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Since its founding in 1973, Biological Psychology has showcased and provided invaluable support to psychophysiology, a field that has grown and changed enormously. This article discusses some constancies that have remained fundamental to the journal and to the field as well as some important trends. Some aspects of our science have not received due consideration, affecting not only the generalizability of our findings but the way we develop and evaluate our research questions and the potential of our field to contribute to the common good. The article offers a number of predictions and recommendations for the next period of growth of psychophysiology. • Biological Psychology has been central to the development of psychophysiology. • Biological phenomena supporting psychological processes remain focal in the field. • Systemic social/political/financial trends influence trends in psychophysiology. • Lack of inclusive methods limits generalizability of psychophysiology findings. • Predictions and suggestions are offered for the growth of psychophysiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Neurofunctional biomarkers of pathological dissociation are the dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral superior frontal regions, (anterior) cingulate, posterior association areas and basal ganglia. • Neurostructural biomarkers of pathological dissociation are decreased hippocampal volume, basal ganglia volume and thalamus volume. • As psychobiological markers for pathological dissociation increased oxytocin and prolactin and decreased tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) are proposed. • No clear directional effects were found for psychophysiological and genetic biomarkers in relation to pathological dissociation. Pathological dissociation is a severe, debilitating and transdiagnostic psychiatric symptom. This review identifies biomarkers of pathological dissociation in a transdiagnostic manner to recommend the most promising research and treatment pathways in support of the precision medicine framework. A total of 205 unique studies that met inclusion criteria were included. Studies were divided into four biomarker categories, namely neuroimaging, psychobiological, psychophysiological and genetic biomarkers. The dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral superior frontal regions, (anterior) cingulate, posterior association areas and basal ganglia are identified as neurofunctional biomarkers of pathological dissociation and decreased hippocampal, basal ganglia and thalamic volumes as neurostructural biomarkers. Increased oxytocin and prolactin and decreased tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) are identified as psychobiological markers. Psychophysiological biomarkers, including blood pressure, heart rate and skin conductance, were inconclusive. For the genetic biomarker category studies related to dissociation were limited and no clear directionality of effect was found to warrant identification of a genetic biomarker. Recommendations for future research pathways and possible clinical applicability are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functioning of the brain is the subject of a special category of science, called neuroscience, which includes a number of new branches of science, such as: neurobiology, psychobiology, neuropsychology, psychophysiology, cognitive psychology, nervous system pathology, etc., and in the last time, and neuromarketing. All this was intended to explain how the brain, mind, cognitive processes and, most importantly, the human subconscious work. In this way we arrived at the subliminal perception (also called unconscious perception, which refers to the stimuli presented below the limit of consciousness and how they could influence the thoughts, feelings, reactions and actions of the individual, respectively his behaviour (including buying). Neuromarketing is also a new field of marketing that aims to use neuroscience to explain a series of consumer behaviours caused by stimuli whose action is not perceived by them without realizing it. Because the actions of marketers thus grounded not to be perceived by buyers as manipulative, it is necessary to strictly observe the so-called neuroethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the time when their awards were conferred, the name "Fabiani" had occurred 416 times on Gabriele's CV, whereas the name "Gratton" had appeared 447 times on Monica's CV. Moreover, this study showcases a novel measure of cerebral elasticity that Monica and Gabriele recently developed - the pulse relaxation function with diffuse optical tomography (Fabiani, Low, et al., [15]). Monica and Gabriele first became friends when Monica's best friend began dating one of Gabriele's older brothers. Monica and Gabriele also were active with Caterina and Cristina's school and extracurricular activities, including Gabriele coaching his daughters' soccer teams (and playing in an adult league himself). [Extracted from the article]

The development of paradigms for studying dyadic interaction in the laboratory and methods and analytics for dealing with dyadic data is described. These are illustrated with research findings from the author and others with particular focus on dyadic measures of linkage or synchrony in physiology, expressive behavior, and subjective affective experience. • Recounts development of dyadic biobehavioral research methods and selected findings during the 50-year period since Biological Psychology began. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial note in which the special theme is presented and a brief comment is made on the articles that compose it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in the study of action and perception have their roots in the contemplations of Giovanni Borelli, a 17th-century Italian mathematician and physicist, and Sir Charles Bell, and 18th-century English physiologist and neuroanatomist. When Borelli looked at muscle and its functional achievements, he saw dynamics with its attendant laws and principles; when Bell looked at muscle, he saw information about muscular states and a smart mechanism for its measurement. Research and theory on the dynamics of coordination and locomotion, and on the perceptual achievements of the haptic subsystem of dynamic touch, are providing affirmation of these visions of Borelli and Bell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Philosophers and sport psychologists wrestle with mind-body problems, but with different ones. By denying minds to animals, Descartes widened the traditional gulf between humans and animals to the detriment not only of philosophical but also of scientific thinking about mind. Of the major philosophers, only David Hume dared to put human minds on all fours with animal minds. With few exceptions, sport psychologists have followed Descartes rather than Hume. Failure to appreciate the relevance of animal studies to their discipline causes sport psychologists to trade in vague concepts, questionable measurement instruments, defective methodologies, and truncated theories, and to submit their hypotheses to gerrymandered tests. The author exhorts sport psychologists to embrace Hume's touchstone, which rejects as bogus any hypothesis or theory about human minds that does not apply evenhandedly to animals—unless there is compelling evidence that the phenomena under investigation are particular to humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activation is a psychobiological concept that plays an important role in explaining consumer behavior. Following an introduction to the theory and measurement of activation, results of experimental research in advertising effectiveness are presented. The stronger the activation elicited by a stimulus, the better was the level of cognitive performance--a relationship that poses new questions for consumer research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finding that, across nations, power distance (expected and accepted unequal interpersonal influence) is positively related to role overload (Peterson et al., 1995) might be an artifact of the relation between role overload and ambient temperature or other third factors. We related data on power distance and role overload to other data sets, making explicit how much is often not considered when countries are compared. Results show a mysterious but unmistakable heat-overload link, which is discussed from both a physiopsychological and an evolutionary cultural perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latency of a simple psychophysiological (visual motor) response (SPPR) was studied as dependent on the waiting time, which was the period between the previous response to a subsequent stimulus and was varied from 1 to 3000 ms. An ordinal approximation was used for the resulting monotonic dependence. The latency of the simple psychophysiological response at shorter intervals between the previous response and a subsequent stimulus was observed to be far greater than at longer intervals. The latency decreased with the increasing waiting time until 3-4 s after the previous response. The decrease included at least two components. The components were found to be interdependent. The decrease in latency was assumed to result from autoinhibition due to the previous response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Few studies have examined the psychological and psychophysiological effects of recuperative music after exhaustive exercise. The main purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of two music conditions compared with a no-music control on psychological and psychophysiological recovery processes after exercise. Methods: A randomized, fully counterbalanced, crossover design was used. Core affect, salivary cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure were measured before exhaustive exercise, immediately after, and in 10-, 20-, and 30-min intervals during passive recovery (21 women and 21 men; 20.9 ± 1.7 yr) over three separate trials (slow, sedative music; fast, stimulative music; no-music control). The exercise task entailed incremental cycle ergometry performed at 75 rpm with an increase in intensity of 22.5 W·min-1 at the end of each minute until exhaustion. Data were analyzed using mixed-model 3 (condition) x 4 (time) x 2 (gender) MANOVA/ANCOVA. Results: The largest decline in affective arousal between active and passive recovery phases was evident in the slow, sedative condition (ηp = 0.50). Women had a more pronounced reduction in arousal than did men in the slow, sedative music condition. Heart rate measures showed that fast, stimulative music inhibited the return of heart rate toward resting levels (ηp² = 0.06). Similarly, salivary cortisol levels tended to be lower in response to slow, sedative music (ηp² = 0.11). There was a main effect of condition for affective valence indicating that the slow, sedative condition elicited more positive affective responses compared with the control and fast, stimulative conditions (ηp² = 0.12). Conclusions: The present findings support the notion that slow, sedative music can expedite the recovery process immediately after strenuous exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A brief, informal historical review of Biological Psychology is provided. The founding of the journal is related to the organization of psychophysiologists in the mid twentieth century. The distinctive rationale for the founding of the journal at this time is discussed. The sequence of editors and their impact on the journal is reviewed. Overall, the journal remains robust while continuing to strive for expanded content on biological processes as related to psychological processes in both human and animal participants. • The history of Biological Psychology is traced through its editors and shifting content. • Regional focus is overshadowed by international science. • Developing methods in biology and psychology alter content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human studies of sleep and cognition have established that different sleep stages contribute to distinct aspects of cognitive and emotional processing. However, since the majority of these findings are based on single-night studies, it is difficult to determine whether such effects arise due to individual, between-subject differences in sleep patterns, or from within-subject variations in sleep over time. In the current study, we investigated the longitudinal relationship between sleep patterns and cognitive performance by monitoring both in parallel, daily, for a week. Using two cognitive tasks – one assessing emotional reactivity to facial expressions and the other evaluating learning abilities in a probabilistic categorization task – we found that between-subject differences in the average time