State Of Physiological Arousal Research Articles

Connecting brain and body: Transdiagnostic relevance of connective tissue variants to neuropsychiatric symptom expression.

The mind is embodied; thoughts and feelings interact with states of physiological arousal and physical integrity of the body. In this context, there is mounting evidence for an association between psychiatric presentations and the expression variant connective tissue, commonly recognised as joint hypermobility. Joint hypermobility is common, frequently under-recognised, significantly impacts quality of life, and can exist in isolation or as the hallmark of hypermobility spectrum disorders (encompassing joint hypermobility syndrome and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). In this narrative review, we appraise the current evidence linking psychiatric disorders across the lifespan, beginning with the relatively well-established connection with anxiety, to hypermobility. We next consider emerging associations with affective illnesses, eating disorders, alongside less well researched links with personality disorders, substance misuse and psychosis. We then review related findings relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders and stress-sensitive medical conditions. With growing understanding of mind-body interactions, we discuss potential aetiopathogenetic contributions of dysautonomia, aberrant interoceptive processing, immune dysregulation and proprioceptive impairments in the context of psychosocial stressors and genetic predisposition. We examine clinical implications of these evolving findings, calling for increased awareness amongst healthcare professionals of the transdiagnostic nature of hypermobility and related disorders. A role for early screening and detection of hypermobility in those presenting with mental health and somatic symptoms is further highlighted, with a view to facilitate preventative approaches alongside longer-term holistic management strategies. Finally, suggestions are offered for directions of future scientific exploration which may be key to further delineating fundamental mind-body-brain interactions.

Interoceptive cardiac signals selectively enhance fear memories.

Fear is coupled to states of physiological arousal. We tested how learning and memory of threat, specifically conditioned fear, is influenced by interoceptive signals. Forty healthy individuals were exposed to two threat (conditioned stimuli [CS+], paired with electrocutaneous shocks) and two safety (CS-) stimuli, time-locked to either cardiac ventricular systole (when arterial baroreceptors signal cardiovascular arousal to brainstem), or diastole (when these afferent signals are quiescent). Threat learning was indexed objectively using skin conductance responses (SCRs). During acquisition of threat contingencies, cardiac effects dominated: Stimuli (both CS+ and CS-) presented at systole evoked greater SCR responses, relative to stimuli (both CS+ and CS-) presented at diastole. This difference was amplified in more anxious individuals. Learning of conditioned fear was established by the end of the acquisition phase, which was followed by an extinction phase when unpaired CSs were presented at either the same or switched cardiac contingencies. One day later, electrocutaneous shocks triggered the reinstatement of fear responses. Subsequent presentation of stimuli previously encoded at systole evoked higher SCRs. Moreover, only those participants for whom stimuli had the same cardiac-contingency over both acquisition and extinction phases retained conditioned fear memory (i.e., CS+ > CS-). Our findings reveal two important cardiac afferent effects on threat learning and memory: 1) Cardiac signals bias processing toward threat; and 2) cardiac signals are a context for fear memory; altering this context can disrupt the memory. These observations suggest how threat reactivity may be reinforced and maintained by both acute and enduring states of cardiac arousal. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

On the processing of optimal performances: Studying arousal evoked by being correct and fast.

IntroductionResponses are optimal when they are accurate and fast. The present experiment investigated whether optimal responses evoke physiological arousal and whether performance affects the processing and evaluation of subsequent emotional material.MethodsParticipants performed a response‐choice task, where feedback was a colored square reflecting performance quality or a face whose expression (happy or angry) did not indicate any aspect of performance. In the occurrence of an emotional stimulus, participants had to express a judgment about the emotional strength. The experiment focused on differences in the electrodermal and brain electrophysiological activities evoked by optimal (correct‐fast) and suboptimal (correct‐slow) responses, along with modulations on the processing and interpretation of facial emotions.ResultsThe results showed that, compared to correct responses, incorrect responses elicited an augmented phasic skin conductance response (SCR) and enhanced response‐locked event‐related potentials. Importantly, among correct responses, the SCR and the correct‐related negativity (CRN) were larger for correct‐fast than correct‐slow responses. Performance also affected the processing of faces, irrespective of the emotion, but it did not change the subjective interpretation. The EPN evoked by angry and happy faces was less negative after optimal than suboptimal responses.ConclusionThese results indicate that the monitoring system is sensitive to detect correct‐fast responses, resulting in a state of physiological arousal that might guide the reinforcement of optimal performances.

Use of respiratory rates and heart rate variability in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with functional somatic symptoms.

