinichi , Williams Redford B. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTRecent evidence suggests that the differences in cardiovascular reactivity between individuals exhibiting the Type A behavior pattern and those that do not are not limited to excessive betaadrenergic reactivity in Type A's. Research also suggests the possibility of a tendency for enhanced alpha‐adrenergically and vagally mediated cardiovascular reactivity in Type B's. In the present study, Type A and Type B subjects were exposed to stressor stimuli known to elicit either betaadrenergic or alpha‐adrenergic and vagal responses in the cardiovascular system. Heart rate, blood pressure, and forearm blood flow and vascular resistance responses were measured. The two Types did not differ in response to the beta‐adrenergic stimulus (mental arithmetic). However, the alpha‐adrenergic/vagal stimulus (cold face stimulus) produced more prolonged heart rate and blood flow responses in Type B subjects. Results suggest that Type B's show hyperreactivity (compared to Type A) when alpha‐adrenergic or vagal cardiovascular responses are elicited. The nature of this hyperreactivity suggests possible mechanisms for reduced cardiovascular disease risk in Type B individuals.
A Comparison of Two Model Systems of Associative Learning: Heart Rate and Eyeblink Conditioning in the Rabbit
Authors: Powell D.A. , Levine‐Bryce Dianne 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTIn four classical conditioning experiments heart period and eyeblink responses were assessed concomitantly. The conditioned stimuli (CSs) were tones and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) was a brief paraorbital electric shock. Using a 0.5‐s duration CS, bradycardiac conditioned responses that consisted of a 4–5 ms change from pre‐CS baseline occurred within 10–20 CS‐UCS presentations. However, eyeblink conditioned responses began to occur only after 100–150 CS–UCS presentations. A 1.0‐s CS duration resulted in bradycardiac conditioned responses of 15–30 ms change from pre‐CS baseline, which again reached asymptote within 10–20 trials. Using a 4‐s CS duration, in a differential classical conditioning paradigm, heart period discrimination between a reinforced CS+ and a nonreinforced CS− occurred within 10 trials; asymptotic performance of the heart period conditioned response occurred within 15 CS‐UCS presentations and consisted of a bradycardiac response of 40–50 ms for the 12th interbeat interval following tone onset. These data thus indicate that these two model systems of mammalian learning (based on heart period and eyeblink responses) show quite different acquisition functions. It is also significant that heart rate slowing always accompanied the eyeblink conditioned responses, even though increases in general electromyographic activity as well as eyeblink conditioned responses were simultaneously observed during CS presentation.
Event‐Related Brain Potentials Reflecting Processing of Relevant and Irrelevant Stimuli During Selective Listening
Authors: Alho K. , Sams M. , Paavilainen P. , Reinikainen K. , Näätänen R. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTEvent‐related brain potentials were recorded from the human scalp during selective listening to tone pips differing in location and/or pitch from irrelevant tones. The subjects' task was to discriminate infrequent deviant tones of lower intensity appearing among designated (relevant) tones. A large processing negativity was observed in the event‐related potentials to relevant tones differing from the irrelevant tones in location even when both tones randomly varied in pitch. Similarly, a large processing negativity was elicited by the relevant tones differing from the irrelevant tones in pitch even when the location of both tones varied randomly. The results support the theory that the processing negativity to relevant stimuli reflects a match of these stimuli with an “attentional trace,' an actively maintained neuronal representation of the physical feature(s) of relevant stimuli that distinguish these stimuli from the irrelevant stimuli. Furthermore, the infrequent lower‐intensity tones appearing among irrelevant tones elicited a mismatch negativity similar to the mismatch negativity elicited by target tones, equivalent lower‐intensity tones appearing among relevant tones. This indicates that these infrequent stimulus changes were automatically discriminated by the generator mechanism associated with mismatch negativity.
Furedy's Straw Man: Wrong Purpose
Authors: Pavloski Raymond 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTFuredy's (1989) characterization of the control system mode of analysis as a teleological form of explanation is based on a definition of purpose that is not used in my paper (Pavloski, 1989). He incorrectly describes reactivity as a controlled variable or condition, and incorrectly describes the control system error theory as not being falsifiable while ignoring the specific testing procedures proposed. His characterization of my diagram of a control system (Figure 1 in Pavloski, 1989) misrepresents the description given in the body of the paper: it is a diagram of cause‐effect relationships that when physically realized produce covariation of a reference signal and a controlled condition; it is not merely a restatement of observations (such as a stated relationship between motivation and performance). Finally, he misrepresents the attempts of theoreticians who attempt to explain emotion and motivation within the context of a mechanism that behaves.
Physiological Response Patterns to Cognitive Testing in Adults With Closed Head Injuries
Authors: Lehrer Paul M. , Groveman Alan , Randolph Christopher , Miller Michael H. , Pollack Irwin 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTPhysiological measures were taken from 7 closed‐head‐injured patients and 7 control subjects while they took a series of cognitive tests: the finger tapping test from the Halstead Reitan battery, the Digit Symbol test from the WAIS‐R, a test of logical memory, and a paced arithmetic test. Physiological reactivity was assessed relative to rest periods, which occurred at the beginning and end of each session. The tests and physiological assessment were administered twice, approximately one month apart. The patient group performed more poorly on the cognitive tests, and showed less physiological reactivity during them than did the control group. This pattern was statistically significant for heart rate, frequency of electrodermal responses, and, during the initial session, respiration rate. The control group also showed greater finger pulse amplitude during the first posttest rest period in the first session, and greater constriction during a logical memory task in the second session. No significant between‐groups differences emerged for state or trait anxiety. The patients showed higher frontalis EMG and respiration rate during rest. These results suggest a pattern of poor physiological modulation for task performance in the patients with closed head injuries. The therapeutic implications are discussed.
