Subjective Self-reports Research Articles

Measuring Emotional Response: Comparing Alternative Approaches to Measurement

Scholarly interest in the role of emotion in accounting for how people react to political figures, events, and messages has escalated over the past two plus decades in political science and psychology. However, research on the validity of the measurement of subjective self-report of emotional responses is rather limited. We introduce here a new measurement approach, a “slider” format and compare it with the long used “radio button” item format. We assess the reliability and validity of these two approaches to the measurement of affect. The study examines self-report measures of emotion to three generated news stories about terrorist threats. We report that both measurement formats are able to extract the expected threefold affect structure from a ten affect word battery. The slider format is, however, modestly more reliable, and more efficient in time to complete, has the ability to limit missing data, and generates continuous data that is less truncated than data derived from the radio button format. Finally, we report on three tests of construct validity. Both approaches exhibit equivalent results on two of those tests. However, the radio button format does poorly on one test of construct validity, that on the anticipated relationship between anxiety and interest in novel information. We present an assessment of two methods for measuring emotional reactions to stimuli such as political issues, political figures, or events. Both methods are suitable for use in online surveys or computer-driven experiments. The traditional method utilizes labeled “radio buttons” that enable a participant in a study to select by clicking on one of an array of typically five response options, ranging from lower to higher of some identified affect term (e.g., how angry one might feel). Second, the slider method offers a participant the ability to move an “arrow” up or down to indicate how much (up) or little (down) they feel. The goal of both measures is to ascertain the level of a targeted emotion, i.e., how little or how much, say anger. The slider method has been specifically developed to be used with participants using a computer. The slider approach falls within the category of visual analog scales. This method for measuring affective responses to stimuli of whatever sort has not hitherto been examined to determine its reliability and validity. The literature on the reliability and validity of these measurement strategies is thin and we found no studies including an explicit comparison.

Abstract 13864: Associations Between the Amount and Intensity of Physical Activity and Major Cardiovascular Events in Patients With Stable Coronary Heart Disease: Results From the STABILITY Trial

Introduction: Secondary preventive guidelines recommend patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) take at least 30 min of moderate or vigorous physical activity (PA) on at least 5 days/week. Hypothesis: Lower levels of PA may be beneficial for cardiovascular (CV) prognosis. Aim: To evaluate associations between self-reported PA, including mild intensity exercise and outcomes in a global cohort of patients with stable CHD. Methods: A lifestyle questionnaire was completed at baseline by 15,486 (97.8%) STABILITY participants. Total PA was estimated from individual subject self-reports of hours spent each week on mild, moderate and vigorous exercise, 2, 4 and 8 METS respectively. Associations between the total amount of PA and MACE (CV mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction or non-fatal stroke), CV and non-CV mortality were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard models adjusting for age, gender, treatment allocation, markers of disease severity and CV risk factors during a median follow-up of 3.7 yrs. Results: For all subjects, a greater proportion of MET.hours was spent taking mild (50.4%) compared to moderate (39.7%) and vigorous (10.0%) PA. The mean (±SD) PA reported for the ‘sedentary’ (t1, n=5281), ‘mildly active’ (t2, n=5055) and ‘moderately active’ (t3, n=5151) tertiles were t1 12.1±7.4, t2 39.6±7.4 and t3 104.3±45.9 MET.hours/week. Compared to ‘sedentary’ subjects the ‘mild’ and ‘moderate’ PA tertiles had a lower risk of MACE HR 0.96 (95% CI 0.85-1.08) and 0.79 (0.70-0.91), p=0.0019, CV death 0.89 (0.75-1.06) and 0.69 (0.57-0.85), p=0.0019, and non-CV death 0.54 (0.41-0.72) and 0.72 (0.55-0.95), p<.0001. See Figure. Conclusions: In patients with stable CHD there is a strong inverse association between self-reported PA and MACE, CV mortality and non-CV mortality. Even modest amounts of mild intensity exercise are associated with lower mortality.

Investigation of engagement of viewers in movie trailers using electroencephalography

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been focused on providing direct communications to the disabled. Recently, BCI researchers have expanded BCI applications to non-medical uses and categorized them as active BCI, reactive BCI, and passive BCI. Neurocinematics, a new application of reactive BCIs, aims to understand viewers’ cognitive and affective responses to movies from neural activity, providing more objective information than traditional subjective self-reports. However, studies on analytical indices for neurocinematics have verified their indices by comparisons with self-reports. To overcome this contradictory issue, we proposed using an independent psychophysical index to evaluate a neural engagement index (NEI). We made use of the secondary task reaction time (STRT), which measures participants’ engagement in a primary task by their reaction time to a secondary task; here, responding to a tactile stimulus was the secondary task and watching a movie trailer was the primary task. NEI was developed as changes in the difference between frontal beta and alpha activity of EEG. We evaluated movie trailers using NEI, STRT, and self-reports and found a significant correlation between STRT and NEI across trailers but no correlation between any of the self-report results and STRT or NEI. Our results suggest that NEI developed for neurocinematics may conform well with more objective psychophysical assessments but not with subjective self-reports.

