Thesis (M.Eng.(Bio-Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Summaries in Afrikaans and English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1966. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / A quasi-experimental design was undertaken to explore the possibility of utilizing electrodermal activity as a marker of intuitive decision making in nursing. This study compared 11 senior female nursing students to 10 female nurses with more than five years of nursing experience completing a clinical decision making task utilizing MicroSim© program software while measuring skin conductance response (SCR). The clinical decision making task chosen was based on the cognitive continuum theory. The somatic marker hypothesis is also a theoretical base for this study. This theory suggests that physiological markers are present during decision making. An independent t-test was conducted in SPSS comparing the total number of skin conductance responses generated and overall score in the card task and clinical scenario between the two groups. According to the Somatic Marker Hypothesis, the researcher’s definition of intuition, and the results of this experiment, SCR generation shows promise as a marker of intuitive decision making in nursing.

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This study investigated the effects of environmental consequences and data 'collection in a behavior contracting procedure for obesity. Also, a validity study examined the GSR as a subject-independent-monitoring technique. Sixteen subjects matched on sex and percent overweight were assigned to one of three contract conditions or to a no-treatment condition. The Data Only Contract Group received consequences for data collection. The With Consequences Contract Group received consequences for data collection and behaviors relevant to weight loss. The Without Consequences Contract Group received no consequences for data collection or behaviors relevant to weight loss. The With Consequences Contract Group lost significantly more weight ( p ≤ .05) than the No Treatment Group. Specific effects were not determined. The results of the validity study suggest that the GSR may not be a valid instrument as a subject-independent-monitoring technique. Factors affecting the galvanic skin response's- effectiveness were discussed.

Electrodermal responding (EDR) and heart rate (HR) were assessed for seven subjects participating in a reaction time task consequated with monetary bonuses (250, 100, and 10), monetary penalties (250,100, and 10), and a monetary neutral value (00). Unlike previous research employing group designs and a tonic measure (i.e., mean over long periods of time), this study utilized a single-subject design and a phasic measure (i.e., mean over 2-s intervals). Heart rate data was too variable for meaningful analysis. EDR data showed that the peak levels of EDR were higher for penalties than for the corresponding values of bonuses (e.g., -250 vs. +250) for most subjects. Similarly, peak levels of EDR were generally higher during sessions in which consequences were presented than in sessions during which consequences were absent.

Although tic disorders are diagnosed as neurological disorders, neurobehavioral models suggest that tics are controlled by premonitory urges that may be conditioned to become aversive through childhood, and that tics are exhibited to alleviate such phenomena. However, only indirect measures have been used to assess the presence of the premonitory urge. This study utilized self-report and GSR measurements to examine whether a punishing contingency conditioned stimuli to be aversive during conditions of tic suppression and whether punishing contingencies exacerbate aversive private phenomena in two adults. Results indicated that conditions of response cost (RC) and differential reinforcement (DRO) were effective at reducing the number of tics compared to baseline. Moreover, GSR was unrelated to urge and suppression conditions despite higher self-reported urge ratings in DRO and RC conditions. Implications of findings are discussed.

This study examined the association of the experience of emotion and somatic changes. The study compared reported somatic changes generally experienced when anxious with the actual association of the experience of emotion and somatic changes as measured during a specific event. Emotions were measured as both general negative emotion as well as specific emotions: anger, disgust, fear, sadness and shame. Participants were volunteers from a Victorian university who agreed to watch a video depicting the dramatisation of child abuse. Throughout the video, participants indicated their experience of emotion. Measures were also taken throughout the procedure of facial expression and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). In order to examine emotional-congruence, subjects were divided into three groups. These groups were divided according to the congruence of subjects’ experienced emotion with autonomic changes and facial expressivity. Groups were divided separately for each of the emotion types. Where there was little difference between the reported experience of emotion and that, which would have been expected from the observed somatic changes, the subject was deemed to be in the Congruent Group. Subjects whose reported experience of emotion was greater or less than would be expected from observed somatic changes were allocated to the Over-reporter and Under-Reporter Groups respectively. This data was then compared to participants’ reports of the number of somatic symptoms usually experienced when anxious. It was found that participants who under-report the experience of general negative-emotion compared with their observed somatic changes (both GSR and facial expressivity) had lower trait-somatic-anxiety (reported fewer somatic symptoms usually experienced when anxious). There was no significant difference between the Congruent Group and Over-Reporter Group. The Under-Reporter Groups had significantly lower trait-somatic-anxiety than the Congruent Group when emotional-congruence was defined by fear and GSR, anger and GSR and sadness and facial expressivity. The actual association of shame and disgust with either somatic change, sadness with autonomic change and anger and fear with facial expressivity was unrelated to the number of somatic symptoms reported to be usually experienced when anxious. The results supported the idea that subjective reports of the number of somatic symptoms reported to be usually experienced when anxious reflect the actual association of somatic change and experience, but with limitations. The actual association of experience of fear with autonomic change seems to reflect the number of somatic symptoms reported to be usually experienced when anxious more than other emotions. Further for those for whom the experience of anger and negative-emotion has a greater association with somatic change, there was a greater number of somatic symptoms reported to be usually experienced when anxious. This would suggest that some people have a greater association of some experiences of emotion and somatic change. Furthermore, while there is an association between reported somatic changes generally experienced when anxious with the actual association of the experience of emotion and somatic changes as measured during a specific event, this was dependant on the association of the emotion types rather than being generalised for all emotions.

Bibliography: leaves 350-389 / xii, 389 leaves : / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (M.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychiatry, 1987