Current models of exercise regulation almost solely rely on the Gestalt phenomenon of perceived exertion. This limits a more comprehensive understanding of how causeeffect relationships come to be and how perception-action coupling determines pacing behaviour and performance fatigability. A three-dimensional framework of centrally regulated and goal-directed exercise behaviour is proposed, which differentiates between sensory-discriminatory, affectivemotivational, and cognitive-evaluative processes hypothesised to underpin perceived fatigability. In short: (A) perceived physical strain and perceived mental strain are primary regulators of pacing behaviour necessary to align planned behaviour with current physiological state, (B) core affect plays a primary and mediatory role in performance regulation, and (C) the mindset- shift associated with an action crisis plays a primary role in volitional self-regulatory control and decision-making. In study one, 23 cyclists of distinct performance levels engaged in 70-km individual and head-to-head competition time trials against a performance matched opponent. Sensory constructs were primarily associated with regulation of pacing behaviour. Affective and cognitive constructs acted as context-dependent modifiers and were primarily associated with regulation of performance. A five-step structural equation modelling procedure was applied to assess the extent to which the observed data fit the hypothesised cause–effect relationships under the constraint of psychological duress: valence deterioration was found to mediate the relationship between falling-behind and action crisis; which in turn predicted increased non-adaptive endocrinological distress response; which in turn predicted performance decrement. In study two, 22 highly-trained runners completed two self-paced 20-km treadmill time trials in a tapered condition and with locomotor muscle fatigue and exercise-induced muscle damage. The latter was associated with medium increases in markers of physiological distress and large alterations in perceived physical strain, affective valence, and cognitive mindset. This indicates heuristic and rational antecedents in the goal-disengagement process. Structural equation modelling confirmed the hypothesised dual-pathway model under the constraint of physical duress: haematological indicators of EIMD predicted (1) amplified physiological strain and non-adaptive endocrinological distress response and (2) increase in perceived physical strain, which mediated and predicted decrease in valence; which in turn predicted an increase in action crisis; and both physiological and perceptual effects predicted performance fatigability. The proposed framework has the potential to enrich theory development in centrally regulated and goal-directed exercise behaviour by providing novel insights into and more complete account of the dynamic and complex processes in strain-perceptionthinking-action coupling during prolonged endurance exercise.

Physical activity is known to offer health benefits. Additionally, research has linked religious involvement with health. Psychophysiological reactivity has links to coronary heart disease. This study examines the relationship between physical activity and religiosity in light of psychophysiological reactivity. The sample included 75 subjects, with a mean age of 71. 7 (SD = 6.11 ), with no history of cardiac incident. Religiosity was measured with the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS). Physical activity was assessed utilizing the Typical Week Physical Activity Scale. Psychophysiological reactivity was measured by blood pressure, heart rate, and self-report anger ratings in response to interpersonal challenge. Regression predicting reactivity, including ROS, total metabolic equivalence (MET) minutes, and interaction of the two resulted in significant prediction of systolic blood pressure change, F (3, 74) = 3.33, p = .024. Analyses suggest relationships between reactivity and religiosity are not mediated by physical activity. Indicating ROS may operate more influentially over prohibited than proactive behaviors.

Cognitive theories of depression have long posited automatic interpretation biases (AIB) as a central contributor to depressed mood. The current study was first to examine AIB in a clinically defined depressed sample. While assessing AIB using a semantic association paradigm, pupillary reactivity was simultaneously recorded to build insight into the AIB process. A total of 53 individuals (25 depressed and 28 healthy control) completed the Word Sentence Association Paradigm for Depression (WSAP-D) while pupillary reactivity was recorded. Results revealed the depressed group was significantly more likely to endorse negative AIB and less likely to endorse benign AIB compared to healthy controls. The depressed group demonstrated a modest effect size difference indicating they were faster to endorse negative AIB compared to the healthy controls, but did not differ in endorsing benign AIB or in rejecting either valence. Pupillary reactivity was found to differentiate behaviorally defined AIB type from a natural processing condition when counter to theorized, group relevant AIB. The depressed group demonstrated greater initial pupillary constriction during initial presentation of ambiguous information and comparatively less pupillary dilation during and after endorsing a benign AIB. Taken together, the results suggest that theorized negative AIB and lack of benign AIB are characteristic of depression, that greater cognitive effort is required to reject interpretations consistent with theorized biases consistent with reinterpretation processes, and that depressed individuals are less engaged with benign AIB compared to healthy controls, possibly associated with hedonic deficits. Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed.