Functional somatic symptoms (FSS) emerge when the stress system is activated in response to physical or emotional stress that is either chronic or especially intense. In such cases, the heightened state of physiological arousal and motor activation can be measured through biological markers. Our team have integrated the use of biological markers of body state - respiratory rate, heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) measurements - as a way of helping families to understand how physical symptoms can signal activation of the body's stress systems. This study measured respiratory rates, HR and HRV in children and adolescents with FSS (and healthy controls) during baseline assessment to determine whether these biological markers were effective at differentiating patients with FSS. The study also implemented a biofeedback intervention during the assessment to determine whether patients with FSS were able to slow their respiratory rates and increase HRV. Patients with FSS had faster respiratory rates, faster HR, and lower HRV, suggesting activation of the autonomic nervous system coupled with activation of the respiratory motor system. Like controls, patients were able to slow their respiratory rates, but in contrast to controls, they were unable to increase their HRV. Our findings suggest that patients with FSS present in a state of physiological activation and struggle to regulate their body state. Patients with FSS are likely to need ongoing training and practice to regulate body state coupled with interventions that target regulatory capacity across multiple systems.

How Do Self-Assessment of Alexithymia and Sensitivity to Bodily Sensations Relate to Alcohol Consumption?

Alexithymia describes an abnormality of emotional experience that is commonly expressed among individuals with addiction and alcohol abuse disorders. Alexithymic individuals are characterized by difficulties in identifying and describing their emotions. This impairment is linked to the development and maintenance of addiction. Moreover, an emergent theory suggests alexithymia is itself secondary to a failure of interoception (sensitivity to internal bodily signals, including physiological arousal states). This study tested for hypothesized contributory roles of alexithymia and dysfunctional interoception in the expression of social drinking. Alexithymia, subjective sensitivity to bodily sensations, and alcohol consumption scores were quantified using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Body Perception Questionnaire, and the Alcohol Use Questionnaire, respectively, in a normative sample (N=600). Regression and bootstrapping mediation analyses were used to test the hypothesis that alexithymia mediated the association between sensitivity to bodily sensations and alcohol consumption. Alexithymia was positively correlated with sensitivity to bodily sensations and with alcohol consumption. Mediation analysis revealed that alexithymia, and more precisely, difficulty in identifying feelings, mediated the relationship between sensitivity to bodily sensations and alcohol consumption, such that the predictive effect of sensitivity to bodily sensations on alcohol intake became nonsignificant when controlling for alexithymia. These results indicate that alexithymia is associated with subjective hypersensitivity to bodily sensations. Moreover, our findings support the theoretical proposal that alexithymia is an expression of impaired processing of bodily sensations including physiological arousal, which underpin the development of maladaptive coping strategies, including alcohol use disorders. Our observations extend a growing literature emphasizing the importance of interoception and alexithymia in addiction, which can inform the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Long-term effects of electrodermal biofeedback training on seizure control in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy: Two case reports

We report data from two patients, followed over 3 years after electrodermal biofeedback treatment. Patients were trained three times each week for four weeks to increase their sympathetic arousal using electrodermal biofeedback. This treatment was directed at enabling the patients to change their psychophysiological state as a countermeasure to prevent seizures. Both patients voluntarily kept a record of seizure frequency over the year preceding the treatment and continued to record their seizures for up to 3 years after the termination of biofeedback treatment. Both patients showed a marked reduction in seizure frequency (54.9% and 59.8%) during the month of biofeedback treatment. This improvement was maintained over the subsequent years. We highlight the therapeutic potential of biofeedback interventions that enable patients to volitionally control their state of physiological arousal in the management of drug-resistant epilepsy.

Using music as a signal for biofeedback

Studies on the potential benefits of conveying biofeedback stimulus using a musical signal have appeared in recent years with the intent of harnessing the strong effects that music listening may have on subjects. While results are encouraging, the fundamental question has yet to be addressed, of how combined music and biofeedback compares to the already established use of either of these elements separately. This experiment, involving young adults (N=24), compared the effectiveness at modulating participants' states of physiological arousal of each of the following conditions: A) listening to pre-recorded music, B) sonification biofeedback of the heart rate, and C) an algorithmically modulated musical feedback signal conveying the subject's heart rate. Our hypothesis was that each of the conditions (A), (B) and (C) would differ from the other two in the extent to which it enables participants to increase and decrease their state of physiological arousal, with (C) being more effective than (B), and both more than (A). Several physiological measures and qualitative responses were recorded and analyzed. Results show that using musical biofeedback allowed participants to modulate their state of physiological arousal at least equally well as sonification biofeedback, and much better than just listening to music, as reflected in their heart rate measurements, controlling for respiration-rate. Our findings indicate that the known effects of music in modulating arousal can therefore be beneficially harnessed when designing a biofeedback protocol.