spent in particular sleep stages predicted performance in these tasks far more than within-subject daily variations. Specifically, the typical time individuals spent in Rapid-Eye Movement (REM) sleep and Slow-Wave Sleep (SWS) was correlated to their characteristic measures of emotional reactivity, whereas the typical time spent in SWS and non-REM stages 1 and 2 was correlated to their success in category learning. These effects were maintained even when sleep properties were based on baseline measures taken prior to the experimental week. In contrast, within-subject daily variations in sleep patterns only contributed to overnight difference in one particular measure of emotional reactivity. Thus, we conclude that the effects of natural sleep on emotional cognition and category learning are more trait-dependent than state-dependent, and suggest ways to reconcile these results with previous findings in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Grief is a psychobiological response to the loss of a loved one. Some grief theorists suggest that this predictable response may arise from withdrawal of psychobiological regulation previously provided by the deceased (e.g. assistance with emotion regulation). Accordingly, recovery from loss may require bereaved individuals to re-establish self-regulatory control to avoid developing Complicated Grief (CG). This model implies that adults with CG may exhibit aberrant emotional responding to environmental stimuli. The present study was designed to test this hypothesis.Methods: We recruited a sample of 23 bereaved adults with CG and 26 healthy bereaved adults to complete an emotional reactivity paradigm. Participants watched a series of emotional film clips and provided measures of their self-reported emotional response. We also assessed their heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and skin conductance level in response to these clips.Results: Though emotional and physiological differences between the groups were rare, the CG group exhibited attenuated RSA reactivity to some emotional film clips, suggesting blunted parasympathetic nervous system reactivity in those with the disorder.Limitations: Limitations include the modest sample size and unequal group sizes.Conclusions: Individuals with CG do not exhibit pervasive differences in emotional and physiological reactivity compared to healthy bereaved individuals. However, we did observe evidence of blunted parasympathetic nervous system reactivity in individuals with CG, which may mediate emotional inflexibility among those who develop the disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender differences in emotional perception have been found in numerous psychological and psychophysiological studies. The conducting modalities in diverse characteristics of different sensory systems make it interesting to determine how cooperation and competition contribute to emotional experiences. We have previously estimated the bias from the match attributes of auditory and visual modalities and revealed specific brain activity frequency patterns related to a peaceful mood. In that multimodality experiment, we focused on how inner-quiet information is processed in the human brain, and found evidence of auditory domination from the theta-band activity. However, a simple quantitative description of these three frequency bands is lacking, and no studies have assessed the effects of peacefulness on the emotional state. Therefore, the aim of this study was to use magnetoencephalography to determine if gender differences exist (and when and where) in the frequency interactions underpinning the perception of peacefulness. This study provides evidence of auditory and visual domination in perceptual bias during multimodality processing of peaceful consciousness. The results of power ratio analyses suggest that the values of the theta/alpha ratio are associated with a modality as well as hemispheric asymmetries in the anterior-to-posterior direction, which shift from right to left with the auditory to visual stimulations in a peaceful mood. This means that the theta/alpha ratio might be useful for evaluating emotion. Moreover, the difference was found to be most pronounced for auditory domination and visual sensitivity in the female group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Approximately one third of children who meet criteria for conduct problems ( CP) are also characterized by elevated callous-unemotional ( CU) traits. This subgroup is at elevated risk for more pervasive and extreme levels of later antisocial behavior and has been characterized by a fearlessness temperament and blunted stress psychophysiology at older ages. The objective of this study was to examine group differences in fear reactivity and stress psychophysiology in infancy among children classified as having CP with CU ( CP + CU), CP without CU ( CP only), or no CP in later childhood. Methods A birth cohort study ( n = 1,292) was followed longitudinally from birth through first grade. Behavioral fear, baseline heart period ( HP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia ( RSA), and pretask, 20-min posttask, and 40-min posttask salivary cortisol were assessed at 6 and 15 months of age around a fear challenge task. CP and CU were assessed by maternal report at first grade and children were classified into CP and CU groups if they scored in the upper 10th percentile of these ratings. Results No group differences were observed in children at 6 months of age. However, at 15 months of age children with later CP + CU displayed greater high-intensity fear behavior, higher pretask and overall cortisol levels, and lower levels of HP and RSA compared to children with CP only and children with no CP. Conclusions The discrepancy between the biobehavioral correlates of conduct problems with callous-unemotional traits in infancy and those reported from studies of older children and adults suggests that the etiology of this behavioral phenotype may be more complex than a simple genetic maturation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how human physiological responses to stimuli vary across individuals is critical for the fields of Affective Psychophysiology and Affective Computing. We approach this problem via network analysis. By analysing individuals' galvanic skin responses (GSRs) to a set of emotionally charged images, we model each image as a network, in which nodes are individuals