International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology, 2015
Reduced cardiovascular responses to psychological stressors have been found to be associated with... more Reduced cardiovascular responses to psychological stressors have been found to be associated with both obesity and negative affect in adults, but have been less well studied in children and adolescent populations. These findings have most often been interpreted as reflecting reduced sympathetic nervous system response, perhaps associated with heightened baseline sympathetic activation among the obese and those manifesting negative affect. However, obesity and negative affect may themselves be correlated, raising the question of whether they both independently affect cardiovascular reactivity. The present study thus examined the separate effects of obesity and negative affect on both cardiovascular and skin conductance responses to stress (e.g., during a serial subtraction math task) in adolescents, while controlling for baseline levels of autonomic activity during rest. Both obesity and negative affect had independent and negative associations with cardiovascular reactivity, such th...
The human startle eyeblink reflex is reliably modified by both cognitive and emotional processes.... more The human startle eyeblink reflex is reliably modified by both cognitive and emotional processes. This review provides a comprehensive survey of the current literature on human startle modification and its psychological significance. Issues raised for short lead interval startle inhibition include its interpretation as a measure of protection of processing, sensori- motor gating and early attentional processing. For long lead
Background: The measurement of electrodermal activity (EDA) provides a window into sympathetic ne... more Background: The measurement of electrodermal activity (EDA) provides a window into sympathetic nervous system activation via detection of change in sweat gland activity. Using EDA measures, the innovative Sensory Challenge Protocol (SCP) enables researchers to study sympathetic reactivity to sensory stimuli in a controlled laboratory environment. The SCP is specifically designed for studies of children with developmental and behavioral conditions involving impaired sensory modulation (Miller et al., 1999; Miller et al., 2001). It is a painless and non-intrusive psychophysiological assessment in which a series of sensory stimuli are administered in a child-friendly laboratory. Objectives: The purpose was to provide empirical evidence regarding differences in reactivity to sensory stimulation of children with and without autism. This study uses the SCP, which includes 3 phases (baseline, “sensory challenge”, and recovery), to measure sympathetic reactivity via EDA data at rest and in ...
The present study examined physiological measures of affect when viewing images from the Internat... more The present study examined physiological measures of affect when viewing images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), computer-generated still images, and computer-generated videos of feared and non-feared stimuli. Twenty low fear (LF) and twelve high fear (HF) individuals viewed static and moving images of spiders and snakes. In both LF and HF subjects, computer-generated video images elicited more intense affective responses than the IAPS images and the computer-generated stills. Computergenerated still images were as effective in eliciting fear responses as the IAPS. These results suggest that computer-generated images can be as or more effective as the IAPS in eliciting fear. Regardless of modality, HF subjects showed stronger physiological responses to their specifically feared stimulus (snake or spider) than to a non-feared stimulus.
Tonic electrodermal measures have been widely used to index autonomic abnormalities in schizophre... more Tonic electrodermal measures have been widely used to index autonomic abnormalities in schizophrenia, whereas phasic electrodermal nonresponsiveness has been frequently used to index attentional orienting abnormalities. The primary objective of the present study was to assess whether these electrodermal abnormalities are episode indicators or vulnerability indicators. Twenty patients with a recent first episode of schizophrenia were tested during symptomatically remitted states and psychotic states. Twenty demographically matched normal controls were tested at two comparable intervals. Testing for stability of abnormalities across remitted and psychotic states allowed us to determine whether tonic and phasic electrodermal measures qualify as episode indicators or vulnerability indicators. Tonic electrodermal activity was abnormally elevated only during the psychotic state, which indicates that it is an episode indicator in schizophrenia. Phasic hyporesponsiveness relative to levels ...
The authors studied official arrests from childhood through adolescence in two groups of boys; on... more The authors studied official arrests from childhood through adolescence in two groups of boys; one group (N = 110) was diagnosed in childhood as suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD), and the second group (N = 88) consisted of normal control adolescents. Rates of single and multiple serious offenses and of institutionalization for delinquency were significantly higher in the ADD subjects. These findings suggest a strong relationship between childhood ADD and later arrests for delinquent behavior.