What the heart forgets: Cardiac timing influences memory for words and is modulated by metacognition and interoceptive sensitivity

Mental functions are influenced by states of physiological arousal. Afferent neural activity from arterial baroreceptors at systole conveys the strength and timing of individual heartbeats to the brain. We presented words under limited attentional resources time-locked to different phases of the cardiac cycle, to test a hypothesis that natural baroreceptor stimulation influences detection and subsequent memory of words. We show memory for words presented around systole was decreased relative to words at diastole. The deleterious memory effect of systole was greater for words detected with low confidence and amplified in individuals with low interoceptive sensitivity, as indexed using a heartbeat counting task. Our observations highlight an important cardiovascular channel through which autonomic arousal impacts a cognitive function, an effect mitigated by metacognition (perceptual confidence) and interoceptive sensitivity.

Caffeine Promotes Global Spatial Processing in Habitual and Non-Habitual Caffeine Consumers

Information processing is generally biased toward global cues, often at the expense of local information. Equivocal extant data suggests that arousal states may accentuate either a local or global processing bias, at least partially dependent on the nature of the manipulation, task, and stimuli. To further differentiate the conditions responsible for such equivocal results we varied caffeine doses to alter physiological arousal states and measured their effect on tasks requiring the retrieval of local versus global spatial knowledge. In a double-blind, repeated-measures design, non-habitual (Experiment 1; N = 36, M = 42.5 ± 28.7 mg/day caffeine) and habitual (Experiment 2; N = 34, M = 579.5 ± 311.5 mg/day caffeine) caffeine consumers completed four test sessions corresponding to each of four caffeine doses (0, 100, 200, 400 mg). During each test session, participants consumed a capsule containing one of the three doses of caffeine or placebo, waited 60 min, and then completed two spatial tasks, one involving memorizing maps and one spatial descriptions. A spatial statement verification task tested local versus global spatial knowledge by differentially probing memory for proximal versus distal landmark relationships. On the map learning task, results indicated that caffeine enhanced memory for distal (i.e., global) compared to proximal (i.e., local) comparisons at 100 (marginal), 200, and 400 mg caffeine in non-habitual consumers, and marginally beginning at 200 mg caffeine in habitual consumers. On the spatial descriptions task, caffeine enhanced memory for distal compared to proximal comparisons beginning at 100 mg in non-habitual but not habitual consumers. We thus provide evidence that caffeine-induced physiological arousal amplifies global spatial processing biases, and these effects are at least partially driven by habitual caffeine consumption.

Effects of Increased Physiological Arousal on Upper Extremity Positional Awareness in Healthy Young Adults

Problem statement: The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of increased physiological arousal on the ability to perceive upper extremity positional awareness in healthy young adults. Approach: Thirty-eight participants were pre- and post-tested for upper extremity positional awareness using a manual kinesthesiometer. Participants in the experimental group underwent a combination of the Stroop color-word task and timed arithmetic problems to produce a state of physiological arousal. Heart rate and blood pressure measurements were taken during data collection to assess levels of physiological arousal. Pre-and post-test absolute error scores for each participant were compared. Results: ANCOVA revealed a significant time effect (p<0.046) between pre and post-test trials for the experimental group. Conclusion: The results suggested positional awareness is altered under a state of elevated physiological arousal and that these results may have significant implications for individuals performing various types of motor skills.

Modulation of Emotional Appraisal by False Physiological Feedback during fMRI

BackgroundJames and Lange proposed that emotions are the perception of physiological reactions. Two-level theories of emotion extend this model to suggest that cognitive interpretations of physiological changes shape self-reported emotions. Correspondingly false physiological feedback of evoked or tonic bodily responses can alter emotional attributions. Moreover, anxiety states are proposed to arise from detection of mismatch between actual and anticipated states of physiological arousal. However, the neural underpinnings of these phenomena previously have not been examined.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe undertook a functional brain imaging (fMRI) experiment to investigate how both primary and second-order levels of physiological (viscerosensory) representation impact on the processing of external emotional cues. 12 participants were scanned while judging face stimuli during both exercise and non-exercise conditions in the context of true and false auditory feedback of tonic heart rate. We observed that the perceived emotional intensity/salience of neutral faces was enhanced by false feedback of increased heart rate. Regional changes in neural activity corresponding to this behavioural interaction were observed within included right anterior insula, bilateral mid insula, and amygdala. In addition, right anterior insula activity was enhanced during by asynchronous relative to synchronous cardiac feedback even with no change in perceived or actual heart rate suggesting this region serves as a comparator to detect physiological mismatches. Finally, BOLD activity within right anterior insula and amygdala predicted the corresponding changes in perceived intensity ratings at both a group and an individual level.Conclusions/SignificanceOur findings identify the neural substrates supporting behavioural effects of false physiological feedback, and highlight mechanisms that underlie subjective anxiety states, including the importance of the right anterior insula in guiding second-order “cognitive” representations of bodily arousal state.