On the paradoxical decrease of self-reported cognitive failures with age

The science of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HF/E) often relies on self-report. This is a cause for concern because subjective methods are inherently susceptible to bias. Here, we present, examine and discuss a puzzling association between age and self-reported cognitive failures as assessed with Broadbent's Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ). Despite many well-established age-associated forms of cognitive decline, older persons actually report almost equivalent, or even less, cognitive failures on the CFQ than younger persons. Our present analysis indicates that this paradox may be resolved through the fact that people show age-related learning/adaptation/compensation and by the observation that the CFQ measures peoples' beliefs with respect to an individually idiosyncratic reference. Yet, at the heart of the paradox may be the idea that people cannot remember their own cognitive failures, pointing to even greater concerns with all forms of subjective self-report and its use in HF/E.

Reconceptualizing anhedonia: novel perspectives on balancing the pleasure networks in the human brain.

Anhedonia, the lack of pleasure, has been shown to be a critical feature of a range of psychiatric disorders. Yet, it is currently measured primarily through subjective self-reports and as such has been difficult to submit to rigorous scientific analysis. New insights from affective neuroscience hold considerable promise in improving our understanding of anhedonia and for providing useful objective behavioral measures to complement traditional self-report measures, potentially leading to better diagnoses and novel treatments. Here, we review the state-of-the-art of hedonia research and specifically the established mechanisms of wanting, liking, and learning. Based on this framework we propose to conceptualize anhedonia as impairments in some or all of these processes, thereby departing from the longstanding view of anhedonia as solely reduced subjective experience of pleasure. We discuss how deficits in each of the reward components can lead to different expressions, or subtypes, of anhedonia affording novel ways of measurement. Specifically, we review evidence suggesting that patients suffering from depression and schizophrenia show impairments in wanting and learning, while some aspects of conscious liking seem surprisingly intact. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that anhedonia is heterogeneous across psychiatric disorders, depending on which parts of the pleasure networks are most affected. This in turn has implications for diagnosis and treatment of anhedonia.

Body shape dissatisfaction is a ‘normative discontent’ in a young-adult Nigerian population: A study of prevalence and effects on health-related quality of life

This study investigates the prevalence of weight misperception, weight preference, and body shape dissatisfaction (BSD) among young-adult Nigerians and assesses the impact of these factors on population quality-of-life (QOL). Relevant anthropometric data were collected according to internationally accepted protocols. Weight perception, weight preference, and BSD were measured using Stunkard silhouettes, while QOL was determined by subjective self-reporting. The results show that 26.7% of the population (18.8% for males and 34.5% for females) misperceived their weight. Among overweight participants, 56.6% (males) and 38.3% (females) thought they were thinner, while 11.5% (males) and 43.3% (females) thought they were heavier. Thin and obese males misperceived their weights more than their female counterparts. BSD was found in 62% of the population (52% for males and 71% for females) and was highest among obese participants (91.9%) and lowest among normal-weight participants (58.2%), irrespective of sex. In participants with BSD, QOL was worse in thin and normal-weight respondents who preferred to be heavier and in overweight respondents who preferred to be thinner. The high prevalence of weight misperception may lead to inappropriate weight loss habits, while BSD, a normative discontent in this population, negatively impacts subject QOL.

Bed posture classification based on artificial neural network using fuzzy c-means and latent semantic analysis

Observation of physical activities and movement patterns is crucial in clinical practice. Current clinical protocols are based on periodic and subjective observations and self-reports. This paper aims to present an efficient monitoring framework for recognizing lying posture and monitoring on-bed activities to assist charting in order to improve patient safety and caregiving efficacy. From pressure images gathered from a developed sensor pad system, an activity scoring mechanism was applied for segmenting rest and movement periods. The fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm was used to transform the pressure contours and identify regions of interest (ROI) with high pressure for pressure ulcer prevention. Latent semantic analysis (LSA) extracted the significant features from the transformed ROI images in order to develop an artificial neural network model for posture recognition. Several objective evaluations and a case study were performed to investigate performance. Experimental results show that the average posture recognition rate was 95.89% when the pressure distributions were divided into four clusters. FCM with LSA transformation improved the recognition rate and could be used to locate the corresponding risk regions of bony prominences. The prototype system also revealed encouraging potential in the production of continuous and quantitative information for assisted living charting nursing care.

