Physiological reactivity as a predictor of performance in a vigilance task

The experiment was designed to determine the value of measures of physiological activity as predictors of performance in a vigilance task. Subjects, for whom resting (EEG, heart rate, and skin conductance) and response (electrodermal) measures were available, were given an auditory vigilance task. Overall vigilance performance was significantly correlated with one measure of electrodermal habituation, latency of response to the first of a series of stimuli, and total number of responses to stimuli. None of the measures of resting physiological activity were significantly related to vigilance performance. The results are discussed in terms of Mackworth's (1969) theory of vigilance.     

Neural correlates of error processing reflect individual differences in interoceptive sensitivity

Although self-monitoring is an important process for adaptive behaviors in multiple domains, the exact relationship among different internal monitoring systems is unclear. Here, we aimed to determine whether and how physiological monitoring (interoception) and behavioral monitoring (error processing) are related to each other. To this end we examined within-subject correlations among measures representing each function. Score on the heartbeat counting task (HCT) was used as a measure of interoceptive awareness. The amplitude of two event-related potentials (error-related negativity [ERN] and error-positivity [Pe]) elicited in error trials of a choice-reaction task (Simon task) were used as measures of error processing. The Simon task presented three types of stimuli (objects, faces showing disgust, and happy faces) to further examine how emotional context might affect inter-domain associations. Results showed that HCT score was robustly correlated with Pe amplitude (the later portion of error-related neural activity), irrespective of stimulus condition. In contrast, HCT score was correlated with ERN amplitude (the early component) only when participants were presented with disgust-faces as stimuli, which may have automatically elicited a physiological response. Behavioral data showed that HCT score was associated with the degree to which reaction times slowed after committing errors in the object condition. Cardiac activity measures indicated that vigilance level would not explain these correlations. These results suggest a relationship between physiological and behavioral monitoring. Furthermore, the degree to which behavioral monitoring relies on physiological monitoring appears to be flexible and depend on the situation.     

Behavior of Kibbutz and Urban Children Receiving an Injection

This study attempted to demonstrate the usefulness of uncomplicated psychophysiological measures applied in a real-life setting involving stress. The Ss were 17 Kibbutz girls and 19 Urban girls who received immunization needles in varied contexts. Measures of the 12-yr-olds included heart rates (HR) taken at the wrist and finger sweat prints (FS) recorded one day before, immediately before, and one week after Ss received their needles. Supplementary verbal rating scales and behavioral observations added validity to the physiological indices. A lower HR of Kibbutz Ss immediately before their injections (p<01) accurately predicted their more relaxed behavior to needle penetration (p<.001). FS was of limited validity being masked completely by ambient temperature. Simple physiological measures, it was concluded, can be predictive in applied contexts.     

Time-of-day variations in different measures of sleepiness (MSLT, pupillography, and SSS) and their interrelations

The aim of the present study is to analyze how well physiological measures of sleepiness derived from pupillography and the Multiple Sleep Latency Test correlate with a subjective measure, the Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS) score. The results are based on data from 12 healthy participants, who underwent these tests every 2 hr from 7:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. Sleep latencies were correlated with four different variables derived from pupillography and the SSS score. The results indicate that the physiologically based variables correspond very well. This is reflected by similar patterns of time-of-day variations, a good agreement at the group level, and correlations at the individual level, whereas the SSS shows a quite different pattern of variation. The two physiological measures of sleepiness seem to reflect the same aspect of the level of tonic central nervous activation, which is not correlated with the subjective feeling of sleepiness.     

Convergent validity of Type A behavior pattern scales and their ability to predict physiological responsiveness in a sample of female public employees

The purpose of this study was to assess the construct validity of the structured interview (SI), Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS), Thurstone Activity Scale, and Bortner Type A Scale in a sample of female employees from a government service agency. Criteria for validity assessment were physiological reactance to a mental stressor, psychological strains experienced at work, physical symptoms associated with work, and urinary catecholamine production at work. A continuous Type A SI scale demonstrated better convergent and construct validity than did the SI category scores. All of the SI Type A scales were reliable. Among the questionnaire measures only the Thurstone Activity Scale was reliable and showed the strongest construct validity. The SI measures of Type A tended to correlate with physiological responsiveness (changes in heart rate, skin temperature, and skin conductance), while the questionnaire measures correlated with self-reports of job strains (satisfaction, irritation, depression, physical symptoms), thus indicating the operation of measurement artifacts in validity assessment. No significant correlations were obtained between Type A and catecholamines. Comparison of correlation analysis with subgroup analysis revealed the former to be a more powerful test of the relationships that may exist between Type A behavior pattern and relevant criteria.This research was supported by the University of Nebraska—Lincoln Research Council and NIH Biomedical Research Support Grant RR-07055.The authors wish to express their appreciation to Susan Haeker who conducted and scored Type A Structured Interviews that were essential to the completion of this project. The help of Jerry Lemonds and Mary Boschult who provided support and assistance in date collection is also gratefully acknowledged.     

