Self-verbalization and emotional arousal.

Investigated certain assumptions derived from A. Ellis' theory relating implicit verbalization to emotional arousal. Emotional responses (GSR and respiration changes) of 18 undergraduates instructed to silently read sequences of affectively loaded sentences were compared with those of 9 Ss who read neutral sentences. The relationship between relevance to S of the content of the sentences and level of emotional response was investigated, as was the effect of sentence type (observation, inference, or evaluative conclusion) on level of emotional response. Results were that Ss showed a significantly greater response to affectively loaded than to neutral sentences on 2 out of 3 responses measures. Neither relevance nor sentence type were found to have any significant effect. Results were interpreted as offering only partial support for the theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Self Verbalization and Emotional Arousal": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by David C. Rimm and Stuart B. Litvak (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1969[April],74[2],181-187). On page 187 of the article corrections need to be made in the first and second paragraphs. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1969-09037-001.) Investigated certain assumptions derived from A. Ellis' theory relating implicit verbalization to emotional arousal. Emotional responses (GSR and respiration changes) of 18 undergraduates instructed to silently read sequences of affectively loaded sentences were compared with those of 9 Ss who read neutral sentences. The relationship between relevance to S of the content of the sentences and level of emotional response was investigated, as was the effect of sentence type (observation, inference, or evaluative conclusion) on level of emotional response. Results were that Ss showed a significantly greater response to affectively loaded than to neutral sentences on 2 out of 3 responses measures. Neither relevance nor sentence type were found to have any significant effect. Results were interpreted as offering only partial support for the theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrodermal habituation and subjective response: Effects of manifest anxiety and autonomic arousal.

Studied the effects of cortical function and individual differences on galvanic skin response (GSR) habituation to tones of low and moderate intensity. 40 female undergraduates were divided into high- and low-anxious groups, on the basis of their Taylor Manifest Anxiety scale scores, and into high- and low-arousal groups, on the basis of their resting-level GSR activity. High-anxious Ss perceived nonchanging, nonnoxious moderate and low tones as increasing in intensity over trials while their electrodermal responses to the tones were habituating. Although the low-anxious group and the high- and low-arousal groups also showed electrodermal habituation, there were no significant effects of trials for intensity ratings. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of heightened motivation on the detection of deception.

1 of 5 cards was selected by each S and 2 minutes association to this card was required. GSR response to the selected card was compared to the responses for nonselected cards in 2 groups of Ss. 1 group was motivated to "deceive the operator and withhold responses." The other group was given no special instruction. The hypothesis that Ss who are motivated to deceive will more frequently produce disproportional large skin resistance responses to critical items as opposed to noncritical items than will Ss who have not been so motivated was upheld. Ss who were motivated to deceive were more successfully detected. In addition detection took place at a much greater than chance level in the motivated group, while in the other group it occurred only at chance levels. The degree of autonomic response to significant stimuli appears to be a function of the motivational state of the S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Habituation of the orienting response as a function of individual differences in anxiety and autonomic lability.

Evaluated the role of individual differences in anxiety and autonomic lability on the habituation of GSR responses to auditory stimuli of moderate and very low intensity. 60 male undergraduate Ss were used. They were divided into high- and low-anxious groups on the basis of Taylor MA scale scores and high and low autonomic lability groups on the basis of spontaneous GSR activity during a rest period. No relationship between Taylor score and GSR habituation was obtained for either stimulus intensity. Autonomically labile Ss showed no habituation to the moderate tone, but did habituate to the low intensity tone. Autonomically stabile Ss habituated to both tones. It was concluded that individual differences in autonomic lability may predict whether an S will respond to moderate intensities with orienting or defensive reactions. (33 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Galvanic skin response as a measure of patient's reaction to therapist's permissiveness.

"Frequency of a patient's galvanic skin response is shown to be inversely related to the judged permissiveness of the therapist during a series of 42 hours of psychotherapy. The GSR is interpreted as a measure of the anxiety of the patient, or his 'mobilization' against any cue threatening punishment by the therapist, such as any cue which the patient has learned to perceive as evidence of low esteem. This anxiety presumably motivates varying subtle forms of resistance and defense against the feared punishment. Several alternative interpretations of the relation between permissiveness and GSR are rejected by various findings." GSR is related to the emotional significance of the patient's speech, as well as to the permissiveness of the therapist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Denial of threat and emotional response to impending painful stimulation.

