Psychophysiological correlates of long-term attention to complex tasks

An ongoing investigation of the psychophysiological nature of attention is described. Problems associated with the measurement of long-term human attention to complex tasks are discussed. A multivariate, hierarchical regression approach is described for the inference, from the non-in vasive measurement of surface neuroelectrical activities, of central nervous system operations associated with the maintenance and failure of long-term attention. The neuroelectrical signals used include the EEG, EOG, EGG, and impedance cardiogram. Psychophysiological measurement, data reduction, and analysis techniques are described.     

Psychophysiological correlates of organizational change and threat of unemployment among police inspectors.

The study examined psychosocial work-conditions and physiological reactions among thirty-six police inspectors (median age 45 years, 81% males) who participated in a reorganization. At this time, subjects were threatened by unemployment and had to re-apply for their positions in a new police district. Data were collected during the reorganization and at three years follow-up, by means of questionnaires (Stress Profile) and blood samples. The blood samples were used to determine serum levels of gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), glucose, lipids, prolactin, testosterone and cortisol. The results show a positive association between worry about employment and symptoms of burnout during the reorganization. Mean scores for the Stress Profile sub-scales worry about employment (p<.01) and work-load (p<.05) decreased between measurements, but an impairment in relationships with management was noticed (p<.05). No significant changes were observed in terms of self-rated health complaints. Significant decreases in total cholesterol (p<.0001), LDL-cholesterol (p<.0001), LDL/HDL-ratio (p<.01), prolactin (p<.0001), as well as increases in testosterone (p<.01) and cortisol (p<.001) were observed for the whole sample. Glucose decreased with marginal significance (<.07). Controlling for age and gender, multivariate regression analyses showed that subjects who reported deteriorations in satisfaction with work manifested the most modest decreases in prolactin (p<.05). Also, the decrease in glucose was larger for subjects who experienced impairments in satisfaction with work (p<.05), information (p<.05), task-oriented leadership, (p<.05), and respect and dignity (p<.05). Subjects who perceived deteriorations in the ethical and moral standards of the organization increased their cortisol level to a lower degree than their counterparts (p<.05). Favorable changes in employment status and psychosocial work environment seem to be related to improved physiological functioning.     

Psychophysiological correlates of organizational change and threat of unemployment among police inspectors

The study examined psychosocial work-conditions and physiological reactions among thirty-six police inspectors (median age 45 years, 81% males) who participated in a reorganization. At this time, subjects were threatened by unemployment and had to reapply for their positions in a new police district. Data were collected during the reorganization and at three years follow-up, by means of questionnaires (Stress Profile) and blood samples. The blood samples were used to determine serum levels of gammaglutamyltransferase (GGT), glucose, lipids, prolactin, testosterone and cortisol. The results show a positive association betweenworry about employment and symptoms ofburnout during the reorganization. Mean scores for the Stress Profile sub-scalesworry about employment (p<.01) andwork-load (p<.05) decreased between measurements but an impairment inrelationships with management was noticed (p<.05). No significant changes were observed in terms of self-rated health complaints. Significant decreases in total cholesterol (p<.0001), LDL-cholesterol (p<.0001), LDL/HDL-ratio (p<.01), prolactin (p<.0001), as well as increases in testosterone (p<.01) and cortisol (p<.001) were observed for the whole sample. Glucose decreased with marginal significance (<.07). Controlling for age and gender, multivariate regression analyses showed that subjects who reported deteriorations insatisfaction with work manifested the most modest decreases in prolactin (p<.05). Also, the decrease in glucose was larger for subjects who experienced impairments in,satisfaction with work (p<.05), information (p<.05), task-oriented leadership, (p<.05), andrespect and dignity (p<.05). Subjects who perceived deteriorations in theethical and moral standards of the organization increased their cortisol level to a lower degree than their counterparts (p<.05). Favorable changes in employment status and psychosocial work environment seem to be related to improved physiological functioning.     

