Autonomic Perception Questionnaire Research Articles

Heart rate perception and heart rate control.

ABSTRACTTwenty‐one subjects look the Autonomic Perception Questionnaire (APQ) and later were given another test of ability to perceive heart activity. The second test involved subjects' tracking of their own heart rates (HR). They were then tested for ability to increase and decrease HR from their resting baseline levels. No significant relationships were found between HR control and APQ score. HR decrease success seemed to depend mainly on respiration differences between rest and decrease periods. The subjects who achieved high scores on the heart tracking test increased HR significantly better than did low scorers. This heart perception vs HR increase relationship did not depend upon respiration rate, respiration amplitude, or baseline HR differences between high and low scorers on the tracking test. A low correlation between APQ and tracking score seemed to indicate that the two perception tests measured different attributes of the subjects.

Note on relation of autonomic perception to voluntary control of heart rate.

Relationships between subscores of the Autonomic Perception Questionnaire and ability to raise and lower heart rate voluntarily were examined in 40 subjects. Subscores which reflected autonomic awareness in anxiety and pleasure states were not predictive of degree of cardiac control, while the subscore specific to reported awareness of heart functioning during pleasure states only was positively correlated with ability to raise heart rate.

The paradoxical effect of brief CS exposure on analogue phobic subjects

In formulating a theory of anxiety incubation, Eysenck (1968) has cited evidence from infrahuman and human aversive conditioning studies to suggest that nonreinforced CS exposure may, under certain conditions, lead to increases in fear. In several studies, repeated or prolonged exposure to symbolic representations of feared stimuli has been found to elicit unexpected increases in autonomic responses, whether these stimuli were visual (Borkovec and Glasgow, 1973), verbal descriptions (Boulougouris, Marks and Marset, 1971), or self-induced thoughts (Rankin et al., 1964; Bresnitz, 1967). While these studies support the existence of an incubation process, recent studies suggest that duration of CS exposure may be an important variable in producing this effect. Rohrbaugh and Riccio (1970) and Rohrbaugh, Riccio, and Arthur (1972) investigated the effect of varying the temporal parameters of extinction following Pavlovian fear conditioning and conditioned suppression, respectively. In both studies, short duration exposure to the CS subsequent to conditioning resulted in greater fear relative to zero or long exposure conditions. Furthermore, in support of an incubation effect, the latter study found increases in fear over post-conditioning base levels among brief exposure Ss. Miller and Levis (1971) using a procedure analogous to Rohrbaugh and Riccio (1970) obtained similar results with human Ss. Subjects who refused to touch a live snake were assigned either 0. 15, 30 or 45 min exposure to the snake. Consistent with analogue outcome research employing pre-posttest design. all groups showed greater approach scores on posttest. However, the approach of the 15 min exposure group was significantly less than that of the zero exposure group, while the 45 min condition did not differ from zero exposure. Miller and Levis (1971) suggested that the paradoxical enhancement of fear (Rohrbaugh and Riccio, 1970) exhibited by their brief exposure Ss relative to both zero and long exposure Ss was a function of the failure of redintegrated fear-eliciting cues to extinguish. In contrast, Staub (1968) has suggested that the reduced efficacy of brief exposure may be attributed to a failure to complete a cognitive re-evaluation of the probability of adverse consequences. The primary purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend the Miller and Levis study. Analogue phobic Ss were exposed to a snake for 0, 15 or 45 min. To assess whether fear enhancement suggested by Miller and Levis (1971) or fear re-evaluation offered by Staub (1968) might mitigate the paradoxical enhancement phenomenon, Ss in the brief (15 min) exposure condition were divided into three groups. During the 30 min subsequent to 15 min phobic stimulus exposure, Ss in one group were directed to write an essay concerning the most terrifying experience imaginable involving a snake. Ss in a second group were directed to identify and evaluate the logic of assumptions underlying their fear of snakes (similar to Meichenbaum, 1972). Ss in a control condition engaged in activities unrelated to fear or snakes. Of secondary interest was the relationship of subject characteristics to the occurrence of paradoxical enhancement. Eysenck has suggested that incubation is more likely to occur in Ss scoring high on anxiety/emotionality indices. Consequently, snake phobic Ss in each treatment group were divided on the basis of Mandler. Mandler, and Uviller's (1958) Autonomic Perception Questionnaire into high and low perceivers to represent high and low emotionality groups.

Awareness of heart activity and self-control of heart rate.

ABSTRACT Ss, high and low in awareness of heart functioning as determined by scores on the heart functioning items of the Autonomic Perception Questionnaire (APQ), were given 10 trials each on which they were to raise or lower their heart rate (HR) using continuous proportional visual feedback. Low aware Ss successfully raised and lowered their HRs on command whereas high aware Ss were not able to make significant alterations in their HRs.

Some Sex Differences in Personality Correlates of “Autonomic Feedback”

Item and scale personality correlates of somatic sensitivity, as measured by the Autonomic Perception Questionnaire, were investigated. The frequency of items from the CPI-MMPI item pools which differentiated among the APQ groups did not exceed chance levels. Scale correlates of somatic sensitivity were found only for the males (high APQ scores associated with maladjustment) who also scored significantly lower than the females on the APQ. The results were discussed with respect to various hypotheses which might account for this type of sex difference in mean level and differential relationship to psychopathology.