Social support has been associated with reduced mortality and morbidity from a number of causes. To assess possible mechanisms of action relating to cardiovascular (CV) responsiveness, 90 male and female university students delivered a five-minute speech on a controversial topic to a same-sex laboratory confederate. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three conditions in which the confederate either (a) agreed with the subject, (b) remained impassive (neutral), or (c) disagreed with the subject. Blood pressure (SBP and DBP) and heart rate (HR.) were monitored throughout the experiment. Self-report measures of state self-esteem and affective state were taken pre- and post-task, and reactions to the task were assessed with post-task self-report measures. Subjects reported strong differences in supportiveness of the confederate in the three conditions. Self-report data indicated increase in arousal during the speech (a finding synchronous with CV data), and they reported the Disagree condition to be less pleasant than the Agree condition. CV data were analyzed as a 2 x 3 (sex by experimental condition) repeated measures ANOVA assessing changes from baseline to speech task. Sex differences on CV measures matched patterns generally reported: Men had higher SBP and lower HR than women. All CV measures increased significantly and substantially during the speech task. HR was higher in the Disagree and Neutral conditions than in the Agree condition. SBP and DBP did not differ by condition. There were no sex by condition interactions; however, there was a trend towards men’s HR increasing more in the neutral condition and women’ more in the disagree condition. These data partially support earlier findings in similar experiments while suggesting that subtleties of context, task selection, and content of supportive interaction may have significant impact on the degree to which social support attenuates CV response to social stressors. Unanswered questions for future research are delineated, and implications for designing and implementing interventions that enhance social support are discussed.

Issued also as Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University. / Bibliography: p. 43.

Social support has been associated with reduced mortality and morbidity from a number of causes. To assess possible mechanisms of action relating to cardiovascular (CV) responsiveness, 90 male and female university students delivered a five-minute speech on a controversial topic to a same-sex laboratory confederate. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three conditions in which the confederate either (a) agreed with the subject, (b) remained impassive (neutral), or (c) disagreed with the subject. Blood pressure (SBP and DBP) and heart rate (HR.) were monitored throughout the experiment. Self-report measures of state self-esteem and affective state were taken pre- and post-task, and reactions to the task were assessed with post-task self-report measures. Subjects reported strong differences in supportiveness of the confederate in the three conditions. Self-report data indicated increase in arousal during the speech (a finding synchronous with CV data), and they reported the Disagree condition to be less pleasant than the Agree condition. CV data were analyzed as a 2 x 3 (sex by experimental condition) repeated measures ANOVA assessing changes from baseline to speech task. Sex differences on CV measures matched patterns generally reported: Men had higher SBP and lower HR than women. All CV measures increased significantly and substantially during the speech task. HR was higher in the Disagree and Neutral conditions than in the Agree condition. SBP and DBP did not differ by condition. There were no sex by condition interactions; however, there was a trend towards men’s HR increasing more in the neutral condition and women’ more in the disagree condition. These data partially support earlier findings in similar experiments while suggesting that subtleties of context, task selection, and content of supportive interaction may have significant impact on the degree to which social support attenuates CV response to social stressors. Unanswered questions for future research are delineated, and implications for designing and implementing interventions that enhance social support are discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

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Vasopressin, or antidiurectic hormone, has long been known to have peripheral antidiuretic and vasoconstrictor properties. However, more recently a body of research has shown that vasopressin (AVP) affects central nervous system functions by to influencing memory processes. In light of the growing evidence for the role of vasopressin (AVP) in memory, my dissertation research was designed to test the hypothesis that AVP acts as a neuromodulator in the CNS. To test this hypothesis criteria used to establish neurotransmitter status was applied to AVP. Thus, a series of experiments were carried out to investigate (1) AVP brain levels; (2) release of AVP in the CNS; (3) existence of specific AVP binding sites in brain and finally, (4) existence of AVP metabolite peptide, AVP (4-9), binding sites in brain. Results of these experiments indicate that AVP meets some of the criteria for neuromodulator status in the CNS. The detection of AVP in brain, elucidation of the modulatory influence of a CNS depressant upon the content and release of AVP in brain, demonstration and characterization of the regional distribution for putative AVP receptors in brain along with binding sites for a metabolite peptide of AVP, all suggest that AVP acts through receptors within the CNS to influence memory processes.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the possible role of facial musculature movement in the subjective experience of emotion. Nineteen nondemented, nondepressed patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 19 demographically matched control subjects were asked to rate valence and arousal dimensions after viewing emotionally laden slides. The patients with Parkinson's disease viewed one set of slides at their peak levodopa dose and one set of slides after at least a 12 hour abstention from their levodopa medication. Normal control subjects underwent two similar testing sessions, although no drug was administered. Mean valence and mean arousal ratings of slides within groups were determined. During the viewing of the slides, bilateral facial electromyographic activity in the zygomatic and corrugator muscle regions was recorded. EMG change scores relative to individual slide presentation were determined. Comparisons were made between and within groups of the mean valence, arousal, and EMG change scores relative to the slide valence type (i.e., positive, neutral, or negative slide content) and on/off drug condition. Results suggest that a subgroup of Parkinson's Disease patients experience similar emotional valence and arousal, to that of normal controls, when confronted with emotional visual stimuli. However, they display significantly less facial muscular movement in the zygomatic muscle region and somewhat less facial muscular movement in the corrugator region than the normal controls. Implications of these results are discussed relative to the James-Lange theory that posits emotional experience to be dependent upon a peripheral "feedback" system versus the Cannon-Bard theory that posits emotion to be mediated centrally. Although the present results lend support to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, future research is necessary to determine the role of the skin of the face (with blood and temperature components), rather than the facial musculature per se, in the subjective experience of emotion. It may be that the skin of the face and the sound of one's own voice (among other factors) play important roles in the subjective experience of emotion as posited by S. S. Tomkins. If so, a modified peripheral mediation theory of emotion would be supported.

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