A psychophysiological approach to fear appeals. Autonomic, subjective and behavioral responses to health promotion messages / Un enfoque psicofisiológico de los mensajes de miedo. Respuestas autónomas, subjetivas y conductuales a los mensajes de promoción de la salud

A study was designed in order to analyze the effects of fear appeals on psychophysiological, subjective and behavioral responses on the target audience. Three messages on breast cancer, promoting regular mammography screening, elaborated in a similar way to those used by health promotion programs, were presented to ninety-eight women aged 49-50. Messages were of equal length, format and structure but varied in specific clues which distinguished their character (Threat, Surprise, and Standard/control). Psychophysiological reactions (heart rate and frequency of non- specific skin conductance responses) were recorded continuously during message exposure. Self-report measures and personality traits (STAI and EPQ-A) were obtained after viewing the stimulus. There were significant responses to the messages for all psychophysiological measures. The pattern of psychophysiological response, independent of the eliciting message, was significantly related to cancer preventive/detection behavior.(AU)

Se diseñó un estudio para analizar los efectos que tienen las apelaciones al miedo sobre las respuestas psicofisiológicas, subjetivas y conductuales en la población diana. Para ello, se presentaron, a 98 mujeres de 49-50 años de edad, tres mensajes sobre el cáncer de mama promoviendo la realización de mamografía regularmente. Los mensajes fueron elaborados de manera similar a los utilizados por los programas de promoción de la salud. Los tres tenían la misma longitud, formato y estructura, pero variaban en determinadas claves que diferenciaban su carácter (Amenaza, Sorpresa y Estándar/control). Durante la exposición a estos mensajes, se registraron, de manera continua, las respuestas psicofisiológicas (frecuencia cardíaca y frecuencia de respuestas electrodérmicas inespecíficas). Después de ver los estímulos, se tomaron medidas de autoinforme y de personalidad (STAI y EPQ-A). Se encontraron respuestas significativas a los mensajes para todas las medidas psicofisiológicas. Independientemente del mensaje presentado, el patrón de respuesta psicofisiológica se relacionó significativamente con la conducta preventiva de detección del cáncer.(AU)

Autonomic, hormonal, and subjective responses to a modified version of the TSST: a pilot study / Respuesta autónoma, hormonal y subjetiva a una versión modificada del TSST: un estudio piloto

The aim of this research was to study autonomic, hormonal, and subjective responses to a modified version of an extensively employed laboratory stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), in a sample of 38 young university students (11 men and 27 women, 11 in the luteal phase and 16 in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle). Heart rate and Electrodermal Activity were recorded during the entire experimental session. The hormonal response was evaluated by means of salivary cortisol levels, and state anxiety was assessed before and after the task. The speech phase of the TSST elicited the highest heart rate and frequency of non-specific responses, showing significant differences compared to the habituation and recovery phases. However, the cortisol and subjective responses to stress were not statistically significant. Men showed higher frequency of non-specific responses and greater skin conductance levels than both groups of women, as well as higher cortisol concentrations, but only in comparison with women in the luteal phase. Our results provide evidence that this modified version of the TSST elicits a different pattern of psychophysiological responses, including a lack of cortisol response to stress.(AU)

El objetivo de esta investigación fue estudiar las respuestas hormonales, autonómicas y afectivas a una versión modificada de un estresor de laboratorio ampliamente utilizado, el denominado Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), en una muestra de treinta y ocho jóvenes universitarios (11 hombres y 27 mujeres, 11 en la fase lútea y 16 mujeres en la fase folicular del ciclo menstrual). La frecuencia cardíaca y la actividad electrodérmica se registraron durante toda la sesión experimental, la respuesta hormonal se evaluó por medio de las concentraciones de cortisol en saliva y la ansiedad-estado se evaluó antes y después de la tarea. La fase de discurso del TSST provocó la frecuencia cardíaca más elevada y la mayor frecuencia de respuestas inespecíficas, mostrando diferencias significativas con las fases de habituación y recuperación. Sin embargo, la respuesta de cortisol y la respuesta afectiva al estrés no fueron significativas. Los hombres mostraron mayor frecuencia de respuestas inespecíficas y mayor nivel de conductancia de la piel que ambos grupos de mujeres y mayor nivel de cortisol pero sólo en comparación con las mujeres en la fase lútea. Nuestros resultados proporcionan evidencia de que esta versión modificada del TSST provocó un patrón diferente de respuestas psicofisiológicas, incluyendo una falta de respuesta de cortisol al estrés.(AU)

Cognitive and personality differences between adolescents with and without attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

BACKGROUND: The relationships between cognitive and personality profile in teenagers with and without ADHD were assessed. METHOD: Two groups of teenagers, one with ADHD (N = 135; mean age = 13.93) and another group without ADHD (N = 199, mean age = 14.29) were evaluated using the K-BIT and 16PF-APQ tests. RESULTS: In cognitive variables, the results revealed that the ADHD group returned higher scores in the Matrices subtest and the IQ test. In personality variables, the group with ADHD exhibited higher scores in Tough-Mindedness and lower scores in Self-Control than the group without the disorder. The canonical correlation analysis applied to each group revealed a differing pattern of interrelationships between the cognitive-personality variables in the two groups. In adolescents with ADHD, we observed that higher scores in cognitive variables were associated with a more extroverted personality and less self-control, while in adolescents without ADHD, higher scores in cognitive variables were associated with less tough-mindedness and lower levels of self-control. CONCLUSIONS: The cognitive and personality variables of adolescents with and without ADHD differ. These results will be useful for establishing a cognitive and personality profile for this section of the population. The educational implications of the study are under discussion.

