The effects of mental arithmetic strain on behavioral and physiological responses.
In this study, we aimed to determine how objective and subjective task constraints may respectively impact strain and performance. Thirty participants, recruited for their affinity or avoidance for mental arithmetic, were confronted with calculations of varying difficulty. Data showed that Reaction Times (RTs), as well as electrodermal (EDR) and heart rate (HR) response durations increased along with task difficulty and performance decrement. Good performance elicited weaker sympathetic involvement, attesting that positive emotions are likely to elicit less strain than negative emotions. The “approach” group exhibited ...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - November 25, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Salvia, Emilie; Guillot, Aymeric; Collet, Christian Source Type: research
Postural threat increases corticospinal excitability in the trunk flexor muscles in the upright stance.
It has been well established that fear increases corticospinal excitability in the hand muscles. Postural threat, a kind of fear, may have a unique effect on corticospinal excitability in the trunk flexor muscles during the upright stance on high ground. We investigated whether postural threat modulates corticospinal excitability in the trunk flexor muscle in the upright stance. Seven healthy humans maintained an upright stance on a 60-cm-high platform under two support surface conditions; one was a support surface with a support base that had a large margin, and the other was a support surface with a support base that had...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - November 25, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tanaka, Takahiro; Matsugi, Akiyoshi; Kamata, Noriyuki; Hiraoka, Koichi Source Type: research
Semantic conflict processing in the color-word Stroop and the emotional Stroop: Event-related potential (ERP) correlates.
With the aim of establishing the temporal locus of the semantic conflict in color-word Stroop and emotional Stroop phenomena, we analyzed the Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) elicited by nonwords, incongruent and congruent color words, colored words with positive and negative emotional valence, and colored words with neutral valence. The incongruent, positive, negative, and neutral stimuli produced interference in the behavioral response to the color of the stimuli. The P150/N170 amplitude was sensitive to the semantic equivalence of both dimensions of the congruent color words. The P3b amplitude was smaller in response to ...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - November 25, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Zurrón, Montserrat; Ramos-Goicoa, Marta; Díaz, Fernando Source Type: research
Investigation of the effect of mode and tempo on emotional responses to music using EEG power asymmetry.
The combined interactions of mode and tempo on emotional responses to music were investigated using both self-reports and electroencephalogram (EEG) activity. A musical excerpt was performed in three different modes and tempi. Participants rated the emotional content of the resulting nine stimuli and their EEG activity was recorded. Musical modes influence the valence of emotion with major mode being evaluated happier and more serene, than minor and locrian modes. In EEG frontal activity, major mode was associated with an increased alpha activation in the left hemisphere compared to minor and locrian modes, which, in turn,...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - July 29, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Trochidis, Konstantinos; Bigand, Emmanuel Source Type: research
Electrophysiological correlates of impaired response inhibition during inhalation of propionic acid.
Chemosensory stimulation can impair cognitive processing, which we demonstrated previously in human volunteers who showed reduced behavioral accuracy in a go/nogo flanker task during 4-hr, whole-body exposure to 10 ppm propionic acid but not during 0.3 or 5 ppm exposures (Hey et al., 2009). Now we investigated event-related potentials (ERP) in a subgroup of six male volunteers from the same study to identify which cognitive processes were sensitive to propionic acid exposure. The ERP subgroup showed the same increases in chemosensory perceptions and error rate during 10 ppm exposure as the whole group. In addition several ...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - July 29, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Juran, Stephanie Anja; van Thriel, Christoph; Kleinbeck, Stefan; Schäper, Michael; Falkenstein, Michael; Iregren, Anders; Johanson, Gunnar Source Type: research
Psychological responses to sound stimuli evaluated by alpha wave fluctuations.
Evaluation of psychological stress or state of mind remains an important problem. The anterior asymmetry and emotion model (AAE model) is a conventional and widely used method to sort baseline affective styles (approach or withdrawal) based on asymmetry of the activity in prefrontal cortices. Another method is to use alpha wave fluctuations at the frontal poles, as proposed by Yoshida. This method estimates state of mind as one point on a comfort level surface with pleasant-unpleasant and excited-calm axes that are normal to each other. The aim of this paper is to investigate the validity of the Yoshida method through the ...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - July 29, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Chen, Xi; Takahashi, Isao; Okita, Yoshimitsu; Hirata, Hisashi; Sugiura, Toshifumi Source Type: research
To cross or not to cross: Monitoring decisions based on everyday life experience in a simulated traffic task.
Different theoretical accounts have attempted to integrate anterior cingulate cortex involvement in relation to conflict detection, error-likelihood predictions, and error monitoring. Regarding the latter, event-related potential studies have identified the feedback-related negativity (FRN) component in relation to processing feedback which indicates that a particular outcome was worse than expected. According to the conflict-monitoring theory the stimulus-locked N2 reflects pre-response conflict. Assumptions of these theories have been made on the basis of relatively simple response-mapping tasks, rather than more complex...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - July 29, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Kostermans, Evelien; Spijkerman, Renske; Engels, Rutger C. M. E.; Bekkering, Harold; de Bruijn, Ellen R. A. Source Type: research
On the individuality of sleep EEG spectra.
