Evaluation of the functional state of operators with allowance for individual psychological characteristics

This article deals with the features of the evaluation of changes in the functional state during the professional activity of operators. We estimated the dynamics of the functional state and efficiency of operators under the effect of aircraft noise and individual psychophysiological characteristics. We also investigated changes in the functional state of operators depending on their psychological characteristics. It was found that changes in the functional state of the organism in operators with high levels of anxiety, low degrees of extraversion, and high emotional lability were more pronounced in the modeling of operator activity with exposure to aircraft noise, as evidenced by significant changes in psychophysiological parameters. After 60 minutes of noise stress, the latent period of a simple and a complex sensorimotor reaction in introverts increased by 9.1% (p < 0.05) and 8.1% (p < 0.05), respectively. In the group of subjects with high levels of anxiety, there was a decrease in the general state, activity, and mood by 18.9% (p < 0.01), 20.9%, and 14.9% (p < 0.05), respectively, and a decrease in the accuracy of reaction to a moving object by three times (p < 0.05). The latent period of simple sensorimotor reaction in emotionally labile subjects after the exercise was increased by 15% (p < 0.05), and the reaction time on a moving object was increased by 8.9% (p < 0.05) as compared with the group of emotionally stable subjects. Thus, the data suggest that changes in the functional state of operators depends on the level of extraversion, personal anxiety, and emotional lability, and does not depend on the level of behavioral regulation, which must be taken into consideration during the assessment of functional state.     

Effect of intense 24-hour shift work on reliability of operators’ activity

Psychophysiological characteristics of the effect of 24-hour shift work on the psychophysiological indices of an operator??s performance have been considered. It was found that significant fatigue is developed in servicemen working as operators as a result of daily shift-work. A hypothesis has been proposed on several compensatory mechanisms maintaining the working capacity in operators during long-term shift work. Informative psychophysiological characteristics that can be used as reliable indicators of the fatigue level have been distinguished. An integrated index of the reliability of operators?? activity has been developed, allowing the estimation of the performance using a wide range of intensities of the presented signals, as well as obtaining data on the overall possibilities of an operator to process information at the given level of reliability.     

Psychophysiological and Psychosocial Profile of Patients Attending Drug Addiction Centers

Drug treatment centres provide the highest level of rehab services for patients diagnosed with drug addictions. Most inpatient drug rehab programs focus on medical detox and mental health interventions. However, how to optimize the later remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to examine the psychophysiological and psychosocial profile of patients attending drug addiction centres in comparation with the general population. A total of 105 inpatient drug rehab patients and 50 participants from the general population were compared based on standardized psychophysiological and psychosocial measures. Results of this study suggest that patients attending drug addiction centers differ from general population in several different psychophysiological and psychosocial factors. Patients reported significantly lower levels of physical activity and increased sympathetic responsiveness, and significantly higher levels in loneliness, psychologically inflexibility and neuroticism. The results of this study highlight the importance of address healthy lifestyle behaviors such as sport practice and psychological variables such as loneliness, psychological (in)flexibility and neuroticism to improve current programs aim to prevent or reduce problematic drug consumptions.

     

Psychophysiological Performance Characteristics of Gas Production Operators Exposed to Natural Climatic Conditions of an Arid Zone

Systemic examination of gas production operators in the southeastern Kara Kum was carried out to reveal the physiological and psychological indices characteristic of different components of the human performance system and labor quality. It was found, in operators of two psychophysiological types, i.e., sensoricognitive and sensorimotor types, these indices varied seasonally (spring and summer) and depending on the working period during a shift. Adaptive changes were found not only in both physiological functions and psychophysiological performance pattern, but also in personality traits, including introversion and extroversion and the level of neuroticism. The empirical data are interpreted in the context of the ergonomic concept of the human performance system.     

Using Psychophysiological Measures to Examine the Temporal Profile of Verbal Humor Elicitation

Despite its pervasiveness in popular culture, there remains much to be learned about the psychological and physiological processes that underlie our experience of humor. In the present study, we examined the temporal profile of verbal humor elicitation using psychophysiological measures of heart rate (HR) and facial electromyography (EMG). Consistent with recent prior research on cardiovascular changes to perceived humor, we found that HR acceleration was greater for jokes relative to non-jokes, and was positively related to the level of perceived humor elicited by these jokes. In addition, activity recorded from the zygomaticus major muscle that controls smiling was found to be greater for jokes relative to non-jokes. To link these physiological changes to the psychological processes that govern humor comprehension, we took the initial inflection point of the zygomatic EMG response as a marker for the onset of humor comprehension, and used this marker to probe the pattern of cardiovascular activity at this time-point. We estimated the onset of the humor response to occur during the initial HR deceleration phase, and found that jokes relative to non-jokes elicited a decreased HR response at this time-point. This result questions the previously forwarded notion that the psychological “moment of insight” that signals the start of the humor response is always associated with heightened cardiovascular activity. This discrepancy is discussed in relation to possible differences in the cognitive processes required to comprehend different forms of humor. At a broader level, our results also demonstrate the advantages of combining different psychophysiological measures to examine psychological phenomena, and illustrate how one such measure can constrain the interpretation of others.     