Late Components of Auditory Event‐Related Potentials to Eight Equiprobable Stimuli in a Target Detection Task
Authors: McCallum W.C. , Barrett K. , Pocock P.V. 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTFourteen normal subjects undertook a target detection task in which eight different but equiprobable stimuli were presented in an unpredictable sequence (four tone frequencies to either the left or the right ear). One tone/ear combination was designated as a target, to be responded to with a rapid button press. Event‐related potentials were recorded from an array of six scalp electrodes. In Condition 1 no responses were required; in Condition 2 a response was required to the highest tone in one designated ear; in Condition 3 a response was required to the second highest tone in the ear opposite to the Condition 2 target.Event‐related potentials to the no‐task condition (1) included a P3‐type late positive component. P3 increased in amplitude to target tones in Conditions 2 and 3, but showed equally large amplitude increases and some decrease in latency to nontarget tones in those conditions. However, a frontal Slow Wave component was elicited more specifically by target stimuli. An attended ear effect was evident in a processing negativity that extended for some hundreds of milliseconds prefrontally, but tended to be comprised of two separate negativities over fronto‐central locations.
Estimation of Trial‐to‐Trial Variation in Evoked Potential Signals by Smoothing Across Trials
Authors: Turetsky Bruce I. , Raz Jonathan , Fein George 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTAveraging single trial evoked potential data to produce an estimate of the underlying signal obscures trial‐to‐trial variation in the response. We describe a method for estimating slow changes in the evoked potential signal by smoothing the data over trials. We discuss the crucial issue of deciding how much to smooth and suggest that an appropriate smoothing parameter is one that minimizes the estimated mean average square error of the smoothed data. Equations to estimate the mean average square error for a one‐dimensional local linear regression smoother are presented. Performance of the method is assessed using simulated evoked potential data with several different models of a changing signal and different values of the signal‐to‐noise ratio. We find that the method rarely imputes trial‐to‐trial variation to data sets that have an unchanging signal, while it almost always produces less error than averaging when estimating a varying signal. The ability of the method to reveal signal heterogeneity is hampered by very low signal‐to‐noise ratios. When applied to real auditory evoked potential data from a sample of elderly subjects, the method indicated a changing signal in 35% of all subjects and in 56% of subjects with signal‐to‐noise ratios above 0.6. Consistent patterns of variation in the auditory evoked potential were present in this sample.
The Effect of Small Variation of the Frequent Auditory Stimulus on the Event‐Related Brain Potential to the Infrequent Stimulus
Authors: Winkler. Istvan , Paavilainen Petri , Alho Kimmo , Reinikainen Kalevi , Sams Mikko , Naatanen Risto 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTWe investigated whether the mismatch process between a rare stimulus and the trace of frequent stimulus, which generates the mismatch‐negativity component of the event‐related potential, can tolerate a small variation in the intensity of the frequent stimulus. Series of short tone pips were presented to 10 subjects while they were reading a book and ignoring the auditory stimuli. The intensity (mean 80dB) of the frequent stimulus (600 Hz) varied within a range that was different in different blocks. The probability of the infrequent stimuli which were, in different blocks, either intensity deviants (600 Hz/70dB) or frequency deviants (650 Hz/80dB) was 10%. Both deviant stimuli elicited mismatch negativity even when the intensity of the frequent stimulus varied, although the amplitude of this component decreased with the increasing variability of the frequent stimulus. These results show that the generator process of mismatch negativity tolerates some variation in the repetitive stimulus, thus indicating that this process is also activated in ecologically more valid conditions. This is crucial to the interpretation of the generator process of mismatch negativity as a biologically vital warning mechanism.
The Cerebral Laterality of Mental Image Generation in Normal Subjects
Authors: Biggins Christie A. , Turetsky Bruce , Fein George 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTThis research was an attempt to replicate and extend a published study that reported a left hemispheric locus for the generation of mental images. Several methodological problems were addressed, the stability of effects was assessed by repeating the experiment, and P300 latency was measured. A lateralized visual choice reaction time task was performed twice, once without the use of imagery and once with imagery. In each visual field, the use of imagery produced a speeding of reaction times when the target stimuli matched the image generated by the subject. A similar effect was present for P300 latency, and was still present in the reaction time data after partialling out the P300 latency effect. These results indicate that mental imagery can speed both stimulus evaluation and response processing. There was no difference in the amount of speeding for images in the two hemifields, providing no evidence for a preferential locus of mental image generation in either cerebral hemisphere.
Event‐Related Brain Potentials in Selective Listening to Frequent and Rare Stimuli
Authors: Alho Kimmo , Lavikainen Juha , Reinikainen Kalevi , Sams Mikko , Näätänen Risto 
Published: February 2007

ABSTRACTOur previous event‐related brain potential (ERP) results suggest that during selective listening, relevant stimuli are selected for further processing by comparing each stimulus to an “attentional trace,” a neuronal representation of the physical features of the relevant stimuli that distinguish them from the irrelevant stimuli. This comparison process is reflected by the early component of the processing negativity (PN), which is largest and longest to the relevant stimuli (perfectly matching with the trace). In the present study, the subjects selectively listened to designated tone stimuli which randomly appeared among irrelevant tones of a different pitch. The probability of relevant stimuli in a block was varied. The processing negativity elicited by relevant stimuli was smaller the less frequent they were. The results support the attentional‐trace theory of selective attention, which proposes that, in addition to active maintenance, the trace also depends on the rate of sensory reinforcement provided by the relevant stimuli.