Covert behavior as a direct electromyographic measure of mediating responses

Electromyographic (EMG) measures (in addition to eye activity, and electroencephalograms, EEG) were taken from the tongue and arms of children under conditions of verbal oral mediation, non-oral (leg and arm) mediation based on the concepts of right and left, and no-mediation. It was found that amplitude of tongue EMG (a measure of covert oral behavior) significantly increased only for the Verbal Mediation Group, and the increase was significantly greater than for the other two (control) groups. The arms were possible loci of mediational behavior for the Non-oral Mediation Group; arm EMG was relatively large under this non-oral mediation condition, the changes being significant for the left arm. Eye movements, possible indicators of right and left mediational activity, were greater under the non-oral mediation condition, too. These psychophysiological measures of covert behavior during mediation are thus consistent with verbal mediational theory that has been based on the study of overt behavior.