Threat‐Related Acoustical Differences in Alarm Calls by Wild Bonnet Macaques (Macaca radiata) Elicited by Python and Leopard Models

AbstractWild and urban bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) were studied in southern India to record alarm calls during presentations of realistic models of spotted and dark leopards (Panthera pardus) and an Indian python (Python molurus). Recordings of alarm calls were made from members of four forest troops at feeding stations who observed brief and prolonged presentations of fully exposed spotted and dark leopard morphs and partially concealed views of the spotted morph. Four different forest troops were presented a slowly moving python near feeding stations. Two predator‐inexperienced urban troops from the city of Bangalore were presented either the spotted leopard morph briefly or the python. Analyses of alarm calls revealed differences in acoustic structure, such as a lower harmonic to noise ratio, which can be interpreted as reflecting the level of perceived threat rather than predator type. Noisy alarm calls likely indicate high states of physiological arousal that might provide eavesdropping troop members with information useful for assessing the urgency of the predatory threat. Lack of alarm‐call distinctiveness characterizing predator type is complemented by explicit contextual information in which alarm calling to leopards never occurred on the ground whereas nearly all initial python‐elicited alarm calls were made by individuals on the ground monitoring the python. The alarm calls of Bangalore monkeys distinguished the leopard and python models, with the latter engendering the noisiest calls and immediate flight to trees. Such flight is unnecessary with the python and suggests that, without appropriate experience with pythons, bonnet macaques adopt less predator specific refuge‐seeking behavior.

Temperament and Vagal Tone in Boys with Fragile X Syndrome

Physiological hyperarousal, an elevated state of physiological arousal and poor modulation, has been postulated to be a significant source of behavior problems in children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). Temperament has been associated with behavior problems and may also reflect biological reactivity. Young boys with FXS display poorly modulated and low levels of vagal tone (Roberts, Dev Psychobiol 2001;39:107-123) and high activity, poor attention, low adaptability, poor persistence, and low intensity when compared with a reference sample of typically developing (Hatton, Dev Med Child Neurol 1991;41:625-632). In this study, we integrated physiological indices of vagal tone with temperament ratings and compared a sample of 29 young boys with FXS to 31 typically developing boys matched on chronological age and ethnicity. Boys with FXS were more active, less adaptable, and less persistent than the comparison group. Boys with FXS also showed lower baseline levels and less suppression of vagal tone in response to changing task demands. A relationship between baseline vagal tone and persistence was shown across both groups. However, group differences in temperament dimensions did not appear to be mediated or moderated by vagal tone.

Amending the fear-avoidance model of chronci pain: What is the role of physiological arousal?

This paper outlines an amendment to current fear-avoidance models of chronic pain. These models propose that fear and avoidance behavior contribute significantly to the development and maintenance of chronic pain and related functional limitations. Fear is typically expressed in three response domains, including cognitive, behavioral, and physiological. To date, however, fear-avoidance models of chronic pain have focused primarily on the role of the cognitive and behavioral responses to the relative exclusion of the physiological response domain. This paper describes how states of physiological arousal resulting from autonomic nervous sytsem activation (e.g., increased heart rate, increased blood flow to voluntary muscles, decreased blood flow to the gastrointestinal tract and to the skin, decreased motility, decreased cerebral blood flow) may influence fear of pain and avoidance behavior and thereby contribute to the maintenance of chronic pain. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.

Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise and Pilot Performance: Enhanced Functioning Under Search-and-Rescue Flying Conditions

Studies have shown that autonomous mode behavior is one cause of aircraft fatalities due to pilot error. In such cases, the pilot is in a high state of psychological and physiological arousal and tends to focus on one problem, while ignoring more critical information. This study examined the effect of training in physiological self-recognition and regulation, as a means of improving crew cockpit performance. Seventeen pilots were assigned to the treatment and control groups matched for accumulated flight hours. The treatment group contained 4 pilots from HC-130 Hercules aircraft and 4 HH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilots; the control group contained 3 pilots of HC-130s and 6 helicopter pilots. During an initial flight, physiological data were recorded on each crewmember and an instructor pilot rated individual crew performance. Eight crewmembers were then taught to regulate their own physiological response levels using Autogenic-Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE). The remaining participants received no training. During a second flight, treatment participants showed significant improvement in performance (rated by the same instructor pilot as in pretests) while controls did not improve. The results indicate that AFTE management of high states of physiological arousal may improve pilot performance during emergency flying conditions.