Office lighting and personal light exposures in two seasons: Impact on sleep and mood

Lighting design for office buildings has focused largely on providing sufficient light for visual performance, minimal glare, good colour rendering and energy conservation. Little attention has been given to understanding how light affects the non-visual systems, including circadian regulation that affects sleep and mood. Circadian light–dark and activity–rest patterns of individuals working in a building designed to provide daylight availability in the space were obtained in winter and summer. Measures of objective and subjective sleep and self-reports of mood were also obtained from participants. Results show a significant increase in light exposure during summer. Sleep quantity and quality were also significantly higher in summer than in winter. Strategies to increase circadian light exposures in buildings should be a consideration in architectural design.

Protocol investigating the clinical utility of an objective measure of activity and attention (QbTest) on diagnostic and treatment decision-making in children and young people with ADHD—‘Assessing QbTest Utility in ADHD’ (AQUA): a randomised controlled trial

IntroductionThe National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) state that young people need to have access to the best evidence-based care to improve...

Narcissism and Emotional Contagion

In this research, we investigated the association between narcissism and one central aspect of empathy, susceptibility to emotional contagion (the transfer of emotional states from one person to another). In a laboratory study (N = 101), we detected a negative link between narcissism and emotional contagion in response to experimentally induced positive affect. In an online study (N = 195), narcissism was negatively linked to experimentally induced emotional contagion regardless of valence. These findings indicate that individuals with high narcissism levels are apparently less prone to emotional contagion than individuals lower in narcissism. Hence, narcissists are less likely to “catch the emotions” of others. Furthermore, by comparing experimental assessments of susceptibility to emotional contagion with subjective self-reports, we were able to study self-insight. Across both samples, self-insight was generally low, and individual differences in self-insight were unrelated to narcissism.

A review of mild traumatic brain injury diagnostics: current perspectives, limitations, and emerging technology.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion is a common battlefield and in-garrison injury caused by transmission of mechanical forces to the head. The energy transferred in such events can cause structural and/or functional changes in the brain that manifest as focal neurological, cognitive, or behavioral dysfunction. Current diagnostic criteria for mTBI are highly limited, variable, and based on subjective self-report. The subjective nature of the symptoms, both in quantity and quality, together with their large overlap in other physical and behavioral maladies, limit the clinician's ability to accurately diagnose, treat, and make prognostic decisions after such injuries. These diagnostic challenges are magnified in an operational environment as well. The Department of Defense has invested significant resources into improving the diagnostic tools and accuracy for mTBI. This focus has been to supplement the clinician's examination with technology that is better able to objectify brain dysfunction after mTBI. Through this review, we discuss the current state of three promising technologies--soluble protein biomarkers, advanced neuroimaging, and quantitative electroencephalography--that are of particular interest within military medicine.

Shoulder function following reconstruction with the supraclavicular artery island flap.

The supraclavicular artery island flap (SCAIF) is a pedicled fasciocutaneous flap used for head and neck reconstruction. In recent years, its use has significantly increased as a result of several advantageous characteristics, including pliability, an excellent color and texture match, ability to reconstruct a variety of skin and aerodigestive tract defects, and short harvest times. Clinical experience suggests that donor site complications are relatively infrequent and typically self-limiting, and there have been no documented cases of prolonged or permanent shoulder dysfunction. However, formal studies have not been performed to assess this outcome. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of SCAIF flap harvest on postoperative shoulder strength and flexibility. Prospective cohort pilot study. Data was gathered prospectively during routine follow-up and surveillance. The Penn Shoulder Score and Constant Shoulder Scale were used to measure subjective and objective outcomes. Physical therapists performed testing for strength and flexibility. Ten patients were evaluated from January to July, 2013. Subjective self-reporting of shoulder function and satisfaction was good to excellent in most patients. The majority of patients demonstrated limitations in range of motion for one or more shoulder movements. Muscle strength was preserved postoperatively. Harvest of the SCAIF appears to have limited postoperative morbidity. Postoperative shoulder strength and function appears to be very good; however, some limitation of range of motion was observed. 4

Using a drug-word Stroop task to differentiate recreational from dependent drug use