The current study investigated whether positive emotion eliciting activities facilitate the physiological, as well as subjective emotional, recovery from feelings of sadness and grief. Results indicated that participants who read a funny or neutral article after writing about the death of someone close had greater decreases in sadness and increases in positive emotion than participants who read an article about coping with grief. The funny and neutral articles were also associated with greater decreases in corrugator supercilii muscle activity. Positive emotion eliciting activities had no effect on zygomaticus major and orbicularis oculi muscle activity, heart rate, or respiratory sinus arrhythmia.

Smoking is one of the leading causes of death in the world. About 80% of smokers start smoking before the age of 18. In the Appalachian area and the South in the United States, smoking percentages among adults and adolescents are higher than in other regions. Female smoking shows a variety of different trends from male smoking, and smoking brings particular health problems related to production to female smokers. These findings highlighted the importance of studying female teenage smokers in southwest Virginia. The initial project aimed to identify risk factors that might prevent smoking in an early stage. Dr. Helen Crawford led the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Virginia Tech in discovering the psychophysiological vulnerabilities of female teenage smokers. Toward this end, event-related potential (ERP), personality, and behavioral data were collected in teenage female smokers and non-smokers. These data were analyzed to examine possible psychophysiological vulnerabilities in female teenage smokers such as deficits in brain and cognitive function, personality traits, and environment influences. The purpose of this dissertation is to further analyze these data to elaborate and clarify the relationships among these vulnerabilities toward understanding teenage smoking behavior. Participants were 49 teenage girls (smokers and non-smokers) with age from 14 to 18. The measures included sensory gating, platelet MAO-B activity, attention, memory, temperament, schizotypal personality, recognition of facial expressions, taste and smell. The initial set of analyses compared smokers and non-smokers, including those classified as high and low dependent, on all dependent measures. The results suggested some psychophysiological vulnerabilities in female teenage smokers, which have been used as support for the self-medication and the orbito-frontal dysfunction models of why teenagers smoke (Crawford et al., 2004). Further examination of these factors may help teenagers to reduce the smoking dependency and possibly improve cognitive function. Specifically, this dissertation focused on the role of the variable of monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) in the correlations among sensory gating, MAO and other cognitive and personality measures. All smokers were divided into high and low MAO groups first. Comparison analyses were conducted between them. The high MAO group showed better sensory gating function than the low MAO group. Correlation analyses were conducted among all of the measures. The significant linear relationships between MAO and sensory gating, MAO and CO level and MAO and temperament were demonstrated. MAO activity positively correlated with the sensory gating function and negatively correlated with CO level and temperament characteristics. Finally, to explore the mechanisms of the relationship between MAO and sensory gating, the neurotransmitter systems related to MAO and sensory gating were discussed. / Ph. D.

Thesis (PhD (Sports Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / There is general consensus that athletes, striving to compete and perform at the highest level, should optimally balance training and competition stress with adequate regeneration. Although a well-planned training programme is of utmost importance, the time between training sessions and competitions is critical for the modern-day athlete. It is suggested that athletes should apply a variety of recovery methods to enhance the regeneration process. Although team sport is a popular entity throughout the world, there is limited published research on the regeneration process in team athletes and recovery methods to enhance the regeneration process. The aim of this study was to develop a model that could serve as a guideline for the regeneration of team athletes within the South African context. Two phases were involved in the process of developing a model. Phase one involved a research of literature in order to assess which strategies can be implemented for athletic regeneration, and what information team athletes are given for regeneration. The second phase involved an investigation into the recovery strategies that are currently used for regeneration by elite South African team players during the competitive phase of the year. Research questions focused on the recovery methods used by players, the perceived importance of various recovery methods to the players, and the relationship between sport and level of participation in the use of recovery strategies. This study did not attempt to assess the knowledge of the players on recovery methods.