AN EVALUATION OF FOREARM BLOOD FLOW AS A PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURE

The usefulness of forearm blood flow (FBF) as a psychophysiological measure was investigated by comparing changes occurring during mental tasks in cardiovascular, sudomotor, and electromyographic measures. The measures were divided into those clearly physiologically independent and those physiologically related. ANOVA results showed that FBF, heart rate (HR), and skin conductance fluctuations (SCF) were equally reactive, and correlational analysis suggested that a close relationship existed between FBF, HR, and SCF, although correlations fell to near zero levels when intra-individual correlations were calculated with between task variance extracted. For some experimental purposes HR response may be considered equivalent to FBF response. The relationship between EMG and FBF was more variable, and tends not to support the idea that FBF is an indirect measure of muscle activity. The reliability of FBF in normal subjects at rest was poor, although it improved when measured during a simple task, and is probably stable enough for most experimental purposes.     

Interrelations Between Amplitude, Latency, Rise Time, and the Edelberg Recovery Measure of the Galvanic Skin Response

This report describes relationships between the Edelberg recovery measure, latency, rise time, and amplitude measures of GSR response to cued, uncued, and disparity USs. Under cued and uncued conditions all temporal measures were independent of amplitude. Rise time and recovery measures were highly correlated under all conditions, while correlations between latency and rise time or amplitude were quite weak, suggesting that latency and rise time-recovery are partly under the control of different mechanisms. When US was unexpected (disparity), latency remained independent of amplitude, but significant correlations developed between amplitude and the temporal measures of rise time and recovery. Latency and recovery, but not rise time or amplitude, distinguished between disparity and non-disparity conditions. The results demonstrate the need and utility for more complete response specification.     

THE EFFECT OF PRESTIMULUS VARIABILITY UPON PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTIVITY SCORES

In an attempt to improve the scoring of physiological responses, in terms of higher inter-correlations of physiological variables and correlations with self-report measures of mood change, three new scores were compared with Autonomic Lability Scores. The first score was produced by changing the sampling of physiological records to minimize spontaneous fluctuations. This increased the physiological-mood correlations. The second and third scores provided, additionally, corrections for individual prestimulus variability. Such corrections, done by covariance adjustment, tended to increase the physiological-mood correlations further. When done by a division procedure, no improvements were observed. None of the three scoring methods affected substantially the inter-correlations of physiological variables. Heart rate, skin conductance, and forehead muscle tension were measured during two stimuli: a noxious movie and a mild noise.     

PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL INDICANTS OF ACTIVATION

The present study demonstrates that various central and peripheral physiological variables are similarly altered by experimentally induced changes in activation while being dissimilarly altered during the course of a trial by unknown factors. That is, both general and specific physiological changes are demonstrated in a single experiment. Activation level was experimentally altered by having S (a) react to light flashes under threat of shock, (b) react to flashes without any such threat, and (c) passively observe light flashes. Evoked cortical potentials, heart rate, skin conductance, and muscular tension were similarly affected by these experimental conditions, but the variables showed differential changes over time. It was concluded that these physiological processes simultaneously reflect both generalized arousal and directionally fractionated activity.     

Do cognitive, physiological, and psychosocial risk and promotive factors predict desistance from delinquency in males?

Relatively few studies have examined cognitive, physiological, and psychosocial promotive and risk factors that can be linked to desistance from delinquency in community samples. This paper reports on a sample of boys first studied at age 7 and then followed up yearly to age 20. Around age 16, most of the boys received a range of cognitive tests; at that time, information regarding their resting heart rate and skin conductance activity in response to aversive stimuli was also collected. Several psychosocial and two cognitive measures distinguished delinquents from nondelinquents around age 16. Among the promotive factors associated with low delinquency were good housing quality, low community crime (parent and youth report), verbal IQ, delayed verbal memory, and sustained attention. Predictive analyses discriminating between desisters and persisters in delinquency between ages 17 and 20 showed that all of the significant predictors were either child or peer risk factors. None of the cognitive, physiological, parenting, or community factors significantly predicted desistance from delinquency. In addition, no promotive factors were significantly related to desistance. The final set of analyses compared persisters, desisters, and nondelinquents in terms of their adult adjustment. Desisters were similar to persisters in that desisters continued to display serious problems in anxiety, failure to graduate from high school, no post high school education, being a nonstudent and unemployed, daily cigarette use, and weekly marijuana use. Desisters scored low on depression and weekly heavy drinking and in these respects were indistinguishable from nondelinquents and better off than persisters.     