Longitudinal and cross-sectional event-related potential, EEG power spectral, and skin conductanc... more Longitudinal and cross-sectional event-related potential, EEG power spectral, and skin conductance level data were obtained from 138 hyperactive and 60 normal boys. A age-by-diagnosis interaction was found for several measures in the cross-sectional data and for all three types of measures in the longitudinal data. These findings emphasize the importance of age in electrophysiological studies of young children and strongly suggest an abnormal maturational process in hyperactive children.
In each of two experiments, allocation of cognitive processing capacity was measured in college-s... more In each of two experiments, allocation of cognitive processing capacity was measured in college-student subjects during autonomic discrimination classical conditioning. A 7.0-sec delay paradigm was used to establish classically conditioned responses to a reinforced visual conditioned stimulus (CS+). Electrodermal responses were the primary measures of autonomic classical conditioning. Allocation of processing capacity was measured by monitoring performance on a secondary reaction-time (RT) task. The auditory secondary-task RT signal was presented before, and 300, 500, 3500, 6500, and 7500 msec following CS onset. The RT signal was also presented following properly and improperly cued shock unconditioned stimuli (UCSs). Significant discrimination classical conditioning was obtained in both experiments. Comparison with control subjects who did not receive the RT signals indicated that the presence of the RT signals did not interfere with the development of classical conditioning. Four...
Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology, 1984
Childhood electrophysiological and clinical measures were obtained in 110 hyperactive (HA) and 76... more Childhood electrophysiological and clinical measures were obtained in 110 hyperactive (HA) and 76 normal children, who were later followed up as adolescents. Official arrest data were obtained on all subjects and used to measure outcome. The usual interpretation, that the presence of a brain function abnormality suggests a poor prognosis, does not apply to the clinical EEG, EEG spectral and ERP measures obtained on these HA boys. In fact, the converse was found to be true, that is EEG and ERP abnormalities were associated with a good outcome, while normal values of these measures were associated with a poor outcome. Data were presented that suggest that there may be two distinct subgroups of HA boys. The first group was characterized by abnormalities in childhood brain function, abnormal changes in brain function with age, less antisocial and hyperactive behavior in childhood, and absence of delinquency in adolescence. The second group was characterized by normal childhood brain fun...
Journal of comparative and physiological psychology, 1969
When successive stimuli elicit multiple GSRs, the response to the 2nd stimulus may be determined ... more When successive stimuli elicit multiple GSRs, the response to the 2nd stimulus may be determined by properties of the preceding response. To test these relationships 27 undergraduates were administered paired-noise stimuli in which the properties of the 1st noise were varied by changes in intensity (80, 90, and 98 db.) and duration (2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 sec.).
Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology, 1987
Changes in AERP measures from childhood to adolescence were studied in 2 subgroups of hyperactive... more Changes in AERP measures from childhood to adolescence were studied in 2 subgroups of hyperactive children (25 non-delinquent and 9 delinquent) and 1 group of 34 non-delinquent normal children. The 3 groups were selected on the basis of official delinquency measures obtained 8 years after their initial evaluations. All subjects were studied using the same AERP paradigm at both points in time. The major finding was that the non-delinquent hyperactive subjects were found to have abnormal maturational changes as reflected by AERP measures while the delinquent hyperactive subjects were found to have normal maturational changes in these same measures. This suggests that these 2 hyperactive groups are on a different developmental course and that they may represent different clinical entities. Results of the comparison of cross-sectional data in childhood and again in adolescence were consistent with the concept of 2 distinct subgroups.
ABSTRACT Previous investigators have suggested that presence or absence of the CS during the inte... more ABSTRACT Previous investigators have suggested that presence or absence of the CS during the interstimulus interval (ISI) may significantly affect the amount of UCR diminution taking place during classical conditioning. 4 groups of undergraduate Ss each received 16 presentations of paired or unpaired light and shock with a CS length of 1 or 5 sec. and an ISI of 5 sec., followed by 4 UCS-along test trials. The dependent variable was GSR magnitude measured within 6 sec. of stimulus onset. Significant UCR diminution during acquisition and recovery during test trials were demonstrated by both paired groups. The CS duration did not significantly affect the amount of diminution or recovery taking place. If a trace-delay difference is a necessary deduction from the conditioned inhibition explanation of UCR diminution phenomena, the present data do not support such an explanation.