Forward operators are subjected to both physical and mental workload in their work and a way to reduce mental workload and increase productivity is to automating the crane movement. To enable study the impact of automation you need methods to estimate the forwarder operators mental workload in conventional crane work and with semi automation. This study evaluated the psychophysiological parameters; trapezius muscle activity, heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, skin conductance and finger temperature. To ensure the validity and methodology reliability one need to perform more extensive studies. As for future studies this work propose additional studies of forward operator mental workload in the simulator environment regarding heart rate, heart rate variability and respiration. / Skogsmaskinförarens arbete innebär en hög belastning såväl fysiskt som mentalt. Dels för att det innefattar moment av statiskt och repetitvt arbete och dels för att en stor mängd information bearbetas och många beslut fattas på kort tid. Mental belastning är ett begrepp för olika former av belastning som påverkar människans förmåga att bearbeta information. Det finns ingen enskild faktor som kan utgöra ett mått på mental belastning. Såväl prestation som subjektiva bedömningar och psykofysiologiska mätmetoder används för att mäta mental belastning. Exempel på psykofysiologiska mätmetoder är muskelaktivitet, hjärtfrekvens, hjärtfrekvensvariabilitet, andningsfrekvens, hudkonduktans och fingertemperatur. Ett sätt att försöka minska belastningen för skotarföraren är att automatisera vissa moment i kranens arbete. Syftet med examensarbetet var att utvärdera psykofysiologiska mätmetoder lämpliga för att beöma skillnaden i mental belastning hos skotarförare vid arbete med konventionellt- och delautomatiserat kranarbete i simulatormiljö. Resultatet visar på en potential hos analyserna hjärtfrekvens, hjärtfrekvensvariabilitet och andning för fortsatta studier. Muskelaktiviteten i form av trapezius-EMG och hudkonduktans var analyser behäftade med höga brusnivåer och artefakter i studien. Arbetet ger även en bild av komplexiteten i studier där teknik och människa interagerar. Den tekniska kapaciteten på skogsmaskiner är idag så avancerad att maskinföraren bedöms vara den begränsande faktorn för prestationen. För att öka produktiviteten i skogsbruket är det av stor vikt att den tekniska utvecklingen samspelar med interaktionen mellan människa och maskin för att främja ett hållbart skogsbruk för såväl maskinförare som för skog och miljö.

The purpose of this study was to test the comparability of several psychological instruments commonly used in Information Systems (IS) cognitive style research. The objective was to determine the limitations of: existing instruments in IS cognitive style research. The motivation for this research was the inconclusive findings reported in IS human information processing research. The study used a repeated measures design. Each individual completed the following cognitive style and personality instruments; the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Group Embedded-figures Test, the Learning Style Inventory, the Human Information Processing Survey, and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Figural Form A). The individual also completed a dichotic listening and tachistoscope task. Data was collected from business administration, BCIS, liberal arts majors, and IS professionals. The results of this study indicate IS researchers need to consider several factors in the use of these instruments. A direct relationship exists between cognitive ability and results on the GEFT. Cognitive ability should be considered a moderating variable in interpreting the results of the GEFT. Also, the hypothesis that the GEFT is a surrogate for analytical and low-analytical abilities is not supported by this study. Other reported results include the inappropriateness of using the TTCT with adult populations. Also, the MBTI appears to be an appropriate instrument for measuring cognitive styles in IS research. This study reported that gender is a moderating factor on the classification of MBTI types in that gender is not evenly divided among feeling and thinking types. This study reported no relationships between the cognitive style and personality instruments with the physiological measurements. The validity of the physiological measurements could be the underlying factor for not reporting any significant relationships. IS researchers will benefit from this study through an improved understanding of the appropriateness and applicability of these instruments. This benefits research through the strengthening of instrument selection.

