Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-75). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-75). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1979. / Vita. Tables. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-111).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-68).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1976. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 212-216).

People with insomnia overestimate how long it takes to fall asleep and underestimate the total amount of sleep they attain. While memory is normally decreased prior to sleep onset, this decrease is smaller in insomnia. Insomnia generally and the phenomena of underestimation of sleep and greater memory prior to sleep area associated with arousal including cortical, autonomic, and cognitive arousal. The goal of the present study was to simultaneously examine arousal across these domains in relation to memory and accuracy of sleep estimation. Forty healthy adults completed baseline measures of sleep, psychopathology, and memory, then maintained a regular sleep schedule for three nights at home before spending a night in the sleep laboratory. On the night of the sleep laboratory study, participants completed measures of cognitive arousal, were allowed to sleep until five minutes of contiguous stage N2 sleep in the third NREM period. They were then awoken and asked to remain awake for fifteen minutes, after which they were allowed to resume sleeping. For the entire duration that they were awake, auditory stimuli (recordings of words) were presented at a rate of one word per 30 seconds. Participants slept until morning, estimated how long they were awake and then completed memory testing, indicating whether they remembered hearing each of the words previously presented along with an equal number of matched distracter words. Memory was greatest for words presented early in the awakening, followed by the middle and end of the awakening. High cortical arousal prior to being awoken was associated with better memory, particularly for the early part of the awakening. High autonomic arousal was associated with better memory for the late part of the awakening. Cognitive arousal was not associated with memory. Longer duration of sleep prior to being awoken was associated with better memory for the middle of the awakening. Better memory at baseline was associated with better memory, specifically in the middle of the awakening. Contrary to expectation, memory for the awakening was not associated with accuracy of the perceived length of the awakening. The present study found complementary associations between cortical and autonomic arousal and memory for an awakening from sleep. This suggests that decreasing arousal in both domains may reduce the discrepancy between subjective and objective sleep in insomnia. This also suggests the initial magnitude of decrements in cognitive performance after being awoken are related to deeper proximal sleep initially, while speed of improvement in cognitive performance is related to longer prior sleep duration.

A dessertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, 1995. / Activities in which people perceive risk, arouses a certain measure of anxiety. The heightened anxiety level becomes pathological if it overcomes the natural coping abilities of a person for an extended period of time. In this study a perceived risk situation was created in which heightened physiological arousal was induced, observed and managed. Direct signs of heightened physiological arousal were observed by monitoring changes in heartbeat, skin temperature, skin conductance, electromyographic activity and blood volume pulse using a biofeedback system. The 11 member experimental group were introduced to a three day progressive relaxation training programme prior to participating in the stationary perceived risk activity. The experimental group experienced a lowering of sympathetic nervous system arousal, supported by the measurement of significant changes of physiological symptoms during the brief anxiety' eliciting situation. Results were statistically compared with an 11 member control group which received no relaxation training. Significant changes in heart rate, skin conductance and blood volume pulse measured on subjects of the experimental, group supported the hypothesis that a progressive relaxation training programme therapeutically changes physiological arousal.

Many neurological disorders are characterized by uncontrolled or non-volitional cursing. The social stigma of coprophenomena can be immense, particularly for young adults with traumatic brain injury or Tourette Syndrome. Little is known about the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying non-volitional cursing, and there is no known treatment. To this end, I propose a mechanism that will prove useful as a guiding theoretical framework for modeling different types of cursing. My overarching hypothesis is that uncontrolled cursing is the breakdown of a feedback loop between physiological arousal and controlled language output. I operationalize the hypothesis that cursing occurs in the context of physiological arousal and the act of cursing further modulates arousal. This thesis will illustrate how the model predicts different patterns of impairment across different disorders of emotion and behavior dysregulation. I will test predictions of the model in two experiments both involving manipulations of arousal and linguistic content. In Experiment 1, I compare the arousal of the lexical environment of curse words to the that of randomly selected non-curse words in a large natural language corpus. In Experiment 2, I use a verbal fluency paradigm to compare physiological arousal and subsequent language production during a cursing task vs. a non-cursing task. / Communication Sciences