and two individuals are linked if their GSRs to the given image are statistically similar. In this context, we evaluate several network inference strategies. Then, we group (or cluster) images with similar network topologies, while evaluating a number of clustering choices. We compare the resulting network-based partitions against the known arousal/valence-based ‘ground truth’ partition of the image set (which is likely noisy). While our network-based image partitions are statistically significantly similar to the ‘ground truth’ partition (meaning that network analysis correctly captures the underlying signal in the data), the network-based partitions yield insights that go beyond the ‘ground truth’ partition with respect to an independent criterion, namely in terms of latent semantic analysis (meaning that our partitions are more semantically meaningful than the ‘ground truth’ partition). Non-network-based approaches do not yield any such insights. Thus, network analysis of affective physiological data appears to improve interpretation of the data. We conclude by analysing in-depth a representative network-based image partition and discussing practical applications of the corresponding results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Considers the definition of emotional concordance. [•] Provides explanations as to why emotional concordance does not have strong empirical support. [•] Introduces the papers for the special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we discuss some important contributions of the advanced technologies to the development of psychophysiological methodology. In this respect we exemplify the impact of the advanced imaging technologies on the brain research and also on the psychological knowledge. In the second section we present some important technological developments that improve traditional psychophysiological methods and open the acces of field research and applications to such methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report research on player modeling using psychophysiology and machine learning, conducted through interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers of computer science, psychology, and game design at Aalto University, Helsinki. First, we propose the Play Patterns And eXperience (PPAX) framework to connect three levels of game experience that previously had remained largely unconnected: game design patterns, the interplay of game context with player personality or tendencies, and state-of-the-art measures of experience (both subjective and non-subjective). Second, we describe our methodology for using machine learning to categorize game events to reveal corresponding patterns, culminating in an example experiment. We discuss the relation between automatically detected event clusters and game design patterns, and provide indications on how to incorporate personality profiles of players in the analysis. This novel interdisciplinary collaboration combines basic psychophysiology research with game design patterns and machine learning, and generates new knowledge about the interplay between game experience and design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Studies of the N2pc in Simon-type tasks have revealed inconsistent results. That is, N2pc was only modulated when a stimulus–stimulus (S-S) overlap covaries with the stimulus–response (S-R) overlap. The present study aimed to establish whether N2pc is modulated by the S-R or by the S-S overlap. Therefore, we designed a Simon task requiring response to a colour stimulus (an arrow) with two irrelevant dimensions (position and direction). The following conditions were thus generated: compatible direction–compatible position (CDCP); incompatible direction–compatible position (IDCP); compatible direction–incompatible position (CDIP); and incompatible direction–incompatible position (IDIP). In IDCP and CDIP, both irrelevant dimensions conveyed contradictory spatial information (S-S incompatibility), while compatibility between both irrelevant dimensions occurred in CDCP and IDIP (the direction indicated was compatible with stimulus position). The N2pc amplitude was smaller in IDCP and CDIP than in CDCP and IDIP, what suggests that N2pc was modulated by S-S incompatibility and not by S-R incompatibilities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

New approaches to measurement and modeling of the parameters of complex biosystems are presented. Concrete examples from the field of physiology and psychophysiology are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Experimental tonic pain has been assumed to equal clinical pain by triggering sizeable affective responses. A psycho-physiological indicator of defensive affective-motivational responses is the startle reflex. However, earlier studies have not provided unequivocal evidence for a potentiation of the startle reflex during tonic contact heat pain. Objectives: The demonstration of modulating effects of pain on the startle reflex might require very intense tonic stimulation and investigation of subjects, who are particularly sensitive to startle potentiation by threatening cues. Method: We investigated a sample of healthy subjects (N=20), who had shown pronounced startle amplitude potentiation in response to attack pictures. Noxious stimulation was provided by hand immersion into a hot water bath, which is a tonic pain model known for intense and summated stimulation. Modulation of the startle reflex was attempted by use of two stimulation intensities (42°C, 46°C) and one control condition (no stimulation). Results: Even in these favorable conditions, we did not observe startle potentiation under painful stimulation in comparison to non-painful conditions although subjects reported to be experiencing moderate to high pain. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that tonic heat pain does not trigger defensive affective-motivational responses as measured by the startle reflex when it is applied in a predictable and thus non-threatening fashion. Future research should investigate the effects of manipulations of threat on startle responses to painful stimulation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Based on introspectionist, semantic, and psychophysiological experimental frameworks, it has long been assumed that all affective states derive from two independent basic dimensions, valence and arousal. However, until now, no study has investigated whether valence and arousal are also dissociable at the level of affect-related changes in cognitive processing. Methodology/Principal Findings: We examined how changes in both valence (negative vs. positive) and arousal (low vs. high) influence performance in tasks requiring executive control because recent research indicates that two dissociable cognitive components are involved in the regulation of task performance: amount of current control (i.e., strength of filtering goal-irrelevant signals) and control adaptation (i.e., strength of maintaining current goals over time). Using a visual pop-out distractor task, we found that control is exclusively modulated by arousal because interference by goal-irrelevant signals was largest in high arousal states, independently of valence. By contrast, control adaptation is exclusively modulated by valence because the increase in control after trials in which goal-irrelevant signals were present was largest in negative states, independent of arousal. A Monte Carlo simulation revealed that differential effects of two experimental factors on control and control adaptation can be dissociated if there is no correlation between empirical interference and conflictdriven modulation of interference, which was the case in the present data. Consequently, the observed effects of valence and arousal on adaptive executive control are indeed dissociable. Conclusions/Significance: These findings indicate that affective influences on cognitive processes can be driven by independent effects of variations in valence and arousal, which may resolve several heterogeneous findings observed in previous studies on affect-cognition interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A dominant paradigm in biopsychological personality research seeks to establish links between emotional and motivational traits and habitual, transsituationally consistent individual differences in measures of physiological activity. An alternative approach conceptualizes traits as dispositions that are only operative in certain situational contexts and consequently predicts associations between emotional and motivational traits and physiological activity only for trait-relevant situational contexts in which the physiological systems underlying the traits in question are engaged. In the present paper we first examine and contrast these personistic and interactionistic conceptualizations of personality and personality–physiology associations and then present data from several large studies (N >100) in which electrocortical (e.g., frontal alpha asymmetry) and somatovisceral parameters were measured in various situational contexts (e.g., after the induction of either anger, or fear, or anxiety). As predicted by the interactionistic conceptualization of traits as dispositions the situational context and its subjective representation by the participants moderated the personality–physiology relationships for measures of both central and peripheral nervous system activity. We conclude by outlining the implications of the interactionistic approach for biopsychological personality research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although compensatory strategies can offset regulatory losses that occur in later adulthood, they often break down under conditions of over-activation. Two emotion regulation tasks examined compensatory effects related to attachment classification (AC). Study 1 examined emotional Stroop performance in young (17–39) and old adults (60–89). Among the elder, participants with dismissing AC showed increased response times (RTs) for anger and fear words, whereas participants with secure AC showed increased RTs for joy words. Participants with anxious AC responded slowest overall. In Study 2, heart rate (HR) was monitored while adult (25–82) mother–daughter pairs discussed three emotion events (conflict, neutral, happy). During conflict discussion, older dismissing women had highest initial HR and slowest recovery, whereas anxious older women had lowest initial HR and fastest recovery. Results suggest that in old age protective functions of dismissing AC break down under over-activation, whereas anxious AC may serve a protective role. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper explores the way in which emotions are causal determinants of action. It argues that emotional events, as appraised by the individual, elicit changes in motive states (called states of action readiness), which in turn may (or may not) cause action. Actions can be elicited automatically, without prior intention (called impulsive actions), or intentionally. Impulsive actions reflect the simplest and biologically most general form in which emotions can cause action, since they require no reflection, no foresight, and no planning. Impulsive actions are determined conjointly by the nature of action readiness, the affordances perceived in the eliciting event as appraised, and the individual''s action repertoire. Those actions from one''s repertoire are performed that both match the perceived affordances and the aim of the state of action readiness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Questionnaire and interview assessment can provide reliable data on attitudes and self-perceptions on emotion, and experimental laboratory assessment can examine functional relations between stimuli and reactions under controlled conditions. On the other hand, ambulatory assessment is less constrained and provides naturalistic data on emotion in daily life, with the potential to (1) assure external validity of laboratory findings, (2) provide normative data on prevalence, quality and intensity of real-life emotion and associated processes, (3) characterize previously unidentified emotional phenomena, and (4) model real-life stimuli for representative laboratory research design. Technological innovations now allow for detailed ambulatory study of emotion across domains of subjective experience, overt behavior and physiology. However, methodological challenges abound that may compromise attempts to characterize biobehavioral aspects of emotion in the real world. For example, emotional effects can be masked by social engagement, mental and physical workloads, as well as by food intake and circadian and quasi-random variation in metabolic activity. The complexity of data streams and multitude of factors that influence them require a high degree of context specification for meaningful