Subjected 10 groups of 10 undergraduates each to paired or unpaired presentations of a light cs a... more Subjected 10 groups of 10 undergraduates each to paired or unpaired presentations of a light cs and a shock ucs. Experimental conditions included a delay conditioning or trace paradigm, an interstimulus interval (isi) of constant or variable length, and informative or noninformative instructions about stimulus relations prior to acquisition training. All ss received 30 acquisition trials followed by 8 recovery trials on which the ucs was presented alone. Both trace and delay conditioning groups demonstrated significantly greater ucr recovery than their control groups; the effect of cs duration on recovery was not significant. A variable isi was found to produce less ucr recovery than a constant isi, an effect which was offset by informative instructions. Results support a preparatory set explanation of ucr diminution.
Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 2011
This paper is concerned with the effective use of the skin conductance response (SCR) in studies ... more This paper is concerned with the effective use of the skin conductance response (SCR) in studies involving decision-making. General guidelines for the measurement and quantification of the SCR are briefly described. Cortical and subcortical mechanisms involved in the expression of the SCR are identified in relation to decision-making and related cognitive processes. Finally, literature related to decision-making that utilizes the
Autonomic fear conditioning deficits have been linked to child aggression and adult criminal beha... more Autonomic fear conditioning deficits have been linked to child aggression and adult criminal behavior. However, it is unknown if fear conditioning deficits are specific to certain subtypes of aggression, and longitudinal research is rare. In the current study, reactive and proactive aggression were assessed in a sample of males and females when aged 10, 12, 15, and 18 years old. Skin conductance fear conditioning data were collected when they were 18 years old. Individuals who were persistently high on proactive aggression measures had significantly poorer conditioned responses at 18 years old when compared to others. This association was not found for reactive aggression. Consistent with prior literature, findings suggest that persistent antisocial individuals have unique neurobiological characteristics and that poor autonomic fear conditioning is associated with the presence of increased instrumental aggressive behavior.
International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology, 2015
Reduced cardiovascular responses to psychological stressors have been found to be associated with... more Reduced cardiovascular responses to psychological stressors have been found to be associated with both obesity and negative affect in adults, but have been less well studied in children and adolescent populations. These findings have most often been interpreted as reflecting reduced sympathetic nervous system response, perhaps associated with heightened baseline sympathetic activation among the obese and those manifesting negative affect. However, obesity and negative affect may themselves be correlated, raising the question of whether they both independently affect cardiovascular reactivity. The present study thus examined the separate effects of obesity and negative affect on both cardiovascular and skin conductance responses to stress (e.g., during a serial subtraction math task) in adolescents, while controlling for baseline levels of autonomic activity during rest. Both obesity and negative affect had independent and negative associations with cardiovascular reactivity, such th...
The human startle eyeblink reflex is reliably modified by both cognitive and emotional processes.... more The human startle eyeblink reflex is reliably modified by both cognitive and emotional processes. This review provides a comprehensive survey of the current literature on human startle modification and its psychological significance. Issues raised for short lead interval startle inhibition include its interpretation as a measure of protection of processing, sensori- motor gating and early attentional processing. For long lead
Background: The measurement of electrodermal activity (EDA) provides a window into sympathetic ne... more Background: The measurement of electrodermal activity (EDA) provides a window into sympathetic nervous system activation via detection of change in sweat gland activity. Using EDA measures, the innovative Sensory Challenge Protocol (SCP) enables researchers to study sympathetic reactivity to sensory stimuli in a controlled laboratory environment. The SCP is specifically designed for studies of children with developmental and behavioral conditions involving impaired sensory modulation (Miller et al., 1999; Miller et al., 2001). It is a painless and non-intrusive psychophysiological assessment in which a series of sensory stimuli are administered in a child-friendly laboratory. Objectives: The purpose was to provide empirical evidence regarding differences in reactivity to sensory stimulation of children with and without autism. This study uses the SCP, which includes 3 phases (baseline, “sensory challenge”, and recovery), to measure sympathetic reactivity via EDA data at rest and in ...