Sexual arousal is a complex and dynamic element of women’s sexuality. Accounts vary, however most multidimensional models highlight the cognitive, affective and physiological components of the female sexual arousal response. While literature examining the peripheral physiological changes that occur during female sexual arousal abounds, there has been a dearth of literature pertaining to the cognitive and affective components. Thus, while many authors have included cognitive and emotions as independent components of the female sexual arousal response, there has been little empirical research to validate this approach. The aim of the current thesis was to examine the cognitive and affective components of female sexual arousal in more depth, investigating the nature of the relationship between these components under various experimental conditions. In order to do so, two integrated studies were conducted, each highlighting the effects of either external or internal variables on women’s subjective sexual arousal, absorption, positive affect and negative affect. Study One was designed to evaluate women’s emotional and cognitive processing of two elements of erotic film – foreplay and erotic context. 60 women were asked to report their subjective sexual arousal, absorption, positive affect and negative affect in response to one of four erotic film excerpts. The erotic excerpts varied in accordance with the degree of foreplay (low vs. high) depicted and the context in which the sexual activities took place (novel vs. habitual context). Women in the study responded more favourably to the high foreplay erotic film excerpt, subsequently reporting higher degrees of subjective sexual arousal, absorption and positive affect. Women also responded favourably to the erotic excerpt filmed in a novel context, reporting greater subjective sexual arousal as a result. The environment in which the sexual encounters were filmed failed to have an effect however, on women’s absorption or their positive or negative affect. The results of Study One suggest that stimulus specific variables, such as the degree of foreplay depicted, have a significant influence on female cognitive and emotional processing of erotic film. The results also suggest that a relationship exists between absorption, subjective sexual arousal and positive affect, albeit a correlational one. Specifically, there was evidence of parallel processing during sexual arousal, as participant reported sexual arousal, absorption and positive affect all increased and decreased in unison. Based on the results it was suggested that future research attempt to experimentally manipulate one of these variables, to examine its direct effect on the remaining variable. Thus, Study Two aimed to examine the effects of absorption on women’s cognitive and emotional processing of erotica. Study Two manipulated absorption at two levels (high vs. low), examining the impact of these states on participants’ subsequent absorption, subjective sexual arousal and positive and negative affect. 62 women were asked to read one of two sets of test session instructions. The first, participant-oriented instruction set, instructed participants to immerse themselves in the erotic film excerpt, as if they were active participants in the sexual exchange. The second, spectator-oriented instruction set, directed participants to observe and evaluate the erotic film. These instructions were designed to elicit high and low degrees of absorption, respectively. The utility of this approach when manipulating female absorption, was demonstrated by self reported ratings of absorption, given at the conclusion of the film presentation. Participants were also asked to report their subjective sexual arousal and positive and negative affect at the conclusion of the erotic film presentation. The findings of this study suggest that the adoption of a participant-oriented (high absorption) perspective elicits more favourable responses from participants than a spectator-oriented (low absorption) perspective, with participants in the former experimental group reporting greater degrees of subjective sexual arousal and positive affect. Negative affect was equivalent across experimental conditions, with the participants reporting that they experienced little to no aversive feelings during either of the experimental conditions. The results suggest that the degree to which a women immerses and absorbs herself in a sexual stimulus has a significant impact in her subsequent cognitive and affective processing of that stimulus. More specifically, it appears that women respond more favourably when they are highly absorbed and immersed in a stimulus, reporting greater subjective sexual arousal and positive affect. Overall, the results of Studies One and Two highlight the dynamic and complex nature of female sexual arousal. It appears that women have definite cognitive and affective responses to sexual stimuli. The magnitude of these responses may be mediated by a number of factors however, including the intrinsic qualities of the stimulus and the degree to which the woman attends to the stimulus. Both these variables act to either enhance or inhibit the sexual arousal response. There results have important implications for current sexuality literature. While women’s cognitions and emotions in response to erotic film were generally highly correlated, in some instances they differed, warranting their inclusion as separate elements in models of female sexual arousal. Furthermore, it might be suggested that the inclusion of an additional variable – absorption – into current models of female sexual arousal would prove beneficial, aiding researchers to better understand and predict the arousal process. As such, recommendations are made for a revised model of female sexual arousal. In terms of future directions, the results of the present thesis have implications for the treatment of sexual dysfunctions, suggesting that clinicians need to understand the internal and external variables that might contribute to the aetiology and maintenance of their presenting problems.