In this study, the intra- and inter-individual variations of sleep EEG signals were investigated. This was carried out by analyzing the stability of the average EEG spectra individually computed for the Rechtschaffen and Kales (RK) sleep stages. Six EEG channels were used to account for the topographical aspect of the analysis. Validity of the results was supported by considering a wide dataset of 174 subjects with normal sleep. Subjects spent two consecutive nights in the sleep laboratory during which EEG recordings were obtained. High similarity between average spectra of two consecutive nights was found considering an i...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - July 29, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Lewandowski, Achim; Rosipal, Roman; Dorffner, Georg Source Type: research
Relation between respiratory sinus arrythymia and startle response during predictable and unpredictable threat.
Research suggests that lower respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is associated with greater aversive responding. One physiological indicator of aversive responding is startle potentiation. While a few studies have demonstrated an inverse association between RSA and startle potentiation, no study to date has distinguished whether this relation is similar for predictable versus unpredictable aversive stimuli. This is an important distinction, given that degree of predictability has been shown to be an important determinant of aversive responding. The present study examined whether resting RSA was associated with startle eye b...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - April 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Gorka, Stephanie M.; Nelson, Brady D.; Sarapas, Casey; Campbell, Miranda; Lewis, Gregory F.; Bishop, Jeffery R.; Porges, Stephen W.; Shankman, Stewart A. Source Type: research
The Pe of perfectionism: Concern over mistakes predicts the amplitude of a late frontal error positivity.
The present research investigates the association between concern over mistakes (CoM), a facet of the personality style of perfectionism, and the error positivity (Pe), a response-locked event-related brain potential that relates to error-awareness. Sixteen healthy right-handed female participants performed a flanker task, during which response-locked event-related potentials were measured. CoM was related to a larger Pe at frontal electrodes in a late (400–500 ms post-response) time interval. This frontal late Pe was not related to general trait anxiety. An earlier (150–350 ms) Pe with a more centroparietal maximum wa...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - April 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tops, Mattie; Koole, Sander L.; Wijers, Albertus A. Source Type: research
Induced theta activity as a biomarker for a morbid effect of alcoholism on the brain in long-term abstinent alcoholics.
Event-related, target stimulus-phase-locked (evoked) brain activity in both the time and time-frequency (TF) domains (the P3b ERP; evoked theta oscillations) has been shown to be reduced in alcoholics. Recently, studies have suggested that there is alcohol-related information in the non-stimulus-phase-locked (induced) theta TF activity. We applied TF analysis to target stimulus event-related EEG recorded during an oddball task from 41 long-term abstinent alcoholics (LTAA) and 74 nonalcoholic controls (NAC) to investigate the relationship between P3b, evoked theta, and induced theta activity. Results showed that an event-re...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - April 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Gilmore, Casey S.; Fein, George Source Type: research
Heart rate variability and fatigue in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome after a comprehensive cognitive behavior group therapy program.
In psychotherapy research, there is a general lack of studies that include objective measurements that provide information about the basic underlying mechanisms involved in behavioral and psychiatric conditions. In this pilot study, we investigated cardiovascular activity and self-reported fatigue in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) compared to normal healthy controls who served as a reference group. Furthermore, based on a one-group pre-post design, we investigated whether exposure to a Comprehensive Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CCBT) program resulted in any changes in cardiovascular activity and self-reported ...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - April 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Hansen, Anita L.; Kvale, Gerd; Stubhaug, Bjarte; Thayer, Julian F. Source Type: research
Long-range temporal correlations in resting EEG: Its associations with depression-related emotion regulation strategies.
In this study we applied detrended fluctuation analysis to the amplitude envelope of broad band and narrow band (theta and alpha) spontaneous EEG oscillations of a sample (N = 56) of young nondepressed adults to whom several emotion regulation and depression questionnaires were administered. Linear positive correlations between the scaling exponents of both broad band and theta band oscillations and negative emotion regulation strategies and depression scores were found. These results suggest that previously found differences between depressed and nondepressed individuals may exist before depression manifests, as differenc...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - April 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Bornas, Xavier; Noguera, Miquel; Balle, Maria; Morillas-Romero, Alfonso; Aguayo-Siquier, Blanca; Tortella-Feliu, Miquel; Llabrés, Jordi Source Type: research
Time course of error-potentiated startle and its relationship to error-related brain activity.
This study further supports the notion that errors are aversive events that prime defensive motivation, and that error-potentiated startle is evident beyond the immediate commission of an error and can be predicted from error-related brain activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Journal of Psychophysiology)
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - April 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Riesel, Anja; Weinberg, Anna; Moran, Tim; Hajcak, Greg Source Type: research
Interoceptive awareness as a moderator of affective responses to social exclusion.
Previous research has yielded inconsistent results concerning affective reactions to social exclusion. The present study provides evidence that conscious perception of bodily signals (“interoceptive awareness”) constitutes an important moderating factor in this context. We compared participants with high versus low cardiac interoceptive awareness in regard to affective, cognitive, and physiological measures while they were included and excluded in a discussion with confederates. Participants with high interoceptive awareness showed a smaller decrease of positive affect and perceived acceptance as well as a smaller incr...
Source: Journal of Psychophysiology - February 4, 2013 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Werner, Natalie S.; Kerschreiter, Rudolf; Kindermann, Nicole K.; Duschek, Stefan Source Type: research