Activity, Arousal, and the MSLT in Patients with Insomnia

It has recently been shown that physiological arousal following walking increased sleep latencies during daytime naps as compared to sleep latencies following TV viewing. Patients with insomnia have been shown to have increased physiological arousal and to also have longer MSLT latencies. It was hypothesized that insomnia patients, who are at a higher state of physiological arousal, would be unable to relax while lying in bed and watching TV and therefore would have relatively longer sleep latencies in naps following TV watching (due to inability to relax) as compared to walking. Twelve patients with psychophysiological insomnia took Multiple Sleep Latency Tests after either watching television for 15 minutes or after a 5-minute walk following baseline, sleep deprivation, and recovery sleep conditions. Sleep Laboratory Twelve patients with psychophysiological insomnia Manipulation of state arousal and sleep deprivation Sleep latencies were significantly longer following the walk as compared to watching TV (11.9 vs. 6.9 min. respectively). Sleep latencies were 13.4 and 3.8 min. following baseline and sleep deprivation conditions. Heart period, used as a measure of physiological arousal, was significantly elevated throughout naps following the walk as compared to naps following TV viewing. Heart period was also significantly correlated with nap sleep latency. The insomnia patients in this study had significantly increased arousal, as measured by heart rate, and significantly longer sleep latencies after walking as compared to resting. The magnitude of these changes was similar to that seen in normal subjects in a previous study. These data, in concert with previous work, support the contention that measured sleep tendency is a combination of sleep drive and level of central nervous system arousal, where arousal has both state and trait components.

Physiological arousal and perception of bodily state during parachute jumping.

Heart rate and respiration rate were recorded with a portable data recording system before and during a parachute jump in 36 male sport parachutists with differing degrees of experience. The recordings were analyzed at 12 psychologically relevant points in time along with the subjective ratings of physical arousal. Novice parachutists showed a higher degree of self-rated arousal during jumps. However, the two groups displayed nearly parallel curves for heart and respiration rates, differing significantly from each other only in the level of their respective heart rates. Furthermore, experienced jumpers seem to be better informed about their state of physiological arousal during the jump than are novice jumpers. These results do not confirm the proposed anxiety inhibition process, postulated by Epstein (1967).

A response, by any other …

Frame (noun), an established order, plan or system, (verb), set in or provide with a frame; serve as a frame for; formulate or devise the essentials of (a complex thing, idea, theory, etc.). Framework (noun), an essential supporting structure; a basic system.(The Concise Oxford Dictionary)If the framework through which experience is viewed can be changed, then meaning can be changed and thus also the experiential and behavioural consequences of meaning. (Cade, 1980; p. 90)To the extent that cognitive factors are potent determinants of emotional states, it could be anticipated that precisely the same state of physiological arousal could be labelled joy' or ‘fury’ or ‘jealousy’ or any other of a great diversity of emotional labels depending on the cognitive aspects of the situation. (Schachter and Singer, 1962; p. 381)

BEHAVIOURAL AND CARDIOVASCULAR CHANGES IN CHILDREN MOVING FROM KINDERGARTEN TO PRIMARY SCHOOL

The effect of changing school environment from kindergarten to primary school and of the degree of structure of school tasks was examined in relation to behavioural and cardiovascular (heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure) patterns. Changing school environment was associated with an increase in the duration of stereotyped behaviours. The accompanying psychophysiological variables, which in kindergarten follow the simple motor activity/arousal model, are reversed in primary school where less motor activity is accompanied by higher states of physiological arousal. The results suggest that children develop cardiovascular responses as part of an adjustment to cope with changes in the environment.

The relationship of affiliative arousal to dopamine release

Higher levels of affiliation motivation after exposure to affiliative films are significantly related to higher dopamine concentrations in saliva in one study of 61 college students of both sexes, and in plasma in another study of 47 adults of both sexes. Individuals high in dispositionaln Affiliation, if they also reported high life stress, showed high gains in dopamine concentration in plasma after exposure to an affiliative film significantly more often than other individuals. Since aroused affiliation motivation was not associated with higher concentrations of norepinephrine, epinephrine, or cortisol in either study, it appears likely that dopamine is especially associated with arousal of affiliation motivation, just as norepinephrine has been found to be associated with arousal of power motivation. Thus, different motives may be subserved by different hormones, making it unlikely that all motives lead to the same state of physiological arousal.