Palmar Sweat Index Research Articles

PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES IN COLLEGIATE POLE VAULTERS, AN INVESTIGATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL, BIOMECHANICAL, AND PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES 1243

The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychological, biomechanical, and physiological differences in collegiate pole vaulters during competition. Four healthy male subjects were recruited from the Southern Connecticut State University Track and Field Team to participate in the study. Subjects were measured during four separate meets on ten different variables: a) self-efficacy; b) state-trait anxiety; c) velocity of take-off; d) angle of take-off; e) number of attempts at height, f) jump number; g) successful and non-successful vaults; h) palmar sweat index; i) heart rate; and j) vault height. Two linear and two stepwise discriminant analyses of variance were performed to determine statistical significance. The results indicated that angle of take-off and vault height influenced successful and non-successful attempts. Self-efficacy, heart rate, jump number, state-trait anxiety, attempt number and angle of take-off were significant in determining height groups.

Changes in the number of active sweat glands (palmar sweat index, PSI) during a distressing film

Changes of the number of active palmar sweat glands (palmar sweat index, PSI) as assessed by the plastic finger-print method were studied in two groups of female students ( n = 21 each). In both samples experiments involved an initial adaptation period, several relaxation phases and an activation period (presentation of a movie). The film was shown 10 min earlier in Group 1, for which in turn follow-up was twice as long. Prints for determination of PSI were taken every 2.5 min from the forefinger and ring finger of the left hand, and recordings of SCL, SF (number of spontaneous fluctuations) and HR were made during the corresponding intervals. Both within-and between-groups comparisons showed an increase of PSI during the activation period and a decrease afterwards. Similar effects were observed for SCL, SF and affective and somatic arousal assessed by a state questionnaire. A decrease of PSI and parameters of electrodermal activity during the first measurements indicated an initial reaction to the assessment procedure itself. Both within-subject and between-subjects correlations between PSI from both fingers showed high parallel test reliabilities, while correlations with electrodermal variables indicated a common physiological basis.

The relationship of sweat gland count to electrodermal activity.

This study assessed whether greater skin conductance activity at the distal versus medial site (Scerbo, Freedman, Raine, Dawson, & Venables, 1992) is attributable to a greater number of active (open) sweat glands at the distal site. The number of sweat glands was measured using the Palmar Sweat Index (PSI). Twenty-four subjects were exposed to 10 auditory stimuli. Electrodes were placed on the fore and middle fingers of each hand, using distal sites on one hand and medial sites on the other. The PSI was measured at the medial and distal phalanges adjacent to the electrode placement sites. The distal site contained more open and total sweat glands. Open gland count had the strongest correlations with skin conductance. Multivariate analyses of covariance revealed that site effects for nonspecific and orienting response frequency and trials to habituation were associated with site differences in open glands. Skin conductance measures and the PSI reveal greater electrodermal activity at the distal site. In addition, the number of open glands may be a useful measure related to electrodermal response frequency when polygraph measurement is unavailable.

The number of active palmar sweat glands (palmar sweat index, PSI) as an activation measure in field studies

The number of active sweat glands within a defined area of a fingertip, called the palmar sweat index (PSI), can be easily determined by means of the plastic fingerprint method. Two experiments were carried out to demonstrate the applicability of this technique in field research and to investigate the properties of the PSI as an activation parameter. In Experiment 1 (in a blood donors’ ward), PSI rose significantly during venous puncture and dropped after the cannula had been installed. In Experiment 2 (in a dental office), PSI values increased when patients were seated in the dental chair and rose to a higher level at the dentist’s entry. Values after treatment were significantly lower. In both experiments, it was observed that the initial assessments yielded higher PSI values. This is best explained as a reaction to the assessment procedure itself, and it is recommended that the first two prints not be used for the determination of baseline values.