Influence of Work Conditions at Polyethylene Film Producing Plants on Certain Psychophysiological Characteristics and the Health of Workers

This study presents the results of a survey of polyethylene film casting machine operators. A complex of professionally important psychophysiological characteristics was analyzed and a risk assessment for basic pathological symptoms was conducted. It was shown that the mental efficiency and health status in polyethylene casters are suppressed in comparison with control subjects having no contact with the chemical substances.     

Specific Characteristics of Healthy Volunteers with Different Reactions to Psychological Stress

The authors studied the psychological, psychophysiological, and biochemical characteristics of healthy volunteers divided into stress-activated and stress-disorganized subjects on the basis of the quantification of operator activity results under conditions of modeled psychological stress. The initial values and dynamics of changes was specific to these groups, which proves the advisability of a comprehensive evaluation of an individual on the basis of the selected signs to predict productivity of operator activity under extreme conditions.     

The concept of typological variability of physiological individuality: III. Psychophysiological characteristics of functional types differing in habitual physical activity

Results of longitudinal studies were used to estimate the psychophysiological characteristics of preschool and young school children and young adults of both sexes belonging to functional types (FTs) with low, medium, and high habitual physical activity (HPA) levels (FT-1, LHPA; FT-2, MHPA, and FT-3, HHPA, respectively). Statistical analysis of the distributions of averaged psychophysiological parameters in the total sample with the use of the χ² and λ tests showed wide quantitative and qualitative ranges of psychophysiological individuality in a healthy population and demonstrated that it is reasonable to distinguish three typological groups (FT-1, FT-2, and FT-3). Typical first- and second-order parameters, as well as the results of third-order tests characterizing the current state, were determined for each FT. Determination of the psychophysiological characteristics of FT-1, FT-2, and FT-3 and their prevailing behavioral tendencies makes it possible to differentiate between strategies of organism-environment interaction and estimate their advantages and disadvantages.     

Effect of intensive 24-hour shift work on reliability of operators' activity

Psychophysiological peculiarities of the effect of 24-hour shift work on psychophysiological indices of an operator's efficiency have been considered. It is found that significant manifestations of the fatigue have been developed in servicemen-operators as a result of daily shift-work. The informative psychophysiological characteristics, which can be used as reliable indicators of fatigue level, have been distinguished. A hypothesis has been proposed on the availability of several compensatory mechanisms in maintenance of the work capacity in operators in long-term shift work. An integral index of the reliability of operators' activity has been developed, allowing to assess the quality of work, using a wide range of intensities of the proposed signals as well as to receive data on the overall possibilities of an operator to process information at the given level of reliability.     

Typology of the nervous system and personality

The paper deals with structural organization of psycho-physiological and psychological characteristics of personality. The following characteristics were estimated: psychomotor, intellectual, creative abilities, features of imagination as well as basic properties of personality: extraversion--introversion, and neuroticism. Using the Q-technique of factor analysis of the 1-st, 2-nd and 3rd orders, the authors singled out three types of psychophysiological and psychological human organization. Each type was given a generalized interpretation. Conclusion is made that these types reflect more generalized processes than factors derived with R-technique of factor analysis.     

Emotion Self-Regulation,Psychophysiological Coherence,and Test Anxiety: Results from an Experiment Using Electrophysiological Measures

This study investigated the effects of a novel, classroom-based emotion self-regulation program (TestEdge) on measures of test anxiety, socioemotional function, test performance, and heart rate variability (HRV) in high school students. The program teaches students how to self-generate a specific psychophysiological state—psychophysiological coherence—which has been shown to improve nervous system function, emotional stability, and cognitive performance. Implemented as part of a larger study investigating the population of tenth grade students in two California high schools (N = 980), the research reported here was conducted as a controlled pre- and post-intervention laboratory experiment, using electrophysiological measures, on a random stratified sample of students from the intervention and control schools (N = 136). The Stroop color-word conflict test was used as the experiment’s stimulus to simulate the stress of taking a high-stakes test, while continuous HRV recordings were gathered. The post-intervention electrophysiological results showed a pattern of improvement across all HRV measures, indicating that students who received the intervention program had learned how to better manage their emotions and to self-activate the psychophysiological coherence state under stressful conditions. Moreover, students with high test anxiety exhibited increased HRV and heart rhythm coherence even during a resting baseline condition (without conscious use of the program’s techniques), suggesting that they had internalized the benefits of the intervention. Consistent with these results, students exhibited reduced test anxiety and reduced negative affect after the intervention. Finally, there is suggestive evidence from a matched-pairs analysis that reduced test anxiety and increased psychophysiological coherence appear to be directly associated with improved test performance—a finding consistent with evidence from the larger study.     