In this thesis sleep, psychological symptoms and quality of life (Qol) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) at the University Hospital in Linköping were evaluated. Interviews and 24-hour polysomnography were performed prior to surgery, immediately after surgery and again at one month, with a six-month-follow-up mailed questionnaire. Habitual sleep was evaluated using the Uppsala Sleep Inventory questionnaire and a diary the recorded mornings. The Spielberger State of Anxiety Scale and the Zung's Self-rating Depression Scale were used to measure anxiety and depression, respectively. Physical functional capacity was assessed according to the New York Heart Association's (NYHA) classes and Qol, with the Nottingham Health Profile instrument (NHP). A retrospective evaluation of nurse's documentation about sleep was also performed. In addition, the quality and quantity of sleep were assessed before surgery and in the immediate postoperative period in a pilot study, with a one-month follow-up interview. The results indicated disturbed sleep, and changes in behaviour and mental state after surgery due to fragmented sleep, pain and anxiety. Forty-four patients were examined prior to surgery. The results showed that almost two-fifths experienced too little sleep habitually and 50 % had a combination of at least two sleep problems. Poorer health, higher level of anxiety and increased difficulties maintaining sleep (DMS) were consistent with significantly longer sleep latency, increased fragmented sleep, and reduced stages 3 and 4 and RIM sleep measured by polysomnography. The level of Qol on the NBP was significantly associated with objectively measured sleep. In the immediate period following CABG there is a changed distribution of sleep, with a reduction of nocturnal sleep duration and an increase in daytime sleep, which had almost returned to preoperative values one month after surgery. Qol was significantly improved six months after surgery compared to before surgery. It was noted that patients with a more anxiety prone reactivity during six months following CABG had significantly more sleep disturbances, reduced energy and functional physical capacity, and lower quality of life, compared to those without such reactivity. Significantly more sleep disturbances, reduced energy and lower quality of life were more prominent among those with sadness/depression or cognitive/behavioural fatigue as reactions to sleep loss. A higher degree of cognitive/behavioural fatigue and dysphoria reactions were associated with a higher NYHA class. In conclusion, patients with coronary artery disease have poor quantity and quality of sleep. Increased psychological symptoms in patients with CAD prior to surgery were associated with greater symptoms six months after surgery. Physical functional capacity and quality of life were significantly improved six months after surgery. / 1999

NutzerInnen von gewalthaltigen Medien geben einerseits oftmals zu, dass sie fiktionale, gewalthaltige Medien konsumieren, behaupten jedoch gleichzeitig, dass dies nicht ihr Verhalten außerhalb des Medienkontexts beeinflusst. Sie argumentieren, dass sie leicht zwischen Dingen, die im fiktionalen Kontext und Dingen, die in der Realität gelernt wurden, unterscheiden können. Im Kontrast zu diesen Aussagen zeigen Metanalysen Effektstärken im mittleren Bereich für den Zusammenhang zwischen Gewaltmedienkonsum und aggressivem Verhalten. Diese Ergebnisse können nur erklärt werden, wenn MediennutzerInnen gewalthaltige Lernerfahrungen auch außerhalb des Medienkontexts anwenden. Ein Prozess, der Lernerfahrungen innerhalb des Medienkontexts mit dem Verhalten in der realen Welt verknüpft, ist Desensibilisierung, die oftmals eine Reduktion des negativen Affektes gegenüber Gewalt definiert ist. Zur Untersuchung des Desensibilisierungsprozesses wurden vier Experimente durchgeführt. Die erste in dieser Arbeit untersuchte Hypothese war, dass je häufiger Personen Gewaltmedien konsumieren, desto weniger negativen Affekt zeigen sie gegenüber Bildern mit realer Gewalt. Jedoch wurde angenommen, dass diese Bewertung auf