Individual differences in the perception of bodily sensations: The role of trait anxiety and coping style

Thirty young women participated in an experiment in which heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, skin conductance level and palmar sweat index were monitored at rest and during the administration of mental arithmetic, mirror drawing and cold pressor tasks. The accuracy of perception of somatic states was estimated by calculating within-subject correlations between four bodily sensations (racing heart, high blood pressure, shortness of breath and sweaty hands) and corresponding physiological parameters, assessed on eight occasions during the experiment. The accuracy of heart rate perception was highest, with a mean correlation between actual heart rate and ratings of racing heart of 0.76 and 66% of participants showing significant within-subject effects. The mean accuracy was 0.55 for systolic blood pressure, 0.48 for respiration rate, 0.47 for skin conductance level, and 0.64 for palmar sweat index. Accurate perception across physiological parameters did not cluster within individuals, and was not dependent on the range either of physiological changes or sensation ratings. Trait anxiety was not significantly associated with accuracy of somatic perception. Subjects with high trait anxiety reported larger increases in shortness of breath during tasks than did low anxious subjects, but this was not reflected in objective physiological measures. Information-seeking coping style, indexed by the monitoring scale of the Miller Behavioral Style Scale, was related to the accuracy of perception of skin conductance level and heart rate. The use of within-subject correlational strategies for assessing individual differences in perception of bodily states is discussed.

Changes in the palmar sweat index during mental arithmetic

This study investigated the influence of activation on the number of active sweat glands (palmar sweat index, PSI), as assessed by the plastic impression method. Subjects were 50 male students, assigned to two groups. The experiment involved 5 phases: an initial adaptation for 6 min in both groups (Phase I), 3 relaxation periods for 10 min (Phases II, IV and V in Group 1, Phases II, III and V in Group 2), and 10 min of mental arithmetic (Phase III in Group 1, Phase IV in Group 2). Prints were taken every 2.5 min from the left middle and forefinger, and skin conductance level (SCL), number of spontaneous fluctuations (SF) and heart rate (HR) were recorded for the corresponding intervals. PSI rose significantly during activation conditions and decreased afterwards. Accordingly, during Phase III values were higher in Group 1, whereas during Phase IV they were higher in Group 2. Decrease of PSI during the first measurements indicated that subjects probably react to the assessment procedure itself and that interpretable baseline values can only be obtained after several initial assessments. Correlations between PSI and electrodermal variables proved to be high within subjects, whereas correlations across subjects were lower.

Interpreting palmar sweat prints

The plastic impression method to assess the number of active palmar sweat glands (PSI) was used to study changes of sweat gland activity during several phases of dental treatment. Subjects were 64 female and 38 male patients at a dental surgery. At the beginning they scaled five typical dental situations in terms of perceived threat: waiting-room before treatment; sitting down in the dental chair; dentist enters and starts treatment; after treatment in the dental chair; and back in waiting-room after treatment. Four prints were taken in the waiting-room before treatment and one in each other situation described above. The average of prints 3 and 4 was used for phase comparisons. Palmar sweat index values were generally in accordance with the threat of the situations. In particular there was a rise from waiting-room to sitting down in the dental chair and a further increase at the dentist's entry, whereafter values dropped considerably. A significant decrease from the first two waiting-room values to the following two suggests that the PSI reacts sensitively to the novelty of the assessment procedure itself and that the very first recordings should hence not be taken into evaluation.

Palmar sweat index use with children in pain research.

This article addresses (a) historical support of the palmar sweat index as an indication of pain; (b) the utility and appropriateness of this measure as used with children; (c) specific patterns and relationships of palmar sweat to the pain experience; and (d) developmental issues relevant to children. Areas of needed research are discussed.

A Comparison of the Anxiety-Reducing Potential of Two Techniques of Bathing

This study compared the effects of the towel bath and the conventional bed bath on patient anxiety. The sample of 105 patients were divided into two groups--those who would be having invasive procedures and those with unrelieved pain. Anxiety was measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Palmar Sweat Index (PSI), and the Behavioral Cues Index (BCI). The scores from the STAI A-State subscale supported the hypothesis that the towel bath resulted in a significant decrease in anxiety for the sample as a whole and for the invasive procedure subsample. The hypothesis was rejected for the unrelieved pain subsample. Scores from the Palmar Sweat Index and the Behavioral Cues Index did not support any of the hypotheses. Based on the findings of this study, bathing is recommended for its anxiety-reducing effects.

Comparison of Three Measures of Pre-Competition Arousal

Arousal was assessed at a practice session and immediately prior to a competitive volleyball match using three measures, the sudorimeter and Palmar Sweat Index measures of palmar sweating and a state-anxiety inventory. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant increase in arousal from practice to pre-competition All three measures for 18 women increased, but low intercorrelations suggested idiosyncratic patterns of arousal.