Psychophysiological monitoring under conditions of real and simulated microgravity.

Dynamics of indices characterizing the process of adaptation of operators to complicated conditions of vital activity was studied with psychophysiological monitoring. This technique is based on the complex analysis of subjective and objective estimations of the current psychoemotional state and physiological and biochemical indices. We analyzed the data obtained during the examination of three healthy volunteers, who participated in the HUBES experiment (135-day isolation in the ground-based model of the orbital station "Mir"), and during a biorhythmological study conducted by six Russian cosmonauts of the main expeditions on the station "Mir." It was shown that psychophysiological monitoring is an informative method for studying different parameters of the operator's state and regulatory processes, the dynamics of biological rhythms, and individual characteristics of adaptation. By means of the analysis of a population of the variation in the characteristics of the parameters under study the experimental period of isolation was divided into three stages. The first and third stages were characterized by a relatively high variability, which was minimized at the second stage. The phasic character of the adaptation processes with a phase duration of about 60 days was revealed and a correlation was shown between the dynamics of parameters obtained by means of psychophysiological monitoring and specific features of the system regulation in different phases of the space flight and its simulation. It is suggested that the phases of the minimal variability of the studied characteristics are related to the periods of the minimal reliability of an operator's work. [Translated from Fiziologiya Cheloveka, vol. 25, no. 5, 1999 Sep-Oct, p. 86-91]     

Electrodermal and cardiovascular manifestations of emotions in children

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current state of developmental researches in the area of psychophysiology of emotions in preschool and elementary school children. Electrodermal and cardiovascular activity measures are considered as the sources of indices of the autonomic nervous system activation during emotion-eliciting stimulation in children. We discuss the question of sensitivity of phasic and tonic autonomic measures for the identification of occurrence of emotion, mapping it along with valence and arousal dimensions in affective space, and to further differentiate emotions by their physiological manifestations. Considered are the conceptual and methodological issues related to psychophysiological measurements and developmental factors affecting the emotional reactivity in children. Special attention is devoted to the developmental aspects of psychophysiological studies on emotion such as the maturation of organs, integration of the autonomic and central nervous systems, age and gender-related changes in autonomic reactivity, and development of inhibitory control. Summarized are main findings relevant to psychophysiology of emotions in preschool and early school-age children and suggested are most perspective directions of their integration in the framework of modern theories of emotion.     

Reaction of Cardiac Activity of Senior Pupils of Schools Providing Differentiated Education upon Examination Stress

Effects of examination stress on psychological characteristics and indices of the autonomic nervous system were studied in pupils of the eighth and tenth grades of high schools providing differential (test group, Neuron gymnasium) and general education (control group). General health state and levels of activity and mood (feeling, activity, mood; FAM) and neuroticism (according to Eysenck) were determined in both groups. Main hemodynamic indices (heart rate and blood pressure) were measured, and mathematical analysis of the heart rate by was performed according to Baevskii. Comparative analysis of psychophysiological tests and heart rate changes in the control and test groups points to a high tension in the cardiac rhythm regulation mechanisms and strong anxiety in schoolchildren in the differential education school. The character and depth of preexamination stress depended on the type of autonomic control of cardiac activity. Schoolchildren with sympathicotonic cardiac rhythm regulation showed the strongest emotional tension. Schoolchildren with the normotonic type of regulation were the most calm.     

The psychophysiological cost of intense information load in 5-to 14-year-old children and adolescents

The psychophysiological cost of activity was determined in 5- to 14-year-old children and adolescents (n = 612) by correlating the performance of intense information load with the value of autonomic shifts in the course of the test. It was shown that the psychophysiological cost of information load in the state of functional comfort (self-determined speed) decreased 2.2- to 5.4-fold in the period from 5–6 to 13–14 years of age and the psychophysiological cost of intense intellectual activity with the maximum speed under the conditions of a time deficit (the maximum speed) decreased 1.2- to 4-fold. The greatest changes in the psychophysiological cost of intense intellectual activity were observed at the beginning of regular schooling and during puberty. The data indicate the need for a continuous search for new, efficient, and more physiologically adequate ways of control of the process of training and education taking into consideration the psychophysiological cost of intense academic activity in different periods of ontogeny and ensuring a beneficial effect of educational technologies on the health and development of schoolchildren.     

