A physiological model of phobic anxiety and desensitization

The relationship between arousal and phobic anxiety is discussed with regard to recent psychophysiological studies of habituation in normal subjects and in groups of anxious and phobic patients. A physiological model of the mechanisms underlying generalized and phobic anxiety is postulated. Some criticisms of Wolpe's conception of systematic desensitization are offered and an alternative explanation consistent with the above postulate is put forward. This alternative states that the underlying mechanism of systematic desensitization is identical with that of habituation proceeding under optimal conditions (the “maximal habituation” hypothesis). The two accounts of desensitization are compared and contrasted.     

Children's emotion regulation: Self-report and physiological response to peer provocation

The authors examined the notion that children's emotion regulation (ER) is a uniform skill by (a) investigating the concordance between self-report of ER and physiological measures and by (b) examining ER in a specific context (e.g., peer provocation) and context-free manner (e.g., during a semistructured interview of ER abilities). Seventy-two children in middle childhood (average age = 9 years) participated. Time-locked measures of heart rate reactivity and recovery were obtained in response to provoking comments, and vagal regulation was measured throughout the provocation session. Children who reported greater dysregulation showed increased heart rate reactivity to provocative comments (i.e., steeper heart rate slope) but no difference in heart rate recovery. The context-free but not the context-specific self-report measure was associated with a failure to suppress vagal tone. Implications for ER measurement and children's peer relations are discussed.     

Heart rate and self-report changes accompanying different types of relaxing imagery

Two groups of 10 subjects were instructed, following appropriate training, to evoke different types of relaxing imagery for a total of five 30 s trials. For one group the instruction stressed response elements in the image, for the other stimulus elements. A third, control group of 10 were invited to relax by any means they considered appropriate. No specific imagery instructions were given here. Heart rate was recorded throughout and ratings of sleepiness were made by subjects at the end of each trial. Analogue mood scales were completed pre- and post-experimentally. While the self-report measures intimated an increase in feelings of relaxation and sleepiness over the course of the experiment, no group differences were observed. For heart rate, however, group differences were apparent. Overall, heart rate change during trials took the form of cardiac acceleration. However, while the two imagery groups demonstrated more or less sustained acceleration throughout trial periods, the acceleration observed initially in the control group showed a pronounced linear decline with a net deceleration being recorded toward the end of each trial. The imagining of response or stimulus elements did not differentially affect heart rate. These data imply that the process of imagining constitutes a more important influence on heart rate in these circumstances than image type or affective content.     

Eye movements and scene perception.

Research on eye movements and scene perception is reviewed. Following an initial discussion of some basic facts about eye movements and perception, the following topics are discussed: (I) the span of effective vision during scene perception, (2) the role of eye movements in scene perception, (3) integration of information across saccades, (4) scene context, object identification and eye movements, and (5) the control of eye movements. The relationship of eye movements during reading to eye movements during scene perception is considered. A preliminary model of eye movement control in scene perception is described and directions for future research are suggested.     

The relationship between online visual representation of a scene and long-term scene memory

In 3 experiments the author investigated the relationship between the online visual representation of natural scenes and long-term visual memory. In a change detection task, a target object either changed or remained the same from an initial image of a natural scene to a test image. Two types of changes were possible: rotation in depth, or replacement by another object from the same basic-level category. Change detection during online scene viewing was compared with change detection after delay of 1 trial (Experiments 2A and 2B) until the end of the study session (Experiment 1) or 24 hr (Experiment 3). There was little or no decline in change detection performance from online viewing to a delay of 1 trial or delay until the end of the session, and change detection remained well above chance after 24 hr. These results demonstrate that long-term memory for visual detail in a scene is robust.     

Self-report and stability of physical symptoms by adolescents

Verbal reports of physical complaints and their relationship to school-related stress was investigated in two adolescent samples. It was hypothesized that symptom reporting is a function of age and sex, and is connected to psychological factors such as test (state) and trait anxiety. In addition, the consistency of symptoms reported during the course of one year was evaluated. It was found that, overall, the two adolescent groups complained of more physical symptoms than did Br?hler's (1978) adult sample. Differences between males and females in reporting symptoms were apparent only in the older adolescent group (ages 14 to 15); females reported more physical complaints. The positive correlation between body symptoms and test-trait anxiety was highly significant. During the year, few adolescents exhibited well-defined patterns of body complaints. On the contrary, many complaints seemed to be transient phenomena, although the number was high. In this respect, adolescence plays an important role in the self-reporting evaluation and development of physical complaints.     

Relation of perceived fitness with health changes and physiological changes in women exercisers

Perceived fitness and health changes were not significantly correlated with corresponding physiological changes in 26 formerly sedentary women during a 16-wk. moderate cardiovascular exercise.     

Self-report measures of defeat and entrapment during a brief depressive mood induction

Recent studies have reported that depression is strongly associated with perceptions of defeat and entrapment, and have proposed that such perceptions are central features of depression. This study used experimental mood induction procedures to investigate the putative causal relationship between perceptions of defeat/entrapment and depressed mood. Two groups of female undergraduate volunteers (n = 16) completed visual analogue mood scales, as well as Defeat and Entrapment scales, before and after either a negative or a positive musical mood induction procedure (MIP). Scores on the Defeat and Entrapment Scales were significantly correlated with scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The negative MIP caused a worsening of mood and significantly increased perceptions of defeat and entrapment, particularly internal entrapment. The positive MIP caused a small but significant improvement in mood, and significantly decreased defeat scores. Individuals with elevated BDI or internal entrapment scores prior to the negative MIP showed the greatest increases in internal entrapment after the negative mood induction. The results demonstrate that induction of a depressed mood increases perceptions of defeat and entrapment, and suggest that, in the case of internal entrapment, this effect increases with the initial level of depression or entrapment.     

Presleep suggestion related to a phobic object: successful manipulation of reported dream affect.

Twenty-four female subjects with a strong dislike of snakes slept for four nonconsecutive nights in the laboratory. They were divided into four groups of six, each group receiving a different presleep suggestion on Nights 3 and 4. On Nights 2, 3, and 4, before sleep, the subjects saw but did not have to touch a live snake and their dreams were collected for each REM period. The results showed that, when compared with the subjects who received the negative affect suggestions, subjects who received positive affect suggestions had significantly higher levels of positive emotions in their dreams, rated their own dreams as more pleasant, and had significantly lower levels of anxiety, sadness, and aggression. These results support the hypothesis that presleep suggestion can be an effective technique in influencing the affective dimension of the dream.