Anticipated synchronization in human EEG data: Unidirectional causality with negative phase lag.

Understanding the functional connectivity of the brain has become a major goal of neuroscience. In many situations the relative phase difference, together with coherence patterns, has been employed to infer the direction of the information flow. However, it has been recently shown in local field potential data from monkeys the existence of a synchronized regime in which unidirectionally coupled areas can present both positive and negative phase differences. During the counterintuitive regime, called anticipated synchronization (AS), the phase difference does not reflect the causality. Here we investigate coherence and causality at the alpha frequency band (f∼10 Hz) between pairs of electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes in humans during a GO/NO-GO task. We show that human EEG signals can exhibit anticipated synchronization, which is characterized by a unidirectional influence from an electrode A to an electrode B, but the electrode B leads the electrode A in time. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first verification of AS in EEG signals and in the human brain. The usual delayed synchronization (DS) regime is also present between many pairs. DS is characterized by a unidirectional influence from an electrode A to an electrode B and a positive phase difference between A and B which indicates that the electrode A leads the electrode B in time. Moreover we show that EEG signals exhibit diversity in the phase relations: the pairs of electrodes can present in-phase, antiphase, or out-of-phase synchronization with a similar distribution of positive and negative phase differences.

Autonomic markers associated with generalized social phobia symptoms: heart rate variability and salivary alpha-amylase.

The study of autonomic nervous system changes associated with generalized social phobia (GSP) disorder has increased in recent years, showing contradictory results. The present study aimed to evaluate how young people with GSP reacted before, during, and after exposure to the Trier Stress Social Test (TSST), focusing on their autonomic changes (heart rate variability (HRV) and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA)) compared to a control group (non-GSP). Some psychological variables were also considered. Sex was specifically studied as a possible modulator of autonomic fluctuations and psychological state. Eighty young people were randomly distributed into two counterbalanced situations: stress condition (N = 18 and 21 for GSP and non-GSP, respectively) and control condition (N = 21 and 20 for GSP and non-GSP, respectively), where cardiovascular variables were continuously recorded. Psychological questionnaires about mood and perceived stress were filled out, and five saliva samples were collected to analyze sAA. GSP participants showed higher values on low- and high-frequency ratios (HR domains), compared to non-GSP people, during exposure to the TSST, but no differences were observed after the stressor. Furthermore, the two groups did not differ in sAA. Importantly, positive affect in GSP participants was modulated by sex. The present study suggests that the balance between high- and low-frequency domains of HRV is a key cardiovascular marker reflecting the stress response of GSP people, as well the importance of sex in positive affect when facing a stressful situation.

No effects of psychosocial stress on memory retrieval in non-treated young students with Generalized Social Phobia.

Generalized Social Phobia (GSP) is a common anxiety disorder that produces clear social life disruptions. There is no consensus on the specific processes involved in its development, but the role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been suggested. This study analyzed the effects of the cortisol response to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) on the memory retrieval of pictures with different emotional valences in 45 non-treated young students with GSP and 50 non-anxious (NA) subjects (mean=19.35years, SD=0.18). No differences were found in the cortisol response of GSP and NA subjects to the TSST and control sessions. In addition, psychosocial stress impaired memory retrieval in both the GSP and NA groups, with no differences between them. Regarding the sex factor, no effects were found in the cortisol response to the TSST. However, during the encoding session, GSP men had higher cortisol levels than GSP women and NA subjects. There was also a significant interaction between sex and stress exposure on memory retrieval. Women recognized more unpleasant and neutral pictures than men; however, under stress, the women's advantage disappeared, and the men's performance improved. Sex also interacted with social phobia on positive mood, with GSP women exposed to the TSST showing the lowest positive mood. These results suggest that GSP subjects do not present an HPA axis sensitization to psychosocial stress, and they emphasize the importance of Sex in understanding stress effects on memory.

Acute stress affects free recall and recognition of pictures differently depending on age and sex.

Little is known about age differences in the effects of stress on memory retrieval. Our aim was to perform an in-depth examination of acute psychosocial stress effects on memory retrieval, depending on age and sex. For this purpose, data from 52 older subjects (27 men and 25 women) were reanalyzed along with data from a novel group of 50 young subjects (26 men and 24 women). Participants were exposed to an acute psychosocial stress task (Trier Social Stress Test) or a control task. After the experimental manipulation, the retrieval of positive, negative and neutral pictures learned the previous day was tested. As expected, there was a significant response to the exposure to the stress task, but the older participants had a lower cortisol response to TSST than the younger ones. Stress impaired free recall of emotional (positive