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Biomedical subjects

K Hugdahl

Publications and source records attributed to K Hugdahl.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Effect of beta-receptor blockade on anxiety with reference to the three-systems model of phobic behavior.

14 phobic subjects were given propranolol (Inderal), atenolol (Tenormin) and placebo in a double-blind fashion according to a repeated measurement design. Subjects were exposed to their source of fear while their anxiety and cardiovascular responses (heart rate, blood pressure and peripheral temperature) were recorded. In accordance with the Three-Systems Model of fear and phobias, the subjects were divided into two groups of high and low physiological reactors, operationalized by the cardiovascular items in their anxiety pattern from a revised version of the Autonomic Perception Questionnaire (APQ). It was found that beta-blockade had the predicted effect on heart rate and peripheral temperature while diastolic blood pressure was unaffected. The systolic blood pressure finally was lowered for the low cardiovascular reactors. The subjectively rated anxiety rose consistently during exposure. There was no general effect of the beta-blocking drugs on subjective anxiety. For the high cardiovascular reactors propranolol was associated with a higher anxiety level.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

A dichotic listening study of differences in cerebral organization in dextral and sinistral subjects.

The purpose of the present study was to compare immediate recall of paired dichotic presentation of CV-syllables in a dextral and a sinistral group when considering both gender, familial sinistrality, and hand-posture during writing. Forty subjects (20 dextrals and 20 sinistrals) were given 306 presentations of the six Swedish stop-consonants paired with the vowels a, i, and u in a dichotic-listening test. The results showed significant differences between the two groups with fewer consonant-errors observed for the right ear input in the dextral group, and fewer consonant-errors in the left ear input in the sinistral group. Thus, a REA was demonstrated for the dextral group, and a LEA was demonstrated for the sinistral group. The results were most clear-cut for the consonants whereas vowels yielded insignificant differences. It is concluded that the present design allows for the separation of left- and right-hemisphere language dominance for right- and left-handed subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

An electrodermal measure of arousal in opiate addicts to drug-related stimuli.

Frequency per minute of spontaneous skin resistance responses (SSRRs), an inferred measure of arousal, was compared for three groups of subjects when exposed to drug-related and neutral stimuli. The three groups were a recently detoxified opiate addict group, a group maintained on methadone, and a non-addict control group. Stimuli consisted of slides, objects, and video-tapes, all showing either items used in drug-preparation for self-injection, or neutral items. Results showed clear evidence of an increase in rate of response to drug-related cues in the detoxified drug-free group as compared to the other two groups. No differences were found in response to the neutral stimuli. It is concluded that the present finding of increased arousal to drug-related cues in recently detoxified patients may be an important component of withdrawal, which in turn is regarded as a conditioned autonomic response leading to instrumental behavior of readdiction.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Direction of changes in the cardiac component in a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm with variations in CS- and UCS-contents.

The research reported was aimed at examining the direction of heart rate post-stimulus changes in a conditioning paradigm with fear-relevant (snakes and spiders), and fear-irrelevant (circles and triangles) slide-CSs. Furthermore, half of the subjects in each group had electric shocks as the UCS, whereas the other two halves were merely threatened about the shock. Finally, all subjects were informed at the start of the extinction about the removal of the UCS. Thus, a 2 X 2 factorial design was used. The conditioning situation involved a differential paradigm with an interstimulus interval of 8 sec. There were 12 presentations of each cue during acquisition, and 20 during extinction. The results showed reliable effects of decelerative acquisition in the fear-relevant shock group, and the fear-irrelevant threat group. During extinction, only the fear-relevant shock group showed evidence of continuing differential responding, with larger deceleration to the CS+. It is speculated that responses to fear-relevant CSs, together with shock-UCSs, share important similarities with the irrational aspect of phobic behavior, since the instructions about the omission of the UCS during extinction did not eliminate the responses to the CS+ in the fear-relevant shock group.

Adult↗