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At least 721 records · Page 40Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

A system for the study of behavioral thermoregulation of small animals.

A system suitable for the simultaneous monitoring of two unrestrained animals in separate thermoclines is described. It makes use of low-cost, field-proven components to: provide a graded convective and/or conductive temperature continuum over a relatively short runway; measure ambient temperatures at multiple locations within the thermocline; measure the body temperature of a free-running animal within the thermocline; localize the position of the animal within the thermal gradient; and print all the data at periodic intervals. Studies comparing the choices of thermal preference by guinea pigs under diverse conditions indicate that a satisfactory degree of resolution can be achieved by this system.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Incest: a laughing matter.

Although incestuous rape is considered to be the most prevalent and most devastating form of child sexual abuse being reported in the United States, a review of the most popular child sexual abuse prevention programs currently being marketed, purportedly for use with very young children, reveals that none of them explicitly deals with the subject. This lacuna is routinely justified on the grounds that the transmission of detailed conceptual knowledge of sexual violence violates the "innocence" of children, either frightening them or provoking precocious, possibly pathological behavior. The following analysis of the context and content of the Chulupi Indian myth, "The Man You Could Say Nothing To," unmasks this attitude as a cultural bias which permeates child sexual abuse prevention programs. By maintaining the silence which surrounds incest, one potentially becomes part of the problem that one seeks to resolve.

Child↗
PubMed1988

The impacts of positive psychological states on physical health: a review and theoretical framework.

While much research has focused on the impacts of negative psychological states, such as stress, on physical health, relatively little research has examined the effects of positive psychological states. We suggest this imbalance is attributable to inadequate theoretical and methodological development regarding the impacts of positive psychological states on health. This paper presents a framework by which positive psychological states may influence physical health. Following this, we review evidence pertaining to this framework. We conclude by discussing methodological issues associated with this relatively new area of inquiry.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Microcomputer analysis of cortical power spectrum: calibration and correlates of behavioral artifacts.

Cortical power spectrum (CPS) is a quantitative estimate of EEG spectral power density. The CPS provides suitably precise data for quantification and statistical inference compared to the qualitative evaluation of EGG when interpreted by clinicians or researchers. In the past decade, the CPS has been applied to the studies of cognitive functions, memory, psi phenomena, speech laterality, and states of consciousness including coma, sleep, anesthesia, pathophysiology and pain state. However, few systematic evaluations of CPS methodology have been reported, rendering cross-laboratory comparisons difficult and external validity of experimental results uncertain. This report first describes a calibration procedure employing a microcomputer system for measuring the functional relationship between input signals and output cortical powers. Second, we examine controlled behavioral artifact effects on the CPS. The behavioral artifacts observed in the CPS can provide a measurement anchor for less ambiguous interpretation of CPS experiments conducted in clinical or laboratory settings.

Cerebral Cortex↗
PubMed1986

Hemispheric asymmetry and emotion: effects of nonverbal affective stimuli.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the cerebral processing of affect by measuring the electroencephalographic activity of the frontal lobes and electrodermal activity in response to a series of nonverbal affective stimuli. Cognitive and sensorimotor processes were minimized by employing a design that did not require subjects to perform any task other than attending to the stimuli. Summated frontal alpha activity was determined during nonemotional, positive, and negative stimuli. Changes in bilateral skin conductance were also measured during the presentation of the stimuli. Results demonstrated that there was bilateral activation of the frontal lobes in response to the positive affective stimuli. The level of activation of the frontal lobes was the same in response to both negative and nonemotional stimuli. There was no evidence of hemispheric asymmetry or gender-related differences in patterns of activation. Furthermore, there was no evidence of lateralization in the skin conductance response magnitude.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Memo.

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Emergency Service, Hospital↗
PubMed2004

Priming of non-speech vocalizations in male adults: the influence of the speaker's gender.

Previous research reported a priming effect for voices. However, the type of information primed is still largely unknown. In this study, we examined the influence of speaker's gender and emotional category of the stimulus on priming of non-speech vocalizations in 10 male participants, who performed a gender identification task. We found a significant priming effect, which was greater for female than male vocalizations. In contrast, the emotional category of the stimuli did not appear to modulate the magnitude of priming. These data suggest that different aspects of the information conveyed in non-speech vocalizations may contribute differently to behavioral priming, possibly influenced by task relevance.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Treatment of drug-induced psychosis in Parkinson's disease with ziprasidone can induce severe dose-dependent off-periods and pathological laughing.

"Atypical anti-psychotics" are substances of choice in treating drug-induced psychosis (DP) in Parkinson's disease (PD). We report on four patients with DP who received treatment with ziprasidone after previously applied clozapine and quetiapine had failed. Three patients showed a significant improvement of DP, without deterioration of motor function. In one case, ziprasidone considerably increased decline in off-periods. Two patients developed pathological laughing as a possible side-effect of ziprasidone. Ziprasidone may serve as an additional "atypical anti-psychotic" for the treatment of DP in PD but can also induce deterioration of motor function.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Contagious yawning and the brain.

Contagious yawning, the onset of a yawn triggered by seeing, hearing, reading, or thinking about another person yawn is a well-documented phenomenon. The mechanisms that drive contagious yawning are as yet unknown, but there is recent evidence of a link between contagious yawning and self-processing (S.M. Platek, S.R. Critton, T.E. Myers, G.G. Gallup Jr., Contagious yawning: the role of self-awareness and mental state attribution, Cogn. Brain Res. 17 (2003) 223-227.) that is negatively impacted by schizotypal personality traits. The neural substrates involved in contagious yawning, however, are unknown. Here, using fMRI, we show that viewing someone yawn evokes unique neural activity in the posterior cingulate and precuneus. Because of the role these areas play in self-processing (e.g., self-referential processing, theory of mind, autobiographical memory), our findings provide further support for the hypothesis that contagious yawning may be part of a neural network involved in empathy.

Cognition↗
PubMed2005

A common neural basis for receptive and expressive communication of pleasant facial affect.

There is accumulating evidence suggesting that the visual representation of facial affect is closely linked to its motor representation. To examine whether perception of pleasant facial affect involves neural circuitries associated with its production, we performed an fMRI experiment with 'compressed image acquisition' where subjects smiled and observed movies depicting other people smiling within scan-free time intervals between the acquisition of each image volume. Overlaps between the brain activation during observation and execution of smile expressions were located in the right premotor cortex and pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus, right parietal operculum (SII) and left anterior insula. Observation of smile expressions further yielded signal increases within the posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), fusiform gyrus and ventral amygdala. The results show that perceiving and expressing pleasant facial affect share a common neural basis in areas concerned with motor as well as somato- and limbic-sensory processing. In concert with temporal regions serving the visual analysis of facial expressive features, a mapping of the observed expressions onto neural circuitries associated with the production of these expressions and its somatosensory consequences could provide a description of what the expression would feel like if produced in the observer. Such a mechanism is suggested to be important for empathic understanding of others' feelings.

Adult↗