data interpretation. We consider possible solutions to typical and often overlooked issues related to ambulatory emotion research, including aspects of study design decisions, recording devices and channels, electronic diary implementation, and data analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Effects of positive performance feedback on self-reported emotion and associated physiological responding and their relation to motivational engagement were investigated in an achievement context. To create a situation of self-relevant goal striving and goal attainment, appraisals of goal relevance and goal conduciveness were manipulated by presenting 65 female undergraduate students with a psychological test, followed by positive performance feedback. Emotional responding during the 1-min feedback showed elicitation of various positive achievement-related emotions associated with broad sympathetic activation (decreased pre-ejection period, increased cardiac output, and increased skin conductance and response rate). Individual-level emotion reports indicated distinct subgroups of participants experiencing primarily either interest, joy, pride, or surprise. Between-participants physiological reactivity was found to differ based on primary self-reported feelings. We discuss motivational antecedents and consequences in achievement-related emotions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Cultural context affects people''s values regarding emotions, as well as their experiential and behavioral but not autonomic physiological responses to emotional situations. Little research, however, has examined how cultural context influences the relationships among values and emotional responding. Specifically, depending on their cultural context, individuals’ values about emotion control (ECV; the extent to which they value emotion control) may have differing meanings, and as such, be associated with differing responses in emotional situations. We examined this possibility by testing the effect of two cultural contexts (28 female Asian-American (AA) versus 28 female European-American (EA) undergraduate students) on the associations between individuals’ ECV and emotional responding (experiential, behavioral, and cardiovascular) to a relatively neutral film clip and a laboratory anger provocation. In the AA group, greater ECV were associated with reduced anger experience and behavior, and a challenge pattern of cardiovascular responding. In the EA group, greater ECV were associated with reduced anger behavior but not anger experience, and a threat pattern of cardiovascular responding. These results are consistent with the notion that individuals’ values about emotion are associated with different meanings in different cultural contexts, and in turn, with different emotional and cardiovascular responses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two studies were conducted to assess the influence of emotional context and social context, in terms of gender and status, on speaker expressivity and observer mimicry in a dyadic interactive setting. For Study 1, 96 same sex dyads and for Study 2, 72 mixed sex dyads participated in a social sharing paradigm. The results showed that in both same sex and mixed sex dyads women smile more than men and members of both sexes use Duchenne smiles rather than non-Duchenne smiles to signal social intent. In same sex dyads facial expressivity and facial mimicry were determined by both the emotional and the social context of the situation. However, whereas emotional context effects maintained, social context effects were absent in mixed sex dyads. The study is the first to show evidence for facial mimicry in an interactional setting and supports the notion that mimicry is dependent on social context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Reactive aggression (RA) is an angry response to perceived provocation. Proactive aggression (PA) is a pre-meditated act used to achieve some goal. This study test hypotheses that (1) individuals high in RA and PA will differ in resting levels of autonomic arousal and (2) RA will be related to emotional and behavioral problems, while PA only to behavioral problems. Parents of 68 children (age 6–13) reported on child symptoms, reactive/proactive aggression, and behavior problems. Resting heart rate (HR), skin conductance (SC), and HR variability (HRV) were measured in 42 of the children. RA was significantly related to decreased HRV and a trend for decreased SC, while PA was significantly related to increased SC and HRV. RA was significantly related to increased internalizing behaviors and attention deficits, while PA was significantly related to increased hyperactivity/impulsivity and delinquent behavior problems. Findings support a distinction between child reactive (hot-tempered) and proactive (cold-tempered) aggression in autonomic, emotional (i.e., internalizing problems), and behavioral (i.e., attention deficits, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and delinquent behavior) functioning, and are discussed in relation to theories of antisocial behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present research investigated whether cardiac vagal control (as measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA) predicts an individual''s predisposition to suppress negative emotional expressions. One hundred thirty-six participants watched either a negative film or a neutral film. Facial expressions were recorded during the film and subjective emotional responses were assessed afterwards. Participants performed verbal and spatial working memory tasks both before and after the film clips. We found that resting RSA modulated the degree of coherence between facial expressions of emotion and subjective emotional experience in the negative film condition. Specifically, participants with higher resting RSA expressed less but reported feeling just as much negative emotion as those with lower resting RSA. Moreover, higher resting RSA predicted smaller pre-film to post-film improvements in spatial working memory performance in the negative film condition, suggesting that expressive suppression among high RSA participants temporarily undermined the operation of working memory. In the neutral film condition, resting RSA did not relate to expressive or subjective responses or subsequent working memory performance. These results support the notion that cardiac vagal control reflects