Darstellungen von realer Gewalt beschränkt ist und nicht bei Bildern ohne Gewaltbezug, die einen negativen Affekt auslösen, zu finden ist. Die zweite Hypothese bezog sich auf den Affekt während des Konsums von Mediengewalt. Hier wurde angenommen, dass besonders Personen, die Freude an Gewalt in den Medien empfinden weniger negativen Affekt gegenüber realen Gewaltdarstellungen zeigen. Die letzte Hypothese beschäftigte sich mit kognitiver Desensibilisierung und sagte vorher, dass Gewaltmedienkonsum zu einem Transfer von Reaktionen, die normalerweise gegenüber gewalthaltigen Reizen gezeigt werden, auf ursprünglich neutrale Reize führt. Das erste Experiment (N = 57) untersuchte, ob die habituelle Nutzung von gewalthaltigen Medien den selbstberichteten Affekt (Valenz und Aktivierung) gegenüber Darstellungen von realer Gewalt und nichtgewalthaltigen Darstellungen, die negativen Affekt auslösen, vorhersagt. Die habituelle Nutzung von gewalthaltigen Medien sagte weniger negative Valenz und weniger allgemeine Aktivierung gegenüber gewalthalten und nichtgewalthaltigen Bildern vorher. Das zweite Experiment (N = 103) untersuchte auch die Beziehung zwischen habituellem Gewaltmedienkonsum und den affektiven Reaktionen gegenüber Bildern realer Gewalt und negativen affektauslösenden Bildern. Als weiterer Prädiktor wurde der Affekt beim Betrachten von gewalthaltigen Medien hinzugefügt. Der Affekt gegenüber den Bildern wurde zusätzlich durch psychophysiologische Maße (Valenz: C: Supercilii; Aktivierung: Hautleitreaktion) erhoben. Wie zuvor sagte habitueller Gewaltmedienkonsum weniger selbstberichte Erregung und weniger negative Valenz für die gewalthaltigen und die negativen, gewalthaltfreien Bilder vorher. Die physiologischen Maßen replizierten dieses Ergebnis. Jedoch zeigte sich ein anderes Muster für den Affekt beim Konsum von Gewalt in den Medien. Personen, die Gewalt in den Medien stärker erfreut, zeigen eine Reduktion der Responsivität gegenüber Gewalt auf allen vier Maßen. Weiterhin war bei drei dieser vier Maße (selbstberichte Valenz, Aktivität des C. Supercilii und Hautleitreaktion) dieser Zusammenhang auf die gewalthaltigen Bilder beschränkt, mit keinem oder nur einem kleinen Effekt auf die negativen, aber nichtgewalthaltigen Bilder. Das dritte Experiment (N = 73) untersuchte den Affekt während die Teilnehmer ein Computerspiel spielten. Das Spiel wurde eigens für dieses Experiment programmiert, sodass einzelne Handlungen im Spiel mit der Aktivität des C. Supercilii, dem Indikator für negativen Affekt, in Bezug gesetzt werden konnten. Die Analyse des C. Supercilii zeigte, dass wiederholtes Durchführen von aggressiven Spielzügen zu einem Rückgang von negativen Affekt führte, der die aggressiven Spielhandlungen begleitete. Der negative Affekt während gewalthaltiger Spielzüge wiederum sagte die affektive Reaktion gegenüber Darstellungen von gewalthaltigen Bildern vorher, nicht jedoch gegenüber den negativen Bildern. Das vierte Experiment (N = 77) untersuchte kognitive Desensibilisierung, die die Entwicklung von Verknüpfungen zwischen neutralen und aggressiven Kognitionen beinhaltete. Die Teilnehmer spielten einen Ego-Shooter entweder auf einem Schiff- oder einem Stadtlevel. Die Beziehung zwischen den neutralen Konstrukten (Schiff/Stadt) und den aggressiven Kognitionen wurde mit einer lexikalischen Entscheidungsaufgabe gemessen. Das Spielen im Schiff-/Stadt-Level führte zu einer kürzen Reaktionszeit für aggressive Wörter, wenn sie einem Schiff- bzw. Stadtprime folgten. Dies zeigte, dass die im Spiel enthaltenen neutralen Konzepte mit aggressiven Knoten verknüpft werden. Die Ergebnisse dieser vier Experimente wurden diskutiert im Rahmen eines lerntheoretischen Ansatzes um Desensibilisierung zu konzeptualisieren. / Users of violent media often state that they consume fictional violent media and claim that this does not influence their behavior outside of the media context. Media users reason that they can easily distinguish between things learned in a fictional context and things learned in reality. In contrast to these claims, meta-analyses report medium-sized effects between media