Psychophysiological components of imagery

McGuigan’s neuromuscular model of information processing (1978a, 1978b, and 1989) was investigated by electrically recording eye movements (electro-oculograms), covert lip and preferred arm responses (electromyograms), and electroencephalograms. This model predicts that codes are generated as the lips are uniquely activated when processing words beginning with bilabial sounds like “p” or “b,” as is the right arm to words like “pencil” that refer to its use. Twelve adult female participants selected for their high imagery ratings were asked to form images to three orally presented linguistic stimuli: the letter “p,” the words “pencil” and “pasture,” and to a control stimulus, the words “go blank.” The following findings were significant beyond the 0.05 level: an increased covert lip response only to the letter “p,” increased vertical eye activity to “p” and to the word “pencil,” right arm response only to the word “pencil,” and a decreased percentage of alpha waves from the right 02 lead only to the word “pasture.” Since these covert responses uniquely occurred during specific imagery processes, it is inferred that they are components of neuromuscular circuits that function in accord with the model of information processing tested.     

Psychophysiological Responses of Sport Fans

The present study investigated psychophysiological differences in identified sport fans within the context of the biphasic theory of emotion (P. J. Lang, 1985). Forty participants, grouped into three levels of identification with the local university athletic teams, viewed five pictures from each of two categories (team-relevant sport and team-irrelevant sport). Self-identified sport fans rated team-relevant pictures as more pleasant and arousing compared to team-irrelevant pictures. The P3 component of the event-related potential to an irrelevant startle probe was diminished and heart-rate deceleration was enhanced during team-relevant pictures as a function of fan identification level, suggesting that these pictures evoked a motivated attentional state. Neither probe-P3 nor heart rate differed for team-irrelevant pictures. Lastly, increased positivity for slow cortical potentials was evident for team-relevant compared to team-irrelevant pictures, regardless of fan identification level. These results suggest the utility of psychophysiological measures in the study of sport fans, and for other positive emotions as well.     

Using self-determination theory to examine the motivational correlates and predictive utility of spontaneous exercise implementation intentions

ObjectivesThis study adopted a self-determination theory approach to explore the correlates of a measure of spontaneous implementation intentions; designed to allow for volition in planning when, where, and how to exercise. The study further explored the relationship between spontaneous implementation intentions and measures of behavioural regulation, in explaining exercise behaviour.DesignThe initial sample of 253 (99 males, 153 females) Canadian University College students was reduced to 162 participants (63 males, 99 females) after three phases of data collection. Measures of spontaneous implementation intentions and the Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire were completed during the first phase of data collection. Actual exercise behaviour was assessed two, then three weeks later.ResultsA standard regression analysis revealed that identified regulation significantly predicted spontaneous implementation intentions, accounting for 36% of the variance. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that after the first step, identified regulation made a significant contribution accounting for 35% of the variance in exercise behaviour. The addition of spontaneous implementation intentions significantly increased the prediction of exercise by 8%. An investigation of the beta coefficients revealed that spontaneous implementation intentions reduced the effects of identification from .50 to .26 after taking into consideration the effects of spontaneous implementation intentions in the second step of the analysis. The indirect effect of identification on exercise via spontaneous implementation intentions was statistically significant (z=3.88, p<.05).ConclusionsPeople who exercise for more self-determined reasons are more likely to spontaneously form implementation intentions, and because implementation intentions have motivating effects, they might lead to more self-determined behaviour.     

Biological Bases of Extraversion Psychophysiological Evidence

There is a good deal of evidence, particularly from electrodermal and electrocortical recording procedures, that introverts exhibit greater reactivity to sensory stimulation than extraverts. There is little evidence that introverts and extraverts differ in base level of arousal in neutral conditions, and there is no clear evidence that their differences in sensitivity to stimulation are determined by differences in attentional state. Faster auditory brainstem evoked response latencies observed for introverts implicate differences in peripheral sensory processes that are not determined by mechanisms in the reticular system as proposed in the arousal hypothesis. There is also evidence that individual differences in the expression of motor activity between introverts and extraverts involve differences in motoneuronal excitability.     