Social facilitation

Video-recording procedures have been used in previous research as a motivational manipulation. The present study investigated the permanent recording o f behavior as a manipulation o f evaluation apprehension and its effects upon behavioral performance and upon autonomic arousal. Twenty-four subjects (12 males, 12 females) were randomly assigned to one o f four conditions formed by completely crossing two levels o f audience status (peer or authority) with two levels o f behavioral record (nonpermanent or permanent). Another 24 subjects were assigned to an external control group to the 2 X 2 design. Subjects'performance on a hidden-word task and their arousal level (as assessed by the Palmar Sweat Index) were measured. Analyses o f variance results showed a significant performance (p<.05) and a significant arousal (p<.05) difference between the behavioral record conditions as predicted. The control group was also found to be significantly (p < .05) different f rom the experimental groups on the behavioral performance measure. The results were related to previous research findings and interpreted within the context o f the evaluation apprehension notion presented within social facilitation research.

The Palmar Sweat Index as a function of repression–sensitization and fear of dentistry.

The Palmar Sweat Index as a function of repression–sensitization and fear of dentistry.

Reduction of anxiety in children facing hospitalization and surgery by use of filmed modeling.

Sixty children about to undergo elective surgery for hernias, tonsillectomies, or urinary-genit al tract difficulties were shown on hospital admission either a relevant peer modeling film of a child being hospitalized and receiving surgery or an unrelated control film. Both groups received extensive preparation by the hospital staff. State measures of anxiety, including self-report, behavioral observation, and Palmar Sweat Index, revealed a significant reduction of preoperative (night before) and postoperative (3-4 week postsurgery examination) fear arousal in the experimental as compared to the control film group. The parents reported a significant posthospital increment in the frequency of behavior problems in the children who had not seen the modeling film. Trait measures of anxiety did not reflect the group differences due to the hospital experience. The literature on hospitalized children suggests that there is a consensus that all children need some kind of psychological preparation for the hospital experience, particularly when accompanied by surgery. The need for such preparation is predicted on the belief that hospitalization and surgery are stressful and anxiety-producing experiences that can lead to transient or long-term psychological disturbances in most children. A number of behavior problems have been observed in children who have been hospitalized for surgery (Chapman, Loeb, & Gibbons, 19S6; Gellert, 19S8) with estimates for the incidence of these problems ranging from 10% to 35% (Jessner, Blom, & Waldfogel, 1952; Prugh, Staub, Sands, Kirschbaum, & Lenihan, 1953; Schaffer & Callender, 1959). Cassell (1965) reported slight psychological upset in as many as 92% of the hospitalized children studied.

A palmar sweat measure of the effect of drugs on stuttering behavior

The question is asked why drugs designed to affect physiological responses associated with anxiety do not affect stuttering if the antecedent of stuttering is anxiety? Sixteen stutterers and sixteen matched controls each participated in four conditions which were twenty-four hours apart. There were two experimental conditions where the subject received medication prior to participation. One drug was nembutal and the other benzedrine. There were also two control conditions; one in which the subject received a sugar pill and the other where he received nothing. Three simultaneous measures were made of Palmar Sweat Index (PSI), number of non-fluencies, and reading rate. The order of participation among the conditions was counterbalanced. As a main effect the study indicated that drugs do not affect stuttering. However the interaction of drugs with the order in which drugs were administered was significant. Subjects who received nembutal as the first condition stuttered more on all four conditions than those subjects who received nembutal last. Benzedrine had little effect on stuttering. It was concluded that nembutal causes a release of stuttering and stuttering, once released, gets conditioned to the situation and continues at a high level. Theoretical explanation for such findings is presented.

An attempt to relate test anxiety and Palmar Sweat Index

Forty-seven female Ss completed the Mandler-Sarason Test Anxiety Scale (MSTAS), a rating of apprehension in an experimental situation, and were administered the Palmar Sweat Index (PSI), in the experimental situation. Self-ratings of apprehension and MSTAS were significantly correlated, but neither of these were found to correlate with PSI. Items from MSTAS asking about sweating also were not correlated with PSL Results were discussed in terms of the criticisms of previous attempts at relating verbal and nonverbal indices of anxiety.

Effects of stress, communication relevance, and birth order on opinion change

Subjects under high or low fear were presented with a communication: those under high fear showed significantly greater change on topics both relevant and irrelevant to the source of fear. There was a nonsignificant tendency for first-born Ss to show more change. Fear manipulation was confirmed by two stress measures, Mood Adjective Check List and Palmar Sweat Index.

