Correlation between the rate of ethanol elimination and the psychophysiological characteristics of rats

Ethanol elimination from the blood of rats with different psychophysiological features was studied using gas chromatographic head-space analysis in the general complex of tests aimed at determination of ethanol consumption. The selection of animals with different levels of the initial alcohol motivation was performed according to modified Porsolt's method. It was shown that the initial level of predisposition to depression-like states is in a dose-dependent correlation with the high rate of ethanol elimination. This is suggested to be one of the genetic indications which promotes the formation of the initial alcohol motivation and the development of experimental alcoholism.     

Changes in the matching of somato-autonomic rhythms in the human operator during learning]

In subjects during the 1st through 15th day of training of the assemble job, before and during the work, the changes of concordance between the heart rate and respiration rhythm were studied in comparison with the dynamics of the activity results and of psychophysiological characteristics. In subjects with bad results of learning higher indices of respiratory-cardiac concordance and tremor were initially observed, what may serve as a criterion for professional selection for this kind of activity. In well learning subjects during transition from rest to work the initial desynchronization of somato-vegetative rhythms ("stress" type of reaction) was changed by an increase of their concordance. The relation of the training success to the type of working capacity of the subject ("morning", "evening") was also revealed.     

Predicting the success of vocational training of operators in the training centers on the basis of psychophysiological and personality criteria

Psychophysiological criteria to predict success of mastering of the profession of operator and to determine a group of professional fitness are described in the work. A system of ranging of psychophysiological indices of operators is developed.     

Changes in the color sensitivity of operators during modelling of different forms of emotional stress

The dynamics is considered of absolute changes of differential color sensibility of operators at modelling of different psychophysiological states with the original method of the work at teletraining in combination with the complex of distracting factors. A possibility is suggested of diagnostics of operator's different psychophysiological states by absolute changes of differential color sensibility.     

Forecast of the Health Status, Working Capacity, and Professional Successes under Arid Zone Conditions

Forecasting data on the human heat resistance, professional successes, and health level under hot arid conditions of Turkmenistan are described. A relationship has been established between the characteristics of the thermoregulation system performance under thermoneutral environments, which is shown by the skin surface temperature, and the organism's capacity to maintain a high level of working capacity on heat exposure. The skin temperature patterns are shown to be informative when analyzing the organism's heat state and forecasting the extent to which the total working capacity decreases in response to the intensive heat effect. On the basis of the findings, we developed the criteria for psychophysiological professional selection of linemen for the work under hot arid zone conditions of Turkmenistan. A comparative analysis of the health status of women employed in industry and of housewives living in the arid zone has been carried out using the automated system for the quantitative estimation of risk of the major pathological syndromes (ASQEPS). Groups with tense adaptation have been detected. Analysis and comparison of the syndrome rating in the test groups make it possible to estimate the effect of natural climatic and industrial conditions on the risk of development of major noninfectious diseases and to formulate recommendations for health maintenance.     

Psychophysiological Characteristics of Nuclear Power Station Operator Activity as a Factor in Accident Rate

Methods of psychological, physiological, and psychophysiological testing were used to assess the intensity of the activity of operators of the power unit control panel of the Khmel'nitskaya nuclear power station. The operators during whose duty serious control errors and preaccident situations were noted were examined. The psychological and psychophysiological characteristics of these operators were shown to differ in that their reactive anxiety was increased and their well-being, activity, and mood scores, as well as the functional reserves of the cardiovascular system and mental and physical working capacity, were decreased. These parameters were considered as criteria in the development of operating measures. It was proposed that not only technological factors but also operators' psychophysiological characteristics in the dynamics of their manifestation be taken into account for elaborating measures of optimal staff selection and placement.     

Features of the personality component of the psycho-physiological potential of different social and professional groups

This study was conducted to develop the concept of population psychophysiological potential of society by revealing the personality traits most universal for the different social and professional groups. Fourteen groups were interviewed with the Kettle’s 16-factor questionnaire, and the results obtained were summarized. Personality qualities such as activity, aptitude for cooperation, aspiration for advances, audacity, independence, and flexibility were found to be the most important for the population potential of society as a whole. Moreover, different social and professional groups were shown to have typical sets of personality properties that dominated in a given population as the components of rather specific psycho-physiological potentials of the groups.     

Applied Psychophysiology: Beyond the Boundaries of Biofeedback (Mending a Wall, a Brief History of Our Field, and Applications to Control of the Muscles and Cardiorespiratory Systems)

The field of applied psychophysiology overlaps a number of others, from behavioral and psychosomatic medicine to Eastern disciplines and complementary medicine. Although the proliferation of societies and professional identities across these fields emphasizes this diversity, it also may hinder growth. The history of our field is one of innovation, often at odds with conventional wisdom and practice. It is important that this innovativeness not be sacrificed in a justified quest for professional respectability. This paper reviews the earliest research in biofeedback and applied psychophysiology, and modern applications and interpretations in the areas of muscular and autonomic control, including progressive relaxation and heart rate variability biofeedback, and draws parallels to disciplines of Yoga, QiGong, and Zen practices and their psychophysiological effects.     