The present study examined physiological measures of affect when viewing images from the Internat... more The present study examined physiological measures of affect when viewing images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), computer-generated still images, and computer-generated videos of feared and non-feared stimuli. Twenty low fear (LF) and twelve high fear (HF) individuals viewed static and moving images of spiders and snakes. In both LF and HF subjects, computer-generated video images elicited more intense affective responses than the IAPS images and the computer-generated stills. Computergenerated still images were as effective in eliciting fear responses as the IAPS. These results suggest that computer-generated images can be as or more effective as the IAPS in eliciting fear. Regardless of modality, HF subjects showed stronger physiological responses to their specifically feared stimulus (snake or spider) than to a non-feared stimulus.
Tonic electrodermal measures have been widely used to index autonomic abnormalities in schizophre... more Tonic electrodermal measures have been widely used to index autonomic abnormalities in schizophrenia, whereas phasic electrodermal nonresponsiveness has been frequently used to index attentional orienting abnormalities. The primary objective of the present study was to assess whether these electrodermal abnormalities are episode indicators or vulnerability indicators. Twenty patients with a recent first episode of schizophrenia were tested during symptomatically remitted states and psychotic states. Twenty demographically matched normal controls were tested at two comparable intervals. Testing for stability of abnormalities across remitted and psychotic states allowed us to determine whether tonic and phasic electrodermal measures qualify as episode indicators or vulnerability indicators. Tonic electrodermal activity was abnormally elevated only during the psychotic state, which indicates that it is an episode indicator in schizophrenia. Phasic hyporesponsiveness relative to levels ...
The authors studied official arrests from childhood through adolescence in two groups of boys; on... more The authors studied official arrests from childhood through adolescence in two groups of boys; one group (N = 110) was diagnosed in childhood as suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD), and the second group (N = 88) consisted of normal control adolescents. Rates of single and multiple serious offenses and of institutionalization for delinquency were significantly higher in the ADD subjects. These findings suggest a strong relationship between childhood ADD and later arrests for delinquent behavior.
Longitudinal and cross-sectional event-related potential, EEG power spectral, and skin conductanc... more Longitudinal and cross-sectional event-related potential, EEG power spectral, and skin conductance level data were obtained from 138 hyperactive and 60 normal boys. A age-by-diagnosis interaction was found for several measures in the cross-sectional data and for all three types of measures in the longitudinal data. These findings emphasize the importance of age in electrophysiological studies of young children and strongly suggest an abnormal maturational process in hyperactive children.
In each of two experiments, allocation of cognitive processing capacity was measured in college-s... more In each of two experiments, allocation of cognitive processing capacity was measured in college-student subjects during autonomic discrimination classical conditioning. A 7.0-sec delay paradigm was used to establish classically conditioned responses to a reinforced visual conditioned stimulus (CS+). Electrodermal responses were the primary measures of autonomic classical conditioning. Allocation of processing capacity was measured by monitoring performance on a secondary reaction-time (RT) task. The auditory secondary-task RT signal was presented before, and 300, 500, 3500, 6500, and 7500 msec following CS onset. The RT signal was also presented following properly and improperly cued shock unconditioned stimuli (UCSs). Significant discrimination classical conditioning was obtained in both experiments. Comparison with control subjects who did not receive the RT signals indicated that the presence of the RT signals did not interfere with the development of classical conditioning. Four...
Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology, 1984
Childhood electrophysiological and clinical measures were obtained in 110 hyperactive (HA) and 76... more Childhood electrophysiological and clinical measures were obtained in 110 hyperactive (HA) and 76 normal children, who were later followed up as adolescents. Official arrest data were obtained on all subjects and used to measure outcome. The usual interpretation, that the presence of a brain function abnormality suggests a poor prognosis, does not apply to the clinical EEG, EEG spectral and ERP measures obtained on these HA boys. In fact, the converse was found to be true, that is EEG and ERP abnormalities were associated with a good outcome, while normal values of these measures were associated with a poor outcome. Data were presented that suggest that there may be two distinct subgroups of HA boys. The first group was characterized by abnormalities in childhood brain function, abnormal changes in brain function with age, less antisocial and hyperactive behavior in childhood, and absence of delinquency in adolescence. The second group was characterized by normal childhood brain fun...