an internal marker of self-regulatory tendencies and suggest that spontaneous self-regulation associated with individual differences in resting RSA may temporarily deplete self-regulatory resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) specificity of emotion remains controversial in contemporary emotion research, and has received mixed support over decades of investigation. This study was designed to replicate and extend psychophysiological research, which has used multivariate pattern classification analysis (PCA) in support of ANS specificity. Forty-nine undergraduates (27 women) listened to emotion-inducing music and viewed affective films while a montage of ANS variables, including heart rate variability indices, peripheral vascular activity, systolic time intervals, and electrodermal activity, were recorded. Evidence for ANS discrimination of emotion was found via PCA with 44.6% of overall observations correctly classified into the predicted emotion conditions, using ANS variables (z =16.05, p <.001). Cluster analysis of these data indicated a lack of distinct clusters, which suggests that ANS responses to the stimuli were nomothetic and stimulus-specific rather than idiosyncratic and individual-specific. Collectively these results further confirm and extend support for the notion that basic emotions have distinct ANS signatures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Psychophysiological and neuroscience studies of emotional processing undertaken by investigators at the University of Florida Laboratory of the Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention (CSEA) are reviewed, with a focus on reflex reactions, neural structures and functional circuits that mediate emotional expression. The theoretical view shared among the investigators is that expressed emotions are founded on motivational circuits in the brain that developed early in evolutionary history to ensure the survival of individuals and their progeny. These circuits react to appetitive and aversive environmental and memorial cues, mediating appetitive and defensive reflexes that tune sensory systems and mobilize the organism for action and underly negative and positive affects. The research reviewed here assesses the reflex physiology of emotion, both autonomic and somatic, studying affects evoked in picture perception, memory imagery, and in the context of tangible reward and punishment, and using the electroencephalograph (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), explores the brain''s motivational circuits that determine human emotion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: “What is an emotion?” William James''s seminal paper in Mind (1884) proposed the idea that physiological and behavioral responses precede subjective experience in emotions that are marked by “distinct bodily expression.” This notion has broadly inspired the investigation of emotion-specific autonomic nervous system activity, a research topic with great longevity. The trajectory of this literature is traced through its major theoretical challenges from the Cannon–Bard, activation, and Schachter–Singer theories, through its rich empirical history in the field of psychophysiology. Although these studies are marked by various findings, the overall trend of the research supports the notion of autonomic specificity for basic emotions. The construct of autonomic specificity continues to influence a number of core theoretical issues in affective science, such as the existence of basic or ‘natural kinds’ of emotion, the structure of affective space, the cognition–emotion relationship, and the function of emotion. Moreover, James''s classic paper, which stimulated the emergence of psychology from philosophy and physiology in the latter nineteenth century, remains a dynamic force in contemporary emotion research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Statistical methods for detecting changes in longitudinal time series of psychophysiological data are limited. ANOVA and mixed models are not designed to detect the existence, timing, or duration of unknown changes in such data. Change point (CP) analysis was developed to detect distinct changes in time series data. Preliminary reports using CP analysis for fMRI data are promising. Here, we illustrate the application of CP analysis for detecting discrete changes in ambulatory, peripheral physiological data leading up to naturally occurring panic attacks (PAs). The CP method was successful in detecting cardio-respiratory changes that preceded the onset of reported PAs. Furthermore, the changes were unique to the pre-PA period, and were not detected in matched non-PA control periods. The efficacy of our CP method was further validated by detecting patterns of change that were consistent with prominent respiratory theories of panic positing a relation between aberrant respiration and panic etiology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Given clear connections between respiratory distress and subjective anxiety, it is not surprising that respiratory psychophysiologists have been interested in the psychobiology of anxiety. Given parallel links between anxiety and stress, it is not surprising that the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) stress system has also been a focus in anxiety research. However, despite extensive work in respiratory psychophysiology and stress neuroendocrinology – and evidence that these systems are jointly dysregulated in anxiety disorders – direct studies of their interactions are rare. This paper reviews evidence for scientific intersections, providing an overview of the HPA axis, its psychobiology, and shared neural substrates for HPA and respiratory control. We examine HPA hormone effects on respiration, immune/inflammatory mediators, and lung maturation. We also examine respiratory/dyspnea effects on HPA axis. There are clear points of intersection in the neuroscience of respiration and stress. Given the importance of both systems to an organism''s ability to survive and adapt in challenging and changing environments, further study of their interactions is needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Over the past decade, psychobiological research on adult attachment has increased dramatically. We review recent findings regarding associations between attachment style and patterns of reactivity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis and the