International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology
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Int J Psychophysiol · Sep 2011
Comparative StudyStandardizing procedures to study sensitization of human spinal nociceptive processes: comparing parameters for temporal summation of the nociceptive flexion reflex (TS-NFR).
Temporal summation of pain (TS-pain) is the progressive increase in pain ratings during a series of noxious stimulations. TS-pain has been used to make inferences about sensitization of spinal nociceptive processes; however, pain report can be biased thereby leading to problems with this inference. Temporal summation of the nociceptive flexion reflex (TS-NFR, a physiological measure of spinal nociception) can potentially overcome report bias, but there have been few attempts (generally with small Ns) to standardize TS-NFR procedures. ⋯ Discrepancies were noted between TS-NFR and TS-pain which raise concerns about using pain ratings to infer changes in spinal nociceptive processes. And finally, some individuals did not have reliable NFRs when the stimulation intensity was set at NFR threshold during TS-NFR testing; therefore, a higher intensity is needed. Implications of findings are discussed.
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Int J Psychophysiol · Sep 2011
Performing music can induce greater modulation of emotion-related psychophysiological responses than listening to music.
The present study investigated the differential effects of music-induced emotion on heart rate (HR) and its variability (HRV) while playing music on the piano and listening to a recording of the same piece of music. Sixteen pianists were monitored during tasks involving emotional piano performance, non-emotional piano performance, emotional perception, and non-emotional perception. ⋯ The results confirmed that musical performance was far more effective in modulating emotion-related autonomic nerve activity than musical perception in musicians. The findings suggest the presence of a neural network of reward-emotion-associated autonomic nerve activity for musical performance that is independent of a neural network for musical perception.
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Int J Psychophysiol · May 2011
Type D personality and cardiovascular function in daily life of people without documented cardiovascular disease.
Type D personality, the combination of negative affectivity and social inhibition, is associated with poor prognosis in patients with ischemic heart disease. The mechanisms are poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to examine whether Type D personality is associated with cardiovascular function in everyday life of people without documented cardiovascular disease. ⋯ With and without controlling for age, sex, educational level, body mass index, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption, mood and social contact, Type D personality was not associated with any cardiovascular measure during the day or at night (all F (1, 79) < 1.00, p > .10). When analyzed separately as continuous variables, only the social inhibition component of Type D personality showed a tendency for an association with nighttime systolic blood pressure (F (1, 78) = 3.65, p =.06, η(2) = .04). In conclusion, Type D personality generally does not seem to be associated with unfavorable cardiovascular function in daily life of people without any documented cardiovascular disease.
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Int J Psychophysiol · Apr 2011
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyAre salivary gonadal steroid concentrations influenced by acute psychosocial stress? A study using the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST).
It is well documented that acute stress activates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis. Results regarding the hypothalamus pituitary gonadal (HPG) axis, in contrast, are less consistent. Stress-associated increases as well as decreases have been reported for testosterone and estradiol. ⋯ In contrast, acute stress did not affect testosterone-, progesterone-, and estradiol-concentrations. The results of the present study suggest that an acute psychosocial laboratory stress or has no strong rapid effects on salivary gonadal steroids. In line with several previous studies the findings might suggest that stress-induced changes in gonadal steroids occur in response to physical stressors, to competitive stressors or to more severe stressors only.
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Int J Psychophysiol · Apr 2011
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyHigh pain sensitivity is distinct from high susceptibility to non-painful sensory input at threshold level.
Individuals may differ considerably in their sensitivity towards various painful stimuli supporting the notion of a person as stoical or complaining about pain. Molecular and functional imaging research provides support that this may extend also to other sensory qualities. Whether a person can be characterized as possessing a generally high or low sensory acuity is unknown. ⋯ Moreover, no clustering was obtained for thresholds to both painful and non-painful stimuli together. Thus, individuals could not be characterized as highly sensitive (or insensitive) to all chemical stimuli no matter of evoking pain. This suggests that pain is primarily a singular sensory perception distinct from others such as olfaction or taste.