Journal of comparative and physiological psychology, 1969
When successive stimuli elicit multiple GSRs, the response to the 2nd stimulus may be determined ... more When successive stimuli elicit multiple GSRs, the response to the 2nd stimulus may be determined by properties of the preceding response. To test these relationships 27 undergraduates were administered paired-noise stimuli in which the properties of the 1st noise were varied by changes in intensity (80, 90, and 98 db.) and duration (2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 sec.).
Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology, 1987
Changes in AERP measures from childhood to adolescence were studied in 2 subgroups of hyperactive... more Changes in AERP measures from childhood to adolescence were studied in 2 subgroups of hyperactive children (25 non-delinquent and 9 delinquent) and 1 group of 34 non-delinquent normal children. The 3 groups were selected on the basis of official delinquency measures obtained 8 years after their initial evaluations. All subjects were studied using the same AERP paradigm at both points in time. The major finding was that the non-delinquent hyperactive subjects were found to have abnormal maturational changes as reflected by AERP measures while the delinquent hyperactive subjects were found to have normal maturational changes in these same measures. This suggests that these 2 hyperactive groups are on a different developmental course and that they may represent different clinical entities. Results of the comparison of cross-sectional data in childhood and again in adolescence were consistent with the concept of 2 distinct subgroups.
ABSTRACT Previous investigators have suggested that presence or absence of the CS during the inte... more ABSTRACT Previous investigators have suggested that presence or absence of the CS during the interstimulus interval (ISI) may significantly affect the amount of UCR diminution taking place during classical conditioning. 4 groups of undergraduate Ss each received 16 presentations of paired or unpaired light and shock with a CS length of 1 or 5 sec. and an ISI of 5 sec., followed by 4 UCS-along test trials. The dependent variable was GSR magnitude measured within 6 sec. of stimulus onset. Significant UCR diminution during acquisition and recovery during test trials were demonstrated by both paired groups. The CS duration did not significantly affect the amount of diminution or recovery taking place. If a trace-delay difference is a necessary deduction from the conditioned inhibition explanation of UCR diminution phenomena, the present data do not support such an explanation.
Subjected 10 groups of 10 undergraduates each to paired or unpaired presentations of a light cs a... more Subjected 10 groups of 10 undergraduates each to paired or unpaired presentations of a light cs and a shock ucs. Experimental conditions included a delay conditioning or trace paradigm, an interstimulus interval (isi) of constant or variable length, and informative or noninformative instructions about stimulus relations prior to acquisition training. All ss received 30 acquisition trials followed by 8 recovery trials on which the ucs was presented alone. Both trace and delay conditioning groups demonstrated significantly greater ucr recovery than their control groups; the effect of cs duration on recovery was not significant. A variable isi was found to produce less ucr recovery than a constant isi, an effect which was offset by informative instructions. Results support a preparatory set explanation of ucr diminution.
Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 2011
This paper is concerned with the effective use of the skin conductance response (SCR) in studies ... more This paper is concerned with the effective use of the skin conductance response (SCR) in studies involving decision-making. General guidelines for the measurement and quantification of the SCR are briefly described. Cortical and subcortical mechanisms involved in the expression of the SCR are identified in relation to decision-making and related cognitive processes. Finally, literature related to decision-making that utilizes the
Autonomic fear conditioning deficits have been linked to child aggression and adult criminal beha... more Autonomic fear conditioning deficits have been linked to child aggression and adult criminal behavior. However, it is unknown if fear conditioning deficits are specific to certain subtypes of aggression, and longitudinal research is rare. In the current study, reactive and proactive aggression were assessed in a sample of males and females when aged 10, 12, 15, and 18 years old. Skin conductance fear conditioning data were collected when they were 18 years old. Individuals who were persistently high on proactive aggression measures had significantly poorer conditioned responses at 18 years old when compared to others. This association was not found for reactive aggression. Consistent with prior literature, findings suggest that persistent antisocial individuals have unique neurobiological characteristics and that poor autonomic fear conditioning is associated with the presence of increased instrumental aggressive behavior.
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