Yo Miyata

Validity of the Japanese version of the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire.

The Morningness-Eveningness (ME) scores and body temperature readings were collected from 25 students to assess the validity of Japanese version of Horne-Östbergs ME questionnaire. Significant differences between morning and evening types were found for acrophase (peak time) of body temperature, and ME score was significantly correlated with peak time of body temperature. These results suggest that the Japanese version of the questionnaire was valid.

DIFFERENCES IN THE TIME OR FREQUENCY OF MEALS, ALCOHOL AND CAFFEINE INGESTION, AND SMOKING FOUND BETWEEN 'MORNING' AND 'EVENING' TYPES

The present study investigated some differences between ‘morning’ and ‘evening’ types in life habits, particularly concerning meals, ingestion of caffeine and alcohol, and smoking. The Life Habits Inventory and the Japanese version of Home and Östberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire were administered to approximately 1500 students, and data on life habits of the morning types were compared with those of the evening types. Significant differences between these types were found in frequency of night meals, smoking, and ingestion of caffeine and alcohol. Although significant differences were not found for mealtimes, 34.8% of the evening types typically did not eat breakfast. These differences were discussed from viewpoint of chronopharmacology and personality.

Development of the polygraph technique in Japan for detection of deception

Abstract This article reviews the current use of polygraphy in Japan for psychophysiological detection of deception. The administrative policy for polygraphy by the criminal law enforcement agency prescribes the application of this technique only for specific issues in criminal investigations and judicial proceedings to determine truth and deception by criminal suspects. A formal training for qualified examiners and the use of standardized instruments have made it possible to prove the scientific usefulness of this technique. In all Japanese police agencies, polygraph examinations were performed in more than 5000 cases per year for criminal investigations. The well-controlled polygraph technique increased the accuracy rate to approximately 90% for diagnoses of deception, and the correlation of coefficient for agreement of decisions showed high consistency, thereby providing both reasonable validity and reliability. Thus, the polygraph technique and its results in Japanese judicial proceedings have generally been accepted as being admissible by the court, and the probative value of polygraph results related to a concerned issue of case has been widely recognized.

Sentence verification and event-related brain potentials.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the decision process affected scalp recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs). ERPs were recorded while 10 subjects evaluated the veracity of four types of Japanese sentences; true-affirmative (TA), true-negative (TN), false-affirmative (FA), and false-negative (FN). Each sentence was presented visually, one word at a time in the following order: Subject (S); object (O); and verb (V). This order of words, which is normal in Japanese grammar, allowed the ERP waveforms associated with semantic mismatch between the S and O occurring in the middle of the sentence to be separated from those elicited by the decision concerning the sentences truth or falsity occurring at the end of the sentence. Semantic mismatch was associated with a negative component (N310) following the O-word. In addition, P3s were elicited by sentence final words. Affirmative sentences elicited larger P3s than did negative sentences, and true sentences elicited earlier P3s than did false sentences. P3s were smaller in amplitude when they followed a mismatch between the S and O words. The result suggested that by using Japanese sentences, it may be possible to examine sentence-level rather than word-level processes.

Comparison of Blinking Behavior during Listening to and Speaking in Japanese and English

Blinking behavior during conversation may be different between conditions in listening and responding to questions because sifting attention from external to internal is possibly associated. The purpose of this study was to compare blinking behavior, duration, heart rates, and mental states during the tasks of listening to and responding to questions in Japanese and English. Participants were 67 (35 men and 32 women) undergraduate students. Blink rate while responding to questions in English did not differ from that while responding to questions in Japanese, but blink rate while listening to questions in English was significantly reduced compared to that while listening to Japanese. While anxiety and uneasiness were increased by the English conversation, blink rate and heart rate were decreased. Blinking behavior may be related to thinking and attention.

COMPARISON OF FRENCH AND JAPANESE INDIVIDUALS WITH REFERENCE TO HOFSTEDE'S CONCEPTS OF INDIVIDUALISM AND MASCULINITY

The purpose was to examine whether Japanese individuals were oriented toward collective and masculine values attributed to cultures by Hofstede by comparing them with those of French individuals. There were 110 French participants (54 men, 56 women) and 128 Japanese participants (41 men, 87 women), selected from undergraduate students, employed workers, housewives, and retirees. Their occupational proportion and their ranges of age were balanced in both countries. Scales for Individualism and Masculinity dealt not only with work-related but also general items for workplace, culture, education, and family. Analyses generally showed that the Japanese individuals scored higher on the Masculinity scale and French participants scored higher on the Individualism scale. There was a mean difference between Japanese men and women in how they answered questions about the work-related items concerning Masculinity.

A case report on EEG nocturnal sleep in visually impaired persons aged in their 30s and 50s

To determine the EEG sleep structure in visually impaired persons, EEG sleep recordings were made over two or three consecutive nights on five subjects in their 30s and 50s in the laboratory or in the Welfare Center for the Blind. Sleep variables were compared to the normative data of sighted persons of comparable ages. The results indicated that the percentages of slow wave sleep in four of the five blind individuals were much less than the values of the normative data, which is in agreement with Krieger and Glick’s results (1971).

EYEBLINKS IN FORMATION OF IMPRESSIONS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of frequency of ones eyeblinks on creating a personal impression. The subjects, 102 males and 127 females, ages 15 to 60 years, rated on a 7-point semantic differential scale a rarely blinking person or a frequently blinking person described on a question-sheet. A factor analysis of the ratings yielded three factors, interpreted as Nervousness, Unfriendliness, and Lack of intelligence. The frequently blinking person was rated as more nervous and less intelligent than the rarely blinking person. Present results provided evidence that frequency of eyeblinks may play an important role on the formation of impressions. Further implications of the findings are discussed.

The effect of sight levels on daily stressors and coping styles

: The structures of daily stressful events of visually impaired people are reported, and the effects of the sight levels of the subjects on these structures are examined. Sixty-nine visually impaired people (22 males, 47 females) were interviewed and divided into three groups according to their sight levels. Subjects provided examples of stressful events for three coping styles (Don’t, Do by others, Do by oneself). Statistical analyses of the data indicated that the sight levels of visually impaired people are related to the structure of stressful events and coping styles.

Distribution of Eyeblink Amplitude Recorded by an Electrode Hookup: Re-Examination

The present experiment was run to re-examine the distributional properties of the eyeblink amplitude elicited by a burst of 110-dB white noise, recorded by an electrode hookup as recommended in our previous report (Yamada, Yamasaki, & Miyata, 1979). 103 volunteers, 54 males and 49 females, were tested. Analysis showed that the amplitudes were distributed normally when a logarithmic transformation was performed but not when the raw scores were used. We conclude that the amplitude of the startle eyeblink reflex has a log-normal distribution property.