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Scientific Reports Jan 2021The purpose of the study was to compare the psychophysiological response of climbers of a range of abilities (lower grade to advanced) when ascending identical climbing...
The purpose of the study was to compare the psychophysiological response of climbers of a range of abilities (lower grade to advanced) when ascending identical climbing routes on a climbing wall and a rotating treadwall. Twenty-two female climbers (31.2 ± 9.4 years; 60.5 ± 6.5 kg; 168.6 ± 5.7 cm) completed two identical 18 m climbing trials (graded 4 on the French Sport scale) separated by 1 week, one on the treadwall (climbing low to the ground) and the other on the indoor wall (climbing in height). Indirect calorimetry, venous blood samples and video-analysis were used to assess energy cost, hormonal response and time-load characteristics. Energy costs were higher during indoor wall climbing comparing to those on the treadwall by 16% (P < 0.001, [Formula: see text] = 0.48). No interaction of climbing ability and climbing condition were found. However, there was an interaction for climbing ability and post-climbing catecholamine concentration (P < 0.01, [Formula: see text] = 0.28). Advanced climbers' catecholamine response increased by 238% and 166% with respect to pre-climb values on the treadwall and indoor wall, respectively; while lower grade climbers pre-climb concentrations were elevated by 281% and 376% on the treadwall and indoor wall, respectively. The video analysis showed no differences in any time-motion variables between treadwall and indoor wall climbing. The study demonstrated a greater metabolic response for indoor wall climbing, however, the exact mechanisms are not yet fully understood.
Topics: Adult; Athletic Performance; Female; Hand Strength; Heart Rate; Humans; Mountaineering; Oxygen Consumption; Psychophysiology
PubMed: 33514833
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82184-6 -
Psychophysiology Oct 2022Studies suggest that deficits in startle reflex habituation occur in trait and clinical anxiety. Measures of habituation are affected by the magnitude of the initial...
Studies suggest that deficits in startle reflex habituation occur in trait and clinical anxiety. Measures of habituation are affected by the magnitude of the initial response, with larger initial responses predicting a steeper decline in response over repeated trials. This relationship between initial value and change, commonly called the Law of Initial Value or initial value dependence (IVD), has been partialled out as a covariate in habituation research, but variation in IVD may be informative in itself, reflecting differences in physiological reactivity. The present study explored how trait anxiety and contextual anxiety relate to habituation kinetics of the startle eyeblink response: initial value, linear habituation slope, and the relationship between them (IVD). Participants (n = 31; 15 Control, 16 Contextual Anxiety [CA]) were exposed to two blocks of acoustic startle stimuli, and CA participants were warned that they may receive an electrical shock to the wrist during block 2. Trait anxiety did not predict habituation slope, but it did predict a weaker IVD relationship, meaning that high initial startle magnitude was less predictive of a steep response decline in trait-anxious subjects. Meanwhile, CA did not impact startle habituation or IVD. The results suggest that individual differences in trait anxiety are related to the relationship between initial physiological response magnitude and subsequent change in response. IVD in startle habituation may thus serve as a better biomarker of healthy emotional responding than startle habituation per se.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Anxiety; Blinking; Emotions; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; Humans; Reflex, Startle
PubMed: 35415921
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14071 -
Forschende Komplementarmedizin (2006) Apr 2008
Topics: Brain; Complementary Therapies; Consciousness; Humans; Mind-Body Therapies; Pain; Pain Management; Perception; Psychophysiology
PubMed: 18496019
DOI: 10.1159/000121106 -
Psychoneuroendocrinology Jul 2023Age-related differences in the psychophysiology of the acute stress response are poorly understood given the limited number of studies and the high heterogeneity of...
Age-related differences in the psychophysiology of the acute stress response are poorly understood given the limited number of studies and the high heterogeneity of findings. The present study contributes by investigating age differences in both the psychological and physiological responses to acute stress in a sample of healthy younger (N = 50; 18-30; M = 23.06; SD = 2.90) and older adults (N = 50; 65-84; M = 71.12; SD = 5.02). Specifically, the effects of psychosocial stress (i.e., age-adapted Trier Social Stress Test) were investigated at numerous timepoints throughout the stress response phases (i.e., baseline, anticipation, reactivity, recovery) on cortisol, heart rate, subjective stress, and anticipatory appraisal of the stressful situation. The study was conducted in a between-subject (younger vs. older) cross-over (stress vs. control) design. Results revealed age-related differences in both physiological and psychological variables: older adults had overall lower salivary cortisol levels in the stress and control conditions and lower stress-induced cortisol increase (i.e., AUCi). In addition, older adults' cortisol reactivity was delayed compared to younger adults. Older adults showed a lower heart rate response in the stress condition while no age differences were observed in the control condition. Finally, older adults reported less subjective stress and a less negative stress appraisal during the anticipation phase than younger adults, which could potentially explain lower physiological reactivity in this age group. Results are discussed in relation to the existing literature, potential underlying mechanisms, and future directions for the field.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Stress, Psychological; Hydrocortisone; Saliva; Psychophysiology; Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute
PubMed: 37075654
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106111 -
Psychophysiology Mar 2023Anxiety and balance and postural control are linked via common neural pathways, such as the parabrachial nucleus network. A laboratory-based model of general anxiety...