autonomic nervous system. The overall pattern of results suggests that both anxiety and avoidance are associated with heightened hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical and autonomic nervous system reactivity to stress, consistent with the notion that attachment insecurity is associated with deficits in emotion regulation. The finding of heightened physiological reactivity among avoidant individuals is particularly notable, given that avoidant individuals typically report dampened levels of subjective distress. Key directions for future study include greater investigation into profiles of physiological functioning across multiple systems and contexts and greater consideration of the relative importance of childhood versus adult patterns of attachment insecurity for adult physiological functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study assessed stressor and menstrual phase effects on psychophysiological and neuroendocrine responses to laboratory stressors in freely cycling women (N =78, ages 18–45). Participants performed counterbalanced stressors [Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) or cold pressor test (CP)] during their follicular and luteal menstrual cycle phases between 1:00 and 3:00p.m. to control for cortisol rhythm. Participants rested 30-min, performed the stressor, and then recovered 30-min while electrocardiography continuously monitored heart rate (HR). Systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), salivary cortisol, and state anxiety were assessed at timed intervals. HR, SBP, and cortisol varied more over the course of luteal than follicular phase testing. A three-way interaction revealed state anxiety reactivity was greater with the PASAT during the follicular phase. DBP showed equal and persistent reactivity with both stressors during both cycle phases. Results extend the stressor-specific HPAA hypothesis and have important methodological implications for women''s biopsychology research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study compared the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) Tower Test to the Tower of London (TOL)DX in assessing executive functioning (EF) during a psycho-educational assessment by examining students' performances on both tests. Forty-two university students were administered both tests in a counterbalanced order. Findings indicate that students did not perform significantly differently on the D-KEFS Tower Test than on the TOLDX, but that the tests only shared 22% of their variance. Although the moderate correlation found between overall achievement scores indicates that the D-KEFS Tower Test assesses some similar EF abilities as the TOLDX, the different problem spaces between these tests may be tapping into different constructs and may account for the non-shared variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different senses have different processing times. Here we measured the perceived timing of galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) relative to tactile, visual and auditory stimuli. Simple reaction times for perceived head movement (438 ± 49 ms) were significantly longer than to touches (245 ± 14 ms), lights (220 ± 13 ms), or sounds (197 ± 13 ms). Temporal order and simultaneity judgments both indicated that GVS had to occur about 160 ms before other stimuli to be perceived as simultaneous with them. This lead was significantly less than the relative timing predicted by reaction time differences compatible with an incomplete tendency to compensate for differences in processing times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We previously showed that cross-modal recognition of unfamiliar objects is view-independent, in contrast to view-dependence within-modally, in both vision and haptics. Does the view-independent, bisensory representation underlying cross-modal recognition arise from integration of unisensory, view-dependent representations or intermediate, unisensory but view-independent representations? Two psychophysical experiments sought to distinguish between these alternative models. In both experiments, participants began from baseline, within-modal, view-dependence for object recognition in both vision and haptics. The first experiment induced within-modal view-independence by perceptual learning, which was completely and symmetrically transferred cross-modally: visual view-independence acquired through visual learning also resulted in haptic view-independence and vice versa. In the second experiment, both visual and haptic view-dependence were transformed to view-independence by either haptic-visual or visual-haptic cross-modal learning. We conclude that cross-modal view-independence fits with a model in which unisensory view-dependent representations are directly integrated into a bisensory, view-independent representation, rather than via intermediate, unisensory, view-independent representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary objective: To investigate the test-re-test reliability of the Conners' Continuous Performance Test II (CCPT) and Digit Vigilance Test (DVT) in persons with chronic stroke. Methods and procedures: Thirty-nine persons with stroke participated in this study. The participants were twice administered both the CCPT and DVT over a 1-week interval. Results: The CCPT performance was reported by two error measures (i.e. Omissions and Commissions) and three time measures (i.e. Hit Reaction Time, Hit Reaction Time Standard Error and Variability of Standard Error). These five measures of the CCPT had good-to-excellent test-re-test reproducibility (ICCs = 0.70-0.90) and limited substantial random measurement errors (SEM% = 7.6-75.2%). Only the Commissions demonstrated substantial practice effects (Cohen's effect size d = 0.38). The DVT had two indicators: the Total Error measure had moderate reproducibility (ICC = 0.55), substantial practice effects (d = 0.30) and random measurement errors (SEM% = 60.8%); the Total Time measure showed excellent reproducibility (ICC = 0.91), less practice effects (d = 0.10) and limited random measurement errors (SEM% = 10.1%). Conclusion: Only the time measures (i.e. Hit Reaction Time for the CCPT and Total Time for the DVT) had satisfactory test-re-test reliability in persons with chronic stroke, which implies that the time measures are good indicators of sustained attention on both tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]