AUTONOMIC BALANCE CHANGES DURING THE HUMAN MENSTRUAL CYCLE

Five female students were each tested 5 days a week throughout one menstrual cycle with a 3 day overlap into the next cycle. The autonomic variables reported are: sub-lingual temperature, heart period, diastolic blood pressure, palmar and volar conductance, salivary output, and log conductance change. These measures were taken in order to estimate autonomic factor scores (ā). Significant menstrual phase differences in ā scores and sub-lingual temperature were demonstrated. The ā score estimates an autonomic factor for an individual at a particular time; low scores represent relative sympathetic nervous system (SNS) dominance. During menses, the follicular, and the ovulatory phases, ā scores were higher; during the luteal phase the ā scores were lowest. It was concluded that high estrogen levels are accompanied by decreased SNS function.     

SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF LEARNING AND OVERLEARNING

Two experiments were conducted to investigate physiological activity associated with original learning and overlearning of verbal materials (nonsense syllables). In Experiment 1, the physiological responses measured were heart rate (HR), palmar skin conductance (PSC), and galvanic skin responses (GSRs) during original learning, overlearning, and new learning. In Experiment 2, the same physiological responses were recorded but original learning was followed by two overlearning phases. The results showed that: there were decreases in all of the physiological measures with overlearning; there were increases in all of the measures with new learning; and further decreases in physiological activity occurred with “double overlearning.” It was concluded that the drop in physiological activity which occurred with overlearning was due to an habituation of physiological responses when Ss were no longer required to assimilate novel materials and a reduction in apprehensiveness as the experiment progressed.     

Assessment of female sexual arousal: Response specificity and construct validity

Specificity of vaginal pulse amplitude and vaginal blood volume in reaction to visual sexual stimuli was investigated by comparing responses to sexual, anxiety-inducing, sexually threatening, and neutral film excerpts. Subjective sexual arousal, body sensations, emotional experience, skin conductance, and heart rate were monitored along with the genital measures. Self-report data confirmed the generation of affective states as intended. Results demonstrated response specificity of vaginal vasocongestion to sexual stimuli. In terms of both convergent and divergent validity, vaginal pulse amplitude was the superior genital measure. Skin conductance discriminated among stimuli only to a small degree, whereas heart rate failed to discriminate among stimuli altogether.     

Reduced positive emotion and underarousal are uniquely associated with subclinical depression symptoms: Evidence from psychophysiology,self‐report,and symptom clusters

Multiple models of aberrant emotional processing in depression have been advanced. However, it is unclear which of these models best applies to emotional disturbances in subclinical depressive symptoms. The current study employed a battery of psychophysiological measures and emotional ratings in a picture‐viewing paradigm to examine whether the underarousal, low positive emotion, heightened negative emotion, or emotion context insensitivity model of emotional dysfunction in subclinical depressive symptoms received greatest support. Postauricular reflex and skin conductance response potentiation for pleasant minus neutral pictures (measuring low positive emotion), overall skin conductance magnitude and late positive potential (LPP) amplitude (measuring underarousal), and pleasant minus aversive valence ratings (measuring emotion context insensitivity) and aversive minus neutral arousal ratings (measuring heightened negative emotionality) were all negatively related to depressive symptomatology. Of these, postauricular reflex potentiation and overall LPP amplitude were incrementally associated with depressive symptoms over the other measures. Postauricular reflex potentiation, overall skin conductance magnitude, and aversive minus neutral arousal ratings were incrementally associated with depressive symptomatology after controlling for other symptoms of internalizing disorders. Though no model was unequivocally superior, the low positive emotion and underarousal models received the most support from physiological measures and symptom reports, with self‐report data matching patterns consistent with the emotion context insensitivity model.     

PERSONALITY AND HABITUATION OF THE ORIENTING REACTION: TONIC AND RESPONSE MEASURES OF ELECTRODERMAL ACTIVITY

Eysenck's (1967) hypotheses concerning Extraversion, Neuroticism, and physiological reactivity were tested in relation to habituation. A factorial design, varying Extraversion (three levels) and Neuroticism (two levels) was employed: 60 subjects, 10 per cell. Both tonic and response measures of electrodermal activity (skin conductance) were recorded. The results showed: (1) High Neurotics were more reactive than Low Neurotics (for two measures of habituation and total number of responses); (2) Extraversion was inversely related to spontaneous activity; (3) Latency of first response was moderately related (10% level only) both to Neuroticism (inversely) and to Extra-version (directly); (4) Tonic conductance measures failed to discriminate between groups; (5) Measures which discriminated between personality groups were inter-correlated. Since the measures taken were related to both Extraversion and Neuroticism, the findings do not support Eysenck's prediction that these measures are related to Extraversion alone.     