Problems of Visual Culture in the Light of Modern Investigations of Visual Perception and Visual Thinking

The problem of visual and esthetic training has many facets, among which the psychological are obviously not the least important. The results of long years of studying the psychology of the child (2) lead to the conclusion that:

Human consciousness and the mechanisms of conscious control of human actions represe it a hierarchical system, like a building constructed of many superimposed psychophysiological levels, of many floors rising above one another. Somewhere in the basement are the prepsychological instinctive processes of receiving and using unconditioned reflex signals; the lower floors form the elementary sensations and implement the elementary types of individually discovered sensorimotor coordinations; the next floor is where the synthetic perceptions of space and time are formed along with the mechanisms for controlling locomotion and object manipulation; above them is the floor housing visual thinking and the processes for regulating play and productive activities; and, finally, above all these is the floor of symbolic, abstract, logical operations and the most complex instances of control exerted by the most complex information- seeking and labor activities. It should be emphasized that in its developed form this hierarchical system operates as a single entity, and the control of complex operations requires agreement between the operations of the psychophysiological mechanisms located at all these levels or floors. Each age level in the child's development erects the next floor of the overall psychophysiological building, and our task is mainly to build it in the best possible way, without senseless haste and taking heed not to erect the next floor before the one below is finished. (4)     

Study of the preference of high probability of attaining the goal or its subjective value

The authors used testimonies of students on the dominant motives of joining a higher education institution as the behavioral model that prefers a high probability of the attainment of a goal or its subjective value. They compared the features of the motivation sphere related to the choice of profession with the psychophysiological data of 38 students of a sports higher education institution. The motivation of this choice was determined using a test questionnaire that permitted the authors to measure the subjective value (importance) and accessibility (probability of attainment) of the selected profession. The psychophysiological features were evaluated on two levels, i.e., formal dynamic (temperamental characteristics) and physiological (frequency and amplitude characteristics of EEG). The athlete students’ motivating factor of the choice of profession was shown to form under the influence of individual and typological features, which manifest themselves in psychomotor activity and total ergicity (working capacity), while accessibility experiences a negative influence of the temperamental characteristics in the intellectual sphere, as well as the total ergicity level. The background EEG was more activated in those who chose sports as their profession because of deeming it more valuable. In students who were attracted by the accessibility of this field, a lower cerebral activation level was observed, especially in the frontal zones of the left hemisphere.     

Efficiency of biofeedback training of functional state regulation depending on individual psychophysiological characteristics

The psychophysiological characteristics of the subjects (emotional stability, autonomic lability, tension of autonomic regulation of cardiac activity, and EEG characteristics) were estimated. The efficiency of relaxation regulation training with the use of biofeedback (with the electrocutaneous impedance as a BF signal) was studied. Before and after BF training, an electrophysiological experiment was carried out, namely, a “relaxation test” without BF support. The test consisted of three situations: background, relaxation, and the state after coming out of relaxation. During the test, EEGs of different cortical areas (α bands) and autonomic indices were recorded. A short-term memory test was carried out with the purpose of controlling changes in the functional status. It has been shown that even a short training cycle of five sessions in most cases provided relaxation and improvement in self-regulation, accompanied by improvement of the mnestic activity. The effect of individual psychophysiological characteristics on the success of BF training has been established. A high autonomic lability, a high level of nonspecific cortex activity, as well as a dysfunction of the frontal-thalamic system, should be regarded as factors preventing effective self-regulation training.     

The Functional State of Athletes Addicted to Exercises during Exercise Deprivation

The objective of this study is to identify markers of the addictive condition developing in athletes during exercise deprivation by analyzing electroencephalograms (EEGs), electromyograms (EMGs), skin temperature measurements, sympathetic nervous system activity, levels of anxiety and depression (by psychological tests). A cohort of professional football players (N = 50) voluntarily participated in the study. The athletes were tested under two test conditions: during active training sessions and during exercise deprivation (for seven days). The analyzed results have shown that the functional state of athletes with exercise addiction (due to exercise deprivation), compared with athletes showing no addictive behavior, was characterized by lower brain bioelectric activity (a decrease in the α-rhythm amplitude and power), growth in the muscular tension, increased sympathetic activity, and elevated levels of anxiety and depression. We have concluded that an athlete’s functional state during exercise deprivation is an important predictor for exercise dependence. A prolonged exercise deprivation causes intense psychophysiological changes in the body of athletes inclined to exercise addiction. The obtained results may be useful for experts in the field of sports medicine, as well as for further studies in different types of addictions.     

Investigating the effect of increasing robot group sizes on the human psychophysiological state in the context of human–swarm interaction

We study the psychophysiological state of humans when exposed to robot groups of varying sizes. In our experiments, 24 participants are exposed sequentially to groups of robots made up of 1, 3 and 24 robots. We measure both objective physiological metrics (skin conductance level and heart rate), and subjective self-reported metrics (from a psychological questionnaire). These measures allow us to analyse the psychophysiological state (stress, anxiety, happiness) of our participants. Our results show that the number of robots to which a human is exposed has a significant impact on the psychophysiological state of the human and that higher numbers of robots provoke a stronger response.