Hormonal control of the reaction of the palmar sweat index to emotional stress

Chronic stress is often associated with a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which can greatly increase risk for a number of stress-related diseases, including neuropsychiatric disorders. Despite a striking sex-bias in the prevalence of many of these disorders, few preclinical studies have examined female subjects. Hence, the present study aimed to explore the effects of chronic stress on the basal and acute stress-induced activity of the HPA axis in the female C57BL/6 mouse. We used a chronic variable stress (CVS) paradigm in these studies, which successfully induces physiological and behavioral changes that are similar to those reported for some patients with mood disorders. Using this model, we found pronounced, time-dependent effects of chronic stress on the HPA axis. CVS-treated females exhibited adrenal hypertrophy, yet their pattern of glucocorticoid secretion in the morning resembled that of controls. CVS-treated and control females had similar morning basal corticosterone (CORT) levels, which were both significantly elevated following a restraint stressor. Although morning basal gene expression of the key HPA-controlling neuropeptides corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) was unaltered within the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) by CVS, CVS altered the PVN OT and AVP mRNA responses to acute restraint. In control females, acute stress decreased AVP, but not OT mRNA; whereas, in CVS females, it decreased OT, but not, AVP mRNA. Unlike the morning pattern of HPA activity, in the evening, CVS-treated females showed increased basal CORT with hypoactive responses of CORT and PVN c-Fos immunoreactivity to restraint stress. Furthermore, CVS elevated evening PVN CRH and OT mRNAs in the PVN, but it did not influence anxiety- or depressive-like behavior after a light/dark box or tail suspension test. Taken together, these findings indicate that CVS is an effective model for HPA axis dysregulation in the female mouse and may be relevant for stress-related diseases.

A STUDY OF VARIOUS INDICES OF ADRENOCORTICAL ACTIVITY DURING 23 DAYS AT HIGH ALTITUDE

SUMMARY 1. Four men and three women ascended by télépherique and helicopter from 1000 to 4333 m. where they remained for 23 days. 2. Measurements of urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroids, 17-oxosteroids, pregnanediol and pregnanetriol and circulating eosinophils were made at sea level and at high altitude. 3. An attempt was also made to measure changes in emotional activity by means of the palmar sweat index (PSI). This index was assessed at intervals throughout the day at sea level and at high altitude, and in response to adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and a self-imposed stress. 4. Within 24 hr. of acute exposure to high altitude urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroids increased whilst circulating eosinophils decreased; by the 5th day both were returning to sea-level values. The output of 17-oxosteroids was lower by the 5th day at high altitude and subsequently increased; pregnanediol and pregnanetriol levels remained unchanged. 5. PSIs throughout the day become progressively lower as the length of stay at altitude increased. The response to ACTH at sea level and high altitude appeared to be similar but the response to a self-imposed stress was longer in duration at high altitude than at sea level.

Central effect of epinephrine and norepinephrine on the palmar sweat index.

An investigation is reported into the effect and site of action of systemically administered epinephrine and norepinephrine on numbers of active sweat glands in an area 4 mm sq over the central whorl of a middle finger pad (palmar sweat index). Both epinephrine and norepinephrine depressed the index. Although 20 mg phenoxybenzamine, an adrenergic blocking agent, had no effect itself on the index, it prevented the decrease which follows administration of epinephrine; this was probably due to a central effect, as experiments designed to eliminate local effects of the hormones on either the sweat glands themselves or their blood supply suggested that depression of the index was mediated through central nervous mechanisms.

Investigation of the Palmar Sweat Count of Young Male Subjects under Normal Conditions

The number of active sweat glands in 4 mm. sq. of the pad of the right middle finger was assessed daily under standardized conditions in 20 men, age 18 to 31, for a period of 7–28 days. The indication appeared of two basically different groups, differentiated by the variance of their daily counts: a regular group with a low variance and an irregular group with a very high variance. To support this finding a second similar investigation was undertaken later on 12 of the men, 6 from each group. Statistical confirmation of homogeneity for the regular sweating group was obtained, that for the irregular group, however, was not completely established as a result of an anomalous change of variance in one of the 6 subjects selected in the limited sample. Nevertheless, at this stage it seems reasonable to accept the division into two homogeneous consistent groups especially as the difference between the means for each was highly significant. As palmar sweating is controlled by central autonomic activity and reflects emotional change it was suggested that the two groupings might be associated with other basic physiological and psychological properties. Basic levels of the palmar sweat index were found to be significantly different between individuals but were found to alter unpredictably with the passage of time.