violence consumption and aggressive behavior. These effects can only be explained if media users also apply learning experiences from the media outside the media context. One of the processes linking learning experiences in the media context to behavior in the real word is desensitization, which is often defined as a reduction of negative affect towards violence. To investigate the process of desensitization, four experiments were conducted. The first hypothesis investigated in these experiments was that persons who have a higher level of violent media exposure show less negative affect towards depictions of real violence compared to persons with a lower level. However, it was assumed that this reduction in reaction would be limited to depictions of real violence and would not be found in response to depictions of nonviolent pictures electing negative affect. The second hypothesis referred to the role of affect experienced during exposure to media depictions of violence, assuming that especially people who enjoy the violence while consuming the media show less negative affect towards depictions of real violence. The final hypothesis addressed cognitive desensitization effects and predicted that media violence use leads to transfer effects from responses to violent cues to initially neutral stimuli The first experiment (N = 57) examined to what extent the habitual use of media violence predicts the self-reported affect (Valence and Arousal) towards depictions of real violence and nonviolent pictures eliciting negative affect. Habitual media violence exposure predicted less negative valence and less arousal toward violent pictures and negative nonviolent pictures. The second experiment (N = 103) also examined the relationship between habitual media violence exposure and the affective reactions towards images of real violence as well as negative, nonviolent scenes. Additionally, affect while watching violent media was added as a second predictor. The affect toward the images was also obtained by psychophysical measures (Valence: activity of C. Supercilii; Activation: skin conductance). As in experiment 1, habitual media violence exposure predicted less self-reported negative valence and less self-reported arousal for the violent pictures and the negative nonviolent pictures. The physiological measures replicated this result. However, a different pattern emerged for the enjoyment of violent media. People who enjoyed violent media more showed a reduction of affective responsivity toward violence on all four different measures. Additionally, for three of the four measures (skin conductance, self-reported negative valence and the activity on the C. Supercilii) this relationship was limited to the violent pictures, with no or little effect on the negative, but nonviolent pictures. A third experiment (N = 73) studied affect while participants played a violent computer game. A game was specially programmed in which specific actions could be linked to the activity of the C. Supercilii, an indicator for negative affect. The analysis of the C. Supercilii showed that repeatedly performing aggressive actions during the game led to a decline in negative affect accompanying the aggressive actions. The negative affect during aggressive actions in turn predicted less negative affective responses to violent images of real-life violence but not to nonviolent, negative images. The fourth experiment (N=77) showed cognitive desensitization effects, which involved the formation of links between neutral and aggressive cognitions. Participants played a first-person shooter game either on a ship or a city level. The relationship between neutral constructs (ship/city) and aggressive cognitions was measured using a lexical decision task. Playing the game in a ship/city level led to shorter reaction time for aggressive words following ship/city primes respectively. This indicated that the neutral concepts introduced in the game had become associated with aggressive cognitions. The findings of these four experiments are discussed in terms of a learning theory approach to conceptualizing desensitization.