Psychophysiological evidence for the genuineness of swimming-style colour synaesthesia

Recently, swimming-style colour synaesthesia was introduced as a new form of synaesthesia. A synaesthetic Stroop test was used to establish its genuineness. Since Stroop interference can occur for any type of overlearned association, in the present study we used a modified Stroop test and psychophysiological synaesthetic conditioning to further establish the genuineness of this form of synaesthesia. We compared the performance of a swimming-style colour synaesthete and a control who was trained on swimming-style colour associations. Our results showed that behavioural aspects of swimming-style colour synaesthesia can be mimicked in a trained control. Importantly, however, our results showed a psychophysiological conditioning effect for the synaesthete only. We discuss the theoretical relevance of swimming-style colour synaesthesia according to different models of synaesthesia. We conclude that swimming-style colour synaesthesia is a genuine form of synaesthesia, can be mimicked behaviourally in non-synaesthetes, and is best explained by a re-entrant feedback model.     

Psychophysiological responsivity and the type A behavior pattern

Studies were reviewed in which the psychophysiological responses of Type A and B subjects were studied in various contexts. It appears that Type A's manifest greater psychophysiological arousal than Type B's in solitary as well as interpersonal situations in which there is a moderate external incentive to accomplish something. and there is an intermediate probability of failing to accomplish that something. Further, Type A's appear to manifest greater psychophysiological arousal than Type B's in interpersonal situations in which another person annoys or harasses the subject. Why Type A's respond in these situations with greater psychophysiological arousal was discussed in terms of the possibilities that (a) these situations may engage some defining characteristic(s) of Type A's, (b) Type A's may fear and therefore try to avoid failure more vigorously than Type B's, and (c) Type A's may be more motivated to gain and maintain control over important environmental events and therefore are more aroused by threats to such control than Type B's.     

Career-related correlates of self-discipline.

An investigation was made of the relationship between scores on the Self-discipline Questionnaire and self-ratings on four career-related variables among a sample of 325 working adults. The Self-discipline Questionnaire was previously published in a trade book and is based on characteristics of self-disciplined people culled from the literature. Scores for self-discipline were significantly correlated with years of formal education, salary, and self-perceptions of career success and frequency of goal accomplishment.     

Behold the wrath: Psychophysiological responses to facial stimuli

The complex musculature of the human face has been shaped by natural selection to produce gestures that communicate information about intentions and emotional states between senders and receivers. According to the preparedness hypothesis, different facial gestures are differentially prepared by evolution to become associated with different outcomes. As attested by psychophysiological responses in Pavlovian conditioning experiments, expressions of anger and fear more easily become signals for aversive stimuli than do expression of happiness. Consistent with the evolutionary perspective, the superior conditioning to angry faces is stronger for male than for female faces, for adult than for child faces, and for faces directed toward the receiver rather than directed away. Furthermore, it appears to be primarily located in the right cerebral hemisphere. The enhanced autonomic activity to angry faces signaling electric shock is not mediated by conscious cognitive activity, but is evident also when recognition of the facial stimulus is blocked by backward masking procedures. Similarly, conditioned responses can be established to masked angry, but not to masked happy faces. Electromyographic measurement of facial muscle activity reveals a tendency for emotional facial expression to rapidly and automatically elicit its mirror image in the face of the receiver, typically accompanied by the appropriate emotional experience. The research reviewed in this paper supports the proposition that humans have been evolutionarily tuned to respond automatically to facial stimuli, and it is suggested that such early automatic reactions shape the subsequent conscious emotional processing of the stimulus.The responsibility for this paper is shared equally between the authors. The research reviewed in the paper has been supported by separate grants to both authors from the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, The Swedish Council for the Coordination and Planning of Research, and the Bank of Sweden Tercentennial Fund.     

Psychophysiological assessment of change in erotic preferences

The difficulties involved in validating effectiveness of the various therapies of anomalous erotic preferences are often underestimated. Basically, methods of physiological assessment of erotic preferences would appear to be promising. However they still pose considerable problems. There are two kinds of such methods, those where measurement of general arousal is employed, and those which are based on assessment of sexual arousal proper. The former are only weak indicators of erotic preferences; the latter are to date represented only by assessment of penile volume changes to various kinds of potentially erotic stimuli (the phallometric test). The usefulness of the latter method in assessment of (therapeutic) changes in erotic preferences is basically limited to one particular situation only.Directions are pointed out in which this test is to be further developed to make it more generally useful as an indicator of (therapeutic) change in erotic preferences.