Distinguishing dependent from recreational drug use can be a surprisingly difficult task, and the current means for identifying substance abuse can be inadequate or even misleading. In subjective self-reports, those who are most at risk may down play their consumption, not admitting to the full extent of their habit, and measures purely of quantity of use rarely capture the true nature of an individual's relationship to the drug, such as a psychological dependence on the substance. This trend is particularly true for heavy stimulant use, which is absent of the physical withdrawal symptoms that can help identify opiate or alcohol dependence. As such, a simple objective measure to help identify substance abuse, particularly in individuals who might not otherwise raise suspicion, would be a valuable tool in both clinical and experimental settings. We propose that the drug-word Stroop task, an objective assessment of attentional bias and distraction to salient drug-related stimuli, would be a valuable tool in helping to make these categorizations. This measure has been shown to correlate with drug craving, as well as to successfully distinguish dependent from recreational stimulant users and to help to predict outcomes in treatment-seeking individuals. Here, we survey prior literature on the drug-word Stroop task and provide a perspective on using the assessment as a potential diagnostic for drug use severity.

On the asymmetric effects of mind-wandering on levels of processing at encoding and retrieval

The behavioral consequences of off-task thought (mind-wandering) on primary-task performance are now well documented across an increasing range of tasks. In the present study, we investigated the consequences of mind-wandering on the encoding of information into memory in the context of a levels-of-processing framework (Craik & Lockhart, 1972). Mind-wandering was assessed via subjective self-reports in response to thought probes that were presented under both semantic (size judgment) and perceptual (case judgment) encoding instructions. Mind-wandering rates during semantic encoding negatively predicted subsequent recognition memory performance, whereas no such relation was observed during perceptual encoding. We discuss the asymmetric effects of mind-wandering on levels of processing in the context of attentional-resource accounts of mind-wandering.

Psychomotor and subjective effects of bilastine, hydroxyzine, and cetirizine, in combination with alcohol: a randomized, double-blind, crossover, and positive-controlled and placebo-controlled Phase I clinical trials.

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of concomitant administration of alcohol and bilastine versus alcohol alone on the central nervous system. Twenty-four healthy young volunteers of both sexes participated in a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, crossover, and positive-controlled and placebo-controlled clinical trials. At 1-week intervals, subjects received six different treatments: (i) placebo; (ii) alcohol 0.8 g/kg alone (ALC); (iii) ALC in combination with: bilastine 20 mg (B20 + A); (iv) bilastine 80 mg (B80 + A); (v) cetirizine 10 mg (CET + A); and (vi) hydroxyzine 25 mg (HYD + A). Psychomotor performance tests (fine motor, finger tapping, nystagmus, critical flicker-fusion frequency, temporal estimation, 'd2' cancellation, and simple reaction time) and subjective self-reports (drunkenness, drowsiness, mental slowness, clumsiness, anger, attentiveness, competence, happiness, hostility, interest, and extroversion) were carried out at baseline and multiple points thereafter. All active treatments induced a significant psychomotor impairment. The greatest and most lasting impairment was observed with HYD + A followed by B80 + A and CET + A. In contrast, objective measures showed less impairment with B20 + A and ALC, both with a similar magnitude. Self-reports showed a subjective perception of performance impairment in all active treatments. Concomitant administration of bilastine (at therapeutic dose) and alcohol does not produce greater central nervous system depressant effects than ACL alone.

Pain Assessment and Treatment Guidelines across Addiction Status

Chronic pain is one of the most widespread and costly complaints facing healthcare today. In developing appropriate care plans for managing chronic pain it is critical to adequately assess risk factors that may alter the course of care. Notably, addiction operates along many of the same pathways as pain and can serve as a moderating factor in caring for those in pain (i.e., considering medications to prescribe for the management of pain in those with an active addiction) or a mediating factor whereby a new addiction develops in the course of managing the pain. This review examines addiction risk assessment tools specifically in the realm of alcohol, opioid use, and tobacco, which can be used in developing chronic pain care plans. Though the importance of assessing risk factors associated with addiction is well recognized, given the implications for the management of chronic pain, the means for adequately utilizing the assessments are limited by a lack of standardization and even barriers in the healthcare setting, such as time with which to perform the assessments. Efforts to develop psychometrically strong risk assessments tailored for use in various healthcare settings that allow for stratification into levels of risk and also employ strategies beyond mere subjective self-report are needed. As pain is such a prevalent experience and is considered a vital sign of health status, appropriate pain management is critical to managing healthcare costs and preventing undue stress on individuals, particularly those with various addictions.