Significant negative correlations were obtained between scores on Byrne's Repression-Sensitization (R-S) scale and several indices of electrodermal activity in a paradigm in which Ss anticipated the presentation of strong electric shock. These results support the hypothesis that Ss who receive low scores on the R-S scale (repressers) exhibit greater disturbance than do those who receive high scores (sensitizers). Repressers reported a stronger tendency to avoid thinking about impending shock (suppression) than did sensitizers. This reported tendency to use suppression techniques was directly and significantly related to basal skin conductance, non-specific GSR activity, magnitude of anticipatory GSR activity, and the number of sec. by which this activity preceded shock. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Protection of GSR conditioning by dextroamphetamine.

Administered d-amphetamine (.175 mg/kg) or placebo capsules to 64 normal human adults on 2 successive days in a factorially designed study of GSR acquisition and extinction. Ss performed a phi-phenomenon task during sessions with tone and electric shock as the conditioning stimuli. The drug prevented habituation of conditioned GSRs during acquisition trials, and when given next day it prevented extinction. However, the capacity of this dosage to offset GSR habituation to the tone in a control group was relatively weak, and no influence was discernible on GSRs to shock, levels of skin resistance, or phi-phenomenon response. (French summary) (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Habituation to a loud sound as a function of manifest anxiety.

Subdivided 40 undergraduates on each of several scales of a specially devised test of manifest anxiety. They were presented with 10 trials of a 115-db noise. GSR and basal skin conductance were monitored continuously. The habituation curve of the GSR was a typical negatively decelerated habituation curve. The habituation curve of basal conductance rose in the 1st few trials and then gradually declined, resembling a giant GSR. While there were no differences in curve form for Ss divided on the total scale, differences emerged when Ss were divided on subscales of Striated Muscle Tension and Autonomic Arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physiological concomitants of behavioral indexes in schizophrenia.

Obtained measures of heart rate, respiration rate, GSR, and EMG from 28 schizophrenic patients and 14 controls under rest and stress conditions. Patients had been classified as either chronic or acute on the basis of the Phillips Premorbid Rating Scale. Depending on the measure, chronic schizophrenic patients were either overaroused or underaroused as compared to control Ss, and acute schizophrenic patients fell in between chronic schizophrenics and controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between a dimension of body image and two measures of conditioning.

Hypothesized that definiteness of the body image boundary is a variable related to differential ease of acquisition of autonomic conditioned responses. The barrier score, derived from Rorschach ink blots, served as the measure of body image definiteness. 29 High- and 20 low-barrier male undergraduates were subjected to a classical autonomic conditioning procedure. The autonomic responses measured were GSR and heart rate. Results indicate that low-barrier Ss are more susceptible than high-barrier Ss to the conditioned heart rate response while high-barrier Ss are more easily conditioned to the GSR response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

CS and UCS intervals and orders in human autonomic classical differential trace conditioning.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 25(3) of Canadian Journal of Psychology Revue Canadienne de Psychologie (see record 2007-04520-001). In diagram appearing in this erratum should be substituted for the diagram appearing as Figure 2 on p. 423 of the article.] Measured the GSR and digital volume-pulse change in 4 groups of 80 Ss each with light and tone as CS and shock as UCS. For Groups I and II, the CS-UCS interval was .75 and 7.5 sec., respectively; for Groups III and IV, the UCS-CS interval was .75 and 7.5 sec., respectively. Group III showed "backward" differential conditioning in the GSR; Group II yielded reliable conditioning of "multiple responses" occurring before UCS onset; the magnitude and extent of conditioning was greater in Group I than in Groups II and III, which did not differ; some evidence for "reverse" conditioning was suggested in Group IV, with slightly greater responding to the CS not paired with the UCS; instructions which distracted 1/2 the Ss from the CS did not affect responding to those stimuli. (French summary) (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between a measure of transitory anxiety and spontaneous autonomic activity.

The effects of stress (threat of shock) on GSR nonspecific responses were evaluated for Ss who differed in transitory anxiety as measured by the Affect Adjective Check List (AACL). 52 Ss were equally divided among 4 groups: Hi AACL Stress, Lo AACL Stress, Hi AACL Nonstress, and Lo AACL Nonstress. 1st, all Ss rested; then both Stress groups were threatened with shock, while both Nonstress groups continued resting; finally, all Ss rested again. During the 2nd period GSR nonspecifics increased for both stress groups; however, during the final period, after the cessation of stress, GSR nonspecifics decreased more for the Lo AACL Ss than for the Hi AACL Ss. It was concluded that the AACL may be related to "autonomic recovery rate." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

GSR conditioning, anxiety, and extraversion.

"Hypotheses by Eysenck and Spence relating GSR conditioning to extraversion and anxiety, respectively, were examined… [Ss] scoring on the extremes of anxiety and extraversion were selected… . Using a conditioned response amplitude measure,… a significant positive relationship was found between anxiety and conditioning. No significant relationship was found between extraversion and conditioning… . The results give clear support to Spence's theory while failing to support that of Eysenck." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4CG27B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"CS and UCS intervals and orders in human autonomic classical differential trace conditioning": Erratum.

Reports an error in "CS and UCS intervals and orders in human autonomic classical differential trace conditioning" by John J. Furedy (Canadian Journal of Psychology Revue Canadienne de Psychologie, 1970[Dec], Vol 24[6], 417-426). The diagram appearing in this erratum should be substituted for the diagram appearing as Figure 2 on p. 423 of the article. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1971-24206-001.) Measured the GSR and digital volume-pulse change in 4 groups of 80 Ss each with light and tone as CS and shock as UCS. For Groups I and II, the CS-UCS interval was .75 and 7.5 sec., respectively; for Groups III and IV, the UCS-CS interval was .75 and 7.5 sec., respectively. Group III showed 'backward' differential conditioning in the GSR; Group II yielded reliable conditioning of 'multiple responses' occurring before UCS onset; the magnitude and extent of conditioning was greater in Group I than in Groups II and III, which did not differ; some evidence for 'reverse' conditioning was suggested in Group IV, with slightly greater responding to the CS not paired with the UCS; instructions which distracted 1/2 the Ss from the CS did not affect responding to those stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Unconscious anxiety": Phobic responses to masked stimuli.

Tested the hypothesis that an unconscious preattentive perceptual analysis of phobic stimuli is sufficient to elicit human fear responses. Selected snake- and spider-fearful Ss, as well as normal controls, were exposed to pictures of snakes, spiders, flowers, and mushrooms. A separate forced-choice recognition experiment established backward masking conditions that effectively precluded recognition of experimental stimuli both for fearful and nonfearful Ss. In the main experiment, these conditions were used to compare skin conductance responses (SCRs) to masked and nonmasked phobic and control pictures among fearful and nonfearful Ss. In support of the hypotheses, snake- and spider-fearful Ss showed elevated SCRs to snake and spider pictures as compared with neutral pictures and with responses of the nonfearful Ss under both masking conditions. Ratings of valence, arousal, and dominance indicated that the fearful Ss felt more negative, more aroused, and less dominant in relation to both masked and nonmasked phobic stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of two independent stresses upon autonomic responding.

Attempted to determine whether the GSR and cardiac response to "aversive" photographs contained both orienting and emotional components. 40 female undergraduates were shown either photographs of dead or photographs of live individuals projected upside down. 1/2 of the Ss expected, but never received, shocks. Data were interpreted to indicate that in addition to the orienting response, an emotional component was present in the response to the aversive photographs. The effect of shock threat was to increase reactivity to all stimuli. Analysis revealed that the GSR was most responsive to the content of the stimuli while the cardiac response was most sensitive to the shock threat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrodermal and plethysmographic OR components: Repetition of and change from USC-CS trials with surrogate UCS.

For 40 undergraduates a tone and a light were repeatedly paired (P) in the same order (e.g., tone-light) for 15 trials, after which the 2nd member of the pair (e.g., light) was presented alone as the change trial. For another 40 Ss the repetition consisted of 15 single (S) tone (or light) presentations followed by the light (or tone) as the change trial. The duration of both stimuli was .3 sec., the interstimulus interval (on P trials) was .75 sec., and the mean ITI approximated 45 sec. The GSR and digital-blood-volume-pulse change (VPC) were recorded. The GSR habituated reliable and at the same rate to both repeated patterns over Trials 1-15, but the VPC did not habituate to either pattern. Change from both S and P repetition produced response increases, but the increase under the P condition was not so pronounced as to inspire confidence in explanations of UCS-CS conditioning in terms of orienting reaction reinstatement to change. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive factors in differential conditioning of the GSR: Use of a reaction time task as the UCS with normals and schizophrenics.

22 normals and 22 schizophrenics underwent differential conditioning of the GSR, using 8-sec tones of differing frequencies as the CSs, an 8-sec CS-UCS interval, and a UCS comprised of an RT task signaled by a low-intensity light. Both intertrial reports and postconditioning interviews were obtained. 12 Ss in the normal group verbalized the CS relations accurately, compared to 3 Ss in the schizophrenic group. The normal group showed significant GSR differentiation, though conditioning was limited to the group of accurately verbalizing Ss. No evidence for conditioning was obtained in the schizophrenic group. Normal Ss had faster RTs than schizophrenic Ss. The RT of accurately verbalizing normals was shorter than that of inaccurately verbalizing normals, and the degree of GSR differentiation was significantly correlated with RT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)