Recent data indicate that the familiarity and the emotional expression of faces occur at an early stage of information processing. The goal of the present study was to determine whether these two aspects interact at the structural encoding stage as reflected by the N170 component of event-related potentials in tasks requiring the subjects either…

Individuals who engage in sexual offenses may be afflicted with a paraphilic disorder or sexual deviation syndrome. Paraphilias are psychiatric disorders characterized by deviant and culturally non-sanctioned sexual fantasies, thoughts, and/or behaviors. A proportion of these individuals may also suffer from symptoms of mental illness that can go…

This study examined associations among academic achievement problems, attention problems, and cortisol levels in 86 children (ages 5 to 12) in St. Vincent, the West Indies. Findings revealed that morning cortisol levels were more elevated at school than at home. Attention problems contributed negatively to academic scores. Children with the most…

The process of relaxation is a complex triarchic phenomenon that incorporates behavioral, cognitive, and physiological components. Existing literature is surveyed in order to determine the efficacy of treating various forms of depression with cognitive-behavioral relaxation strategies. Relaxation training has been shown to be effective in treating…

This study investigates whether variations in method of presentation of anxiety items (experimenter's voice, experimenter's taped voice, subject's taped voice) will result in differences in autonomic arousal (as measured by self-report, galvanic skin response, cardiac rate, blood pressure). Ss were 24 Naval Academy midshipmen. The procedure…

A report is given of research conducted to determine the relationship between the response of the human body to stress and the incidence of physical diseases. Seven areas of the nervous system were tested in the study: cardiovascular, electrodermal, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, piloerectors, pupilomaetric, and respiratory. The results of the…

This is a bibliography of literature on the subject of tension. Books, films, and periodicals with a bearing on stress, relaxation, anxiety, and/or methods of controlling stress are listed from the fields of physiology, psychology, and philosophy. New methods such as transcendental meditation and biofeedback are analyzed briefly and criteria are…

The Personal Health Survey (PHS) is a 200-item inventory designed to sample symptomatology as subjective experiences from the 12 principal domains of organ system and psychophysiological functioning. This study investigates the factorial validity of the empirically constructed scales. (Author)

Preventive treatment is a health model based on the concept that relationships exist between health and social and interpersonal environment, and that using this knowledge (with an understanding of disease etiology and psychophysiological functioning) precursors to illness may be treated even before the stage of actual illness symptoms arises.…

Tests the hypothesis that depressed subjects would exhibit greater psychophysiological arousal than nondepressed subjects following negative feedback but not after positive feedback. (Author/RK)

Reports relationship between asymmetries in frontal-brain electrical activity and individual differences in affective response in 35 ten-month-old females. Stranger-approach, mother-approach, and maternal-separation experiences were presented while an electroencephalogram (EEG) from scalp regions was recorded and facial and other behavioral…

Offers perspectives on the role of extrinsic factors in the aging process, the long-term consequences of extrinsically initiated changes, and implications for gerontological research. Explains the distinction between usual and successful aging in light of physiologic and psychosocial characteristics. (ML)

Although direct behavioral control by the early learning system wanes, the adult learning system seems to be structured at least partially through the lasting influence of infantile experience. Under (hormonal) stress, residues of early experience are reinstated and incorporated into adult memory where they directly control behavior. (Author/LMO)

The relationship between vision and mental functioning was investigated in a study of 295 elderly residents from three levels of care. Visual acuity and mental status were assessed. Findings indicate that there was indeed a relationship between vision and mental status. (Author)