Autonomic "portrait" of different signs emotions subjective experience

Purpose - to identify the specificity in objective autonomic manifestations of different signs emotions of healthy persons in relation to subjective emotional phenomenology. When benchmarking subjective self-reports of experienced emotions and values autonomic in the process of laboratory simulation in 30 subjects negative and positive emotions found that the degree and sign of subjectively evaluated emotional experiences did not always correspond to characteristics of emotion-generating stimulus, and "autonomic portrait" did not associated with the severity and the "sign"of emotional subjective experiences. Students, subjectively experienced vividly expressed strong negative emotions, did not display adequate autonomic activation, but in modeling of positive emotions they retain the negative emotional background and prolonged sympathetic overactivation in cardiovascular functions. In subjects with dominance of positive subjective assessments of their emotional status in modeling of psychological stress and in relaxation minimum shifts to parasympathetic autonomic regulation were observed.

The impact of self-awareness and depression on subjective reports of memory, quality-of-life and satisfaction with life following TBI

Objective: To determine the relationship between self-awareness and depressive symptomatology with self-reports of memory, Quality-of-Life (QoL) and satisfaction with life in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI).Methods: Cross-sectional survey of 30 community dwelling adults, who sustained a TBI at least 1 year prior to study enrolment. Participants completed questionnaires to assess the constructs of depression, self-awareness, QoL, satisfaction with life and memory.Results: Symptoms of depression were significantly associated with self-reports of poor memory abilities, lower QoL and lower satisfaction with life. Additionally, higher levels of self-awareness were associated with lower ratings of QoL and reduced memory abilities and better strategy use regarding memory. However, when examining the contribution of each construct individually, depressive symptomatology, and not self-awareness, was significantly associated with subjective self-reports of memory, QoL and satisfaction with life.Conclusions: This pattern of relationships illustrates that, when a person has a low level of depressive symptoms, his/her reports of QoL, memory and satisfaction with life will be more positive; however, he/she will demonstrate more difficulty with self-awareness. Thus, psychological aspects of recovery must, therefore, be taken into account when using self-reported measures in the evaluation of persons who have sustained TBI.

Psychophysiological Studies in Extreme Environments

This paper reviews the results from two studies that employed the methodology of multiple converging indicators (physiological measures, subjective self-reports and performance metrics) to examine individual differences in the ability of humans to adapt and function in high stress environments. The first study was a joint collaboration between researchers at the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and NASA Ames Research Center. Twenty-four men and women active duty soldiers volunteered as participants. Field tests were conducted in the Command and Control Vehicle (C2V), an enclosed armored vehicle, designed to support both stationary and on-the-move operations. This vehicle contains four computer workstations where crew members are expected to perform command decisions in the field under combat conditions. The study objectives were: 1) to determine the incidence of motion sickness in the C2V relative to interior seat orientation/position, and parked, moving and short-haul test conditions; and 2) to determine the impact of the above conditions on cognitive performance, mood, and physiology. Data collected during field tests included heart rate, respiration rate, skin temperature, and skin conductance, self-reports of mood and symptoms, and cognitive performance metrics that included seven subtests in the DELTA performance test battery. Results showed that during 4-hour operational tests over varied terrain motion sickness symptoms increased; performance degraded by at least 5 percent; and physiological response profiles of individuals were categorized based on good and poor cognitive performance. No differences were observed relative to seating orientation or position.

Physical activity in patients with stable coronary heart disease: an international perspective.

AimsDespite the known benefits of regular exercise, the reasons why many coronary heart disease (CHD) patients engage in little physical activity are not well understood. This study identifies factors associated with low activity levels in individuals with chronic CHD participating in the STABILITY study, a global clinical outcomes trial evaluating the lipoprotein phospholipaseA2 inhibitor darapladib.Methods and resultsPrior to randomization, 15 486 (97.8%) participants from 39 countries completed a lifestyle questionnaire. Total physical activity was estimated from individual subject self-reports of hours spend each week on mild, moderate, and vigorous exercise, corresponding approximately to 2, 4, and 8 METS, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression evaluated clinical and demographic variables for the lowest compared with higher overall exercise levels, and for individuals who decreased rather than maintained or increased activity since diagnosis of CHD. The least active 5280 subjects (34%) reported exercise of ≤24MET.h/week. A total of 7191 subjects (46%) reported less exercise compared with before diagnosis of CHD. The majority of participants were either ‘not limited’ or ‘limited a little’ walking 100 m (84%), climbing one flight of stairs (82%), or walking 1 km/½ mile (68%), and <10% were limited ‘a lot’ by dyspnoea or angina. Variables independently associated with both low physical activity and decreasing exercise after diagnosis of CHD included more co-morbid conditions, poorer general health, fewer years of education, race, and country (P < 0.001 for all).ConclusionIn this international study, low physical activity was only partly explained by cardiovascular symptoms. Potentially modifiable societal and health system factors are important determinants of physical inactivity in patients with chronic CHD.