Interactions of Marijuana and Induced Stress: Forearm Blood Flow, Heart Rate, and Skin Conductance

To examine the interaction of marijuana and an induced state of stress, on both subjective and physiological measures, two groups of 15 subjects each were given a mental arithmetic task to perform. The sequence of events was 10 min each of pre-stress, stress, post-stress, intoxication (about 20 min), pre-stress, stress, post-stress. In the intoxication phase, one group smoked marijuana containing 14 mg Δ⁹-THC while the other group smoked a placebo. The dependent variables were forearm blood flow (FBF), heart rate (HR). and skin conductance (SC), and a subjective measure of stress–the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist (MAACL). The results revealed all physiological variables to be reactive to the stress task. In addition, marijuana intoxication produced reliable increases in both pre-stress HR and FBF, and yet the physiological response to the post-intoxication stress period showed no significant decrement when compared In the placebo group. Discussion of these results centered around marijuana's effects on tonic and phasic reactivity.     

To err is autonomic: error-related brain potentials, ANS activity, and post-error compensatory behavior

A two-component event-related brain potential consisting of an error-related negativity (ERN/Ne) and positivity (Pe) has been associated with response monitoring and error detection. Both the ERN and Pe have been source-localized to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)--a frontal structure implicated in both cognitive and affective processing, as well as autonomic nervous system (ANS) modulation. The current study sought to examine the relationships among the ERN, the Pe, two autonomic measures, and behavior. Electroencephalogram (EEG), heart rate (HR), and skin conductance (SC) were recorded while subjects performed a two-choice reaction-time task. In addition to the characteristic ERN-Pe complex, errors were associated with larger SCRs and greater HR deceleration. The ERN correlated with the number of errors, but was unrelated to ANS activity and compensatory behavior. Pe, on the other hand, was correlated significantly with SCR, and both SCR and Pe were significantly correlated with post-error slowing.     

SOME PARAMETERS OF HEART RATE CHANGE: PERCEPTUAL VERSUS MOTOR TASK REQUIREMENTS, NOXIOUSNESS, AND UNCERTAINTY

Sensory-motor integration and physiological patterns were investigated in a modified reaction time task. Following a READY signal, one of 2 DISCRIMINATIVE signals indicated that a right or left reaction was to be made to a GO signal. For one group, the DISCRIMINATIVE and GO signals occurred simultaneously; for another group, the GO signal was delayed 10 sec. In different sessions, shock occurred with the DISCRIMINATIVE signal on 0%, 33%, or 100% of the trials. The basic pattern of heart rate response was the same in all conditions, namely, acceleration followed by deceleration immediately prior to the DISCRIMINATIVE and GO signals. All experimental manipulations appeared to contribute to cardiac deceleration; for example, the greatest decrease occurred prior to the simultaneous DISCRIMINATIVE-GO signal with 33% shock probability. The least deceleration (and fastest reaction times) occurred to the delayed GO signal. Anticipation of a motor response and or shock also accentuated the accelerative limb of the heart rate curve, as well as producing increased skin conductance. Muscle action potentials from the chin showed an equivocal relationship to cardiac acceleration (or less deceleration) and to faster reaction times. Results are discussed in terms of an attentional hypothesis, and their relevance to speculations by Lacey and Obrist is examined.     

Some Characteristics of Digital Vasomotor Activity

Size and latency of responses to a series of tones, spontaneous fluctuations, and habituation in finger volume and pulse volume were studied in 19 healthy young soldiers by means of pneumoplethysmography. The results indicate that relationships among vasomotor measures differ from those reported for skin conductance measures. Thus, in contrast to what has been shown for skin conductance, no correlation was found between habituation and number of spontaneous fluctuations, and the variability of the first response to the tones did not differ from the variability of the following responses. Auditory stimulation did not increase the number of spontaneous fluctuations. There were highly significant correlations between spontaneous fluctuations during rest and stimulation periods. No significant correlations were obtained between pulse volume responses to an arithmetic task and responses to tone stimuli. Some differences in pattern of relationships were obtained between finger and pulse volume measures. Initial responses in finger volume were related to other response size measures, whereas this was not the case for pulse volume. Response latency increased during the auditory stimulation for pulse volume, but not for finger volume.