Karen S. Quigley

Feeling your body or feeling badly: evidence for the limited validity of the Somatosensory Amplification Scale as an index of somatic sensitivity.

OBJECTIVE The Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS) purports to measure the extent to which individuals are sensitive to their bodies. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the SSAS in two studies with university students. METHODS Participants completed the SSAS, various cross-sectional measures of somatic and psychological distress, longitudinal measures of somatic symptoms, daily hassles and mood, and participated in a heartbeat detection task (Study 2 only). RESULTS The SSAS was correlated with cross-sectional measures of somatic symptom reporting, but not with somatic symptoms reported on a daily basis nor with an index of interoceptive sensitivity. The SSAS was also correlated with several indices of general distress including anxious and depressive symptoms, daily hassles, and negative emotionality. CONCLUSION Taken together, the results suggest that the SSAS is more likely an index of negative emotionality and general distress than a valid measure of somatic sensitivity per se.

Gastric myoelectrical and autonomic cardiac reactivity to laboratory stressors

We evaluated the effects of two laboratory stressors (speech preparation and isometric handgrip) on gastric myoelectrical and autonomic cardiac activity, and the extent to which autonomic responses to these stressors and somatization predict reports of motion sickness during exposure to a rotating optokinetic drum. Both stressors prompted a decrease in preejection period (PEP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and an increase in a dysrhythmic pattern of gastric myoelectrical activity, termed gastric tachyarrhythmia. Stressor-induced decreases in RSA and higher somatization scores predicted increased reports of motion sickness during drum rotation. These results demonstrate that laboratory stressors concurrently affect gastric myoelectrical activity and autonomic control of the heart, and that stressor-induced decreases in RSA and higher levels of somatization predict motion sickness susceptibility.

Parasympathetic control of heart period during early postnatal development in the rat

Basal autonomic control of the heart period (HP) changes considerably during the early postnatal period in the rat. Although studies in the developing animal have examined the ability of the sympathetic branch to decrease HP during physiological challenge, few studies have examined the emerging capabilities of the parasympathetic branch to alter HP during early development. To determine the extent of parasympathetic control of HP in the young rat, we used a modified dive reflex procedure and electrical stimulation of the vagal nerve to examine the range of parasympathetic effects on HP in postnatal day 3-24 rats. Modified dive reflex manipulations produced maximal parasympathetically-mediated HPs that were longer just after birth and at weaning than at intervening ages. Direct vagal nerve stimulation studies revealed significant decreases with age in the HP at maximal vagal activation and in the intrinsic HP. The dynamic range, or difference between minimal and maximal parasympathetic effects on HP was similar across ages when assessed from the results of vagal stimulation. Nerve stimulations also revealed age-independent and relatively linear transfer functions relating parasympathetic stimulation frequency and HP during early life. Therefore, several parameters characterizing parasympathetic control of HP, including the dynamic range and transfer function, remain reasonably stable throughout the early postnatal period in the rat. These data provide a framework delineating the autonomic limits within which cardiac responses operate in the young rat. Knowledge of changes in these limits across time affords a firmer physiological basis for cross-age comparisons of autonomically-mediated cardiac changes.

Autonomic origins of a nonsignal stimulus‐elicited bradycardia and its habituation in humans

The purposes of the present study were to determine the autonomic origins of a bradycardiac response to a moderate intensity nonsignal auditory stimulus and the changes in autonomic cardiac control of this response as a function of habituation. Pure tone stimuli were repeatedly presented to participants while phasic changes in heart period (HP), preejection period (PEP), and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were observed. Tone stimuli initially elicited an increase in HP, an increase in RSA, and a decrease in PEP, suggesting a coactivation of the parasympathetic and sympathetic inputs mediating changes in the bradycardiac HP response. As expected, HP responses habituated with repeated presentations of the tones. PEP and RSA responses, however, demonstrated different habituation rates than HP. These data demonstrate that cardiodeceleratory responses to nonsignal stimuli can arise from changes in activity of both autonomic divisions and document the importance of considering the autonomic origins of habituating cardiac responses in order to fully understand the process of response habituation.

Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology: Inducing and Measuring Emotion and Affect

This chapter describes the use of field research for development of psychological theory. Field research helps identify which phenomena are most psychologically and behaviorally consequential. The chapter focuses on the kinds of theoretical insights afforded by research in field settings. It explains what one means by field research as opposed to laboratory research, and discusses advantages that come from finding and testing ideas in the field. Observational methods can be put to many important uses in field settings. The chapter examines the experimental research in the field that is explicitly designed for the purpose of comparison and causal inference. It explores the range of theoretical goals that can be accomplished with field research. The chapter outlines the strengths and weaknesses of various field research techniques and best practices of each one. It concludes with practical suggestions and reasons for researchers at various stages of experience to engage in field research.