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)     

Psychophysiological indicators for children using mobile phones. Communication 2. Results of four-year monitoring

This study submits the results of a four-year monitoring of a complex diagnostics of the psychophysiological indicators for 196 children aged 7 to 12 years old: 147 of them are child users of mobile communication (test group) and 49 are in the control group. We have identified the following major trends of the psychophysiological indicators for child users of mobile communication: an increased number of phonemic perception disorders, abatement of efficiency, reduced indicators for the arbitrary and semantic memory, an increased fatigue. A steady decline of the parameters from high values to bottom standards has been found.     

Under pressure: response urgency modulates striatal and insula activity during decision-making under risk

When deciding whether to bet in situations that involve potential monetary loss or gain (mixed gambles), a subjective sense of pressure can influence the evaluation of the expected utility associated with each choice option. Here, we explored how gambling decisions, their psychophysiological and neural counterparts are modulated by an induced sense of urgency to respond. Urgency influenced decision times and evoked heart rate responses, interacting with the expected value of each gamble. Using functional MRI, we observed that this interaction was associated with changes in the activity of the striatum, a critical region for both reward and choice selection, and within the insula, a region implicated as the substrate of affective feelings arising from interoceptive signals which influence motivational behavior. Our findings bridge current psychophysiological and neurobiological models of value representation and action-programming, identifying the striatum and insular cortex as the key substrates of decision-making under risk and urgency.     

Emotional Stress in Students during Examinations

The psychoemotional reactions of students caused by examinations were studied on the basis of a modern theory of emotions by means of a complex of modern psychophysiological methods. To study the role of probabilistic forecasting of results in the development of the psychoemotional state, each student was asked to predict his or her mark. Groups were formed based on the difference between the expectations and the actual mark. In general, examination-induced emotional stress in students was characterized by a complex of psychophysiological and autonomic changes depending on the probabilistic estimation of the mark, preparedness for the examination, and the result. The theoretic aspect of the study was related to the development of the concept of emotion genesis. The practical aspect included educational process optimization in order to improve the psychoemotional status of students.     

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.     

Physiological,emotional, and professional adaptation of medical students

Female medical students were examined. The somatic health index (HI) according to Apanasenko and state-trait anxiety according to Spielberger were determined. The professional adaptation was estimated by academic performance (the average marks during a semester). Cluster analysis (the k-mean method) was used to distinguish four classes of students differing in their adaptation profiles: (1) good professional adaptation (academic performance), moderate anxiety, and a high HI; (2) poor academic performance and good psychophysiological adaptation; (3) moderate academic performance, a satisfactory psychological and emotional state, and a low HI; and (4) an academic performance lower than the sample average, high anxiety, and a low HI. Methods for correcting maladaptation based on the data obtained are suggested.     

A Proposed Set of Ethical Practice Guidelines in the Assessment and Treatment of Pelvic Floor Disorders

The treatment of pelvic floor disorders using biofeedback, behavioral therapies, and other applied psychophysiological treatments has been well documented as effective. Practitioners must take due care to ensure that they practice within the boundaries of what is common practice for their discipline and within the scope of practice allowed by their professional license as outlined by the appropriate state licensing law(s), the ethical principles and practice guidelines and standards for their discipline, and those of the Association of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback if using a biofeedback assessment or treatment. Being competent to provide a particular treatment does not necessarily make it legal and/or ethical. This paper provides a set of recommended practice guidelines for use in the assessment and treatment of pelvic floor disorders. Please note that they have not at this time been endorsed as an official position of the Association of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback or any other professional organization.     

Visual perception as an integrated characteristic of the psychophysiological development of six- to eight-year-old children

The psychophysiological structure of subtests included in the Methodology of Estimation of the Degree of Visual Perception Development has been determined, and the usability of this methodology for the integrated assessment of the degree of the psychophysiological development of six- to eight-year-old children has been justified. The role of the degree of visual perception development in the psychophysiological state of children has been demonstrated, with special emphasis on the effect of visual perception on the fulfillment of other psychophysiological functions and the formation of learning difficulties.     

The effects of noise on sleep

Man remains sensitive to acoustic stimuli during sleep but his sensitivity depends on his own biological characteristics, his sleep state, and the type of noise. Some of the measurable effects of noise are immediate while others occur afterwards. The global psychophysiological approach of the effects of noise on sleep appears to be satisfactory, although complex.     

Age-related Features of Circadian Dynamics of Velocity of Reaction to Visual Stimuli in 8- to 14-Year-Old Boys

Studying individual circadian psychophysiological rhythms in children and adolescents, the authors showed that different rhythmological indices, such as fluctuation amplitude, mean level, and rhythm phase, change with age in different manners. Changes in one or more of these indices reflect a complex stagewise process of the formation of functions in human ontogeny. Additionally, a mismatch between individual and social (school load) rhythms may result in desynchronosis.     

Main Factors of a Decrease in Stress Resistance in Six- to Eight-Year-Old Children with Long-Term Consequences of Perinatal CNS Pathology during Transition to School Period of Their Activity

Central disorders that determine a decrease in stress resistance and compensatory-adaptive possibilities of six- to eight-year-old children with remote consequences of a perinatal hypoxic-ischemic CNS injury were comprehensively characterized on the basis of literature data and results of the complex psychophysiological and neurophysiological examination using complementary integral indices. The main factors responsible for constraints of adaptive possibilities of such children at a preschool age and aggravation of the central regulatory disorders during the transition to school period of their life were revealed.     

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.