Anxiety and balance and postural control are linked via common neural pathways, such as the parabrachial nucleus network. A laboratory-based model of general anxiety disorder (GAD) using the CO challenge, has potential to be used to observe this relationship, potentially mimicking subjective, autonomic, and neuropsychological features of GAD. The current feasibility study used the CO challenge to explore postural control changes in healthy adults. It was predicted that during the CO condition, participants would show increased postural sway path length and decreased sway stability, compared with a normal air breathing condition. To assess this, heart and breathing rate, quiet standing postural sway path length, sway dynamic stability, and subjective measures of emotion were measured either before and after or during and after the inhalation conditions. Results demonstrated that CO inhalation led to both an increase in sway path length and reduced sway stability compared to the air breathing conditions; the effect on sway path lasted after the inhalation of CO had ceased. Additionally, replication of HR and subjective measures of emotion were observed when comparing air and CO conditions. This provides experimental evidence that CO inhalation can affect balance, suggestive of shared mechanisms between anxiety and balance performance, as well as indicating that the CO model of GAD is suitable to look at changes in balance performance in healthy adults. Future use of this model to explore factors that can reduce the influence of GAD on balance would be beneficial as would a more detailed exploration of the neural pathways associated with the associated comorbidity.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Carbon Dioxide; Anxiety; Postural Balance; Anxiety Disorders; Standing Position
PubMed: 36200605
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14192 -
Acta Psychologica Jan 2021We explore dance video clip stimuli as a means to test human observers' accuracy in detecting genuine emotional expressivity in full-body movements. Stimuli of...
We explore dance video clip stimuli as a means to test human observers' accuracy in detecting genuine emotional expressivity in full-body movements. Stimuli of every-day-type full-body expressions of emotions usually use culturally very recognizable actions (e.g. fist shaking for anger, etc). However, expressive dance movement stimuli can be created to contain fully abstract movements. The expressivity results from subtle variations in the body movements of the expressor, and emotions cannot be recognised by observers via particular actions (e.g. fist shaking, etc). Forty-one participants watched and rated 24 pairs of short dance videos -from a published normalised dance stimuli library- in randomised order (N = 48). Of each carefully matched pair, one version of the full-body movement sequence had been danced to be emotionally genuinely expressive (clip a), while the other version of the same sequence (clip b) had been danced -while technically correct- without any emotional expressivity. Participants rated (i) expressivity (to test their accuracy; block 1), and (ii) how much they liked each movement (an implicit measure to test their emotional response ("liking"); block 2). Participants rated clips that were intended to be expressive as more expressive (part 1: expressivity ratings), and liked those expressive clips more than the non-expressive clips (part 2: liking ratings). Besides, their galvanic skin response differed, depending on the category of clips they were watching (expressive vs. non-expressive), and this relationship was modulated by interceptive accuracy and arts experience. Results are discussed in relation to the Body Precision Hypothesis and the Hypothesis of Constructed Emotion.
Topics: Dancing; Emotions; Galvanic Skin Response; Humans; Movement; Psychophysiology; Random Allocation
PubMed: 33316458
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103215 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Jun 2005Neuropsychological research on the neural basis of behaviour generally posits that brain mechanisms will ultimately suffice to explain all psychologically described... (Review)
Review
Neuropsychological research on the neural basis of behaviour generally posits that brain mechanisms will ultimately suffice to explain all psychologically described phenomena. This assumption stems from the idea that the brain is made up entirely of material particles and fields, and that all causal mechanisms relevant to neuroscience can therefore be formulated solely in terms of properties of these elements. Thus, terms having intrinsic mentalistic and/or experiential content (e.g. 'feeling', 'knowing' and 'effort') are not included as primary causal factors. This theoretical restriction is motivated primarily by ideas about the natural world that have been known to be fundamentally incorrect for more than three-quarters of a century. Contemporary basic physical theory differs profoundly from classic physics on the important matter of how the consciousness of human agents enters into the structure of empirical phenomena. The new principles contradict the older idea that local mechanical processes alone can account for the structure of all observed empirical data. Contemporary physical theory brings directly and irreducibly into the overall causal structure certain psychologically described choices made by human agents about how they will act. This key development in basic physical theory is applicable to neuroscience, and it provides neuroscientists and psychologists with an alternative conceptual framework for describing neural processes. Indeed, owing to certain structural features of ion channels critical to synaptic function, contemporary physical theory must in principle be used when analysing human brain dynamics. The new framework, unlike its classic-physics-based predecessor, is erected directly upon, and is compatible with, the prevailing principles of physics. It is able to represent more adequately than classic concepts the neuroplastic mechanisms relevant to the growing number of empirical studies of the capacity of directed attention and mental effort to systematically alter brain function.
Topics: Brain; Consciousness; Humans; Ion Channels; Models, Neurological; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurosciences; Psychology; Psychophysiology; Quantum Theory; Synapses
PubMed: 16147524
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2004.1598 -
The Journal of Pain Jan 2021A challenge in understanding chronic musculoskeletal pain is that research is often siloed between neuroscience, physical therapy/rehabilitation, orthopedics, and...
A challenge in understanding chronic musculoskeletal pain is that research is often siloed between neuroscience, physical therapy/rehabilitation, orthopedics, and rheumatology which focus respectively on 1) neurally mediated effects on pain processes, 2) behavior and muscle activity, 3) tissue structure, and 4) inflammatory processes. Although these disciplines individually study important aspects of pain, there is a need for more cross-disciplinary research that can bridge between them. Identifying the gaps in knowledge is important to understand the whole body, especially at the interfaces between the silos-between brain function and behavior, between behavior and tissue structure, between musculoskeletal and immune systems, and between peripheral tissues and the nervous system. Research on "mind and body" practices can bridge across these silos and encourage a "whole person" approach to better understand musculoskeletal pain by bringing together the brain and the rest of the body. PERSPECTIVE: Research on chronic musculoskeletal pain is limited by significant knowledge gaps. To be fully integrated, musculoskeletal pain research will need to bridge across tissues, anatomical areas, and body systems. Research on mind and body approaches encourages a "whole person" approach to better understand musculoskeletal pain.
Topics: Biomedical Research; Chronic Pain; Humans; Interdisciplinary Research; Mind-Body Therapies; Musculoskeletal Pain; Psychophysiology
PubMed: 32553621
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2020.02.006 -
Psychophysiology Jul 2021In healthy, young individuals, a reduction in cardiovascular output and a shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic (vagal) dominance is observed from wake into stages...
In healthy, young individuals, a reduction in cardiovascular output and a shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic (vagal) dominance is observed from wake into stages of nocturnal and daytime sleep. This cardiac autonomic profile, measured by heart rate variability (HRV), has been associated with significant benefits for cardiovascular health. Aging is associated with decreased nighttime sleep quality and lower parasympathetic activity during both sleep and resting. However, it is not known whether age-related dampening of HRV extends to daytime sleep, diminishing the cardiovascular benefits of naps in the elderly. Here, we investigated this question by comparing the autonomic activity profile between young and older healthy adults during a daytime nap and a similar period of wakefulness (quiet wake; QW). For each condition, from the electrocardiogram (ECG), we obtained beat-to-beat HRV intervals (RR), root mean square of successive differences between adjacent heart-beat-intervals (RMSSD), high-frequency (HF), low-frequency (LF) power, and total power (TP), HF normalized units (HF ), and the LF/HF ratio. As previously reported, young subjects showed a parasympathetic dominance during NREM, compared with REM, prenap rest, and WASO. Moreover, older, compared to younger, adults showed significantly lower vagally mediated HRV (measured by RMSSD, HF, HF ) during NREM. Interestingly, however, no age-related differences were detected during prenap rest or QW. Altogether, our findings suggest a sleep-specific reduction in parasympathetic modulation that is unique to NREM sleep in older adults.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Aging; Autonomic Nervous System; Disorders of Excessive Somnolence; Electrocardiography; Female; Healthy Volunteers; Heart Rate; Humans; Male; Polysomnography; Sleep; Sleep Stages; Vagus Nerve; Wakefulness
PubMed: 33048396
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13701 -
International Journal of... Dec 2021The present study aims at comparing the effects of two subtypes of cognitive reappraisal (i.e., stimulus-focused vs. goal-based reappraisal) to reduce anticipatory... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
Cognitive reappraisal is not always successful during pain anticipation: Stimulus-focused and goal-based reappraisal effects on self-reports and peripheral psychophysiology.
The present study aims at comparing the effects of two subtypes of cognitive reappraisal (i.e., stimulus-focused vs. goal-based reappraisal) to reduce anticipatory anxiety of pain. Affective ratings, startle reflex, and autonomic measures (electrodermal and heart rate changes) were used as a measure of emotion regulation success. A total of 86 undergraduate students completed an anticipatory task in which they had to regulate their negative emotions or react naturally when faced with the possibility of receiving a painful thermal stimulus. Participants were randomly assigned to two experimental groups to compare the stimulus-focused and goal-based strategies explored here. Our results revealed enhanced self-reported anxiety, electrodermal activity and eyeblink response when participants tried to voluntarily down-regulate their negative emotions, compared to the control instruction. Differences between both cognitive reappraisal groups were not found. These unexpected findings suggest that brief reappraisal instructions may not necessarily be favorable for regulating emotions during anticipation of aversive events. Moreover, these results are further explained in terms of the pain expectation, the painful stimuli modality, and emotion regulation instructions.
Topics: Cognition; Emotions; Goals; Humans; Motivation; Pain; Psychophysiology; Self Report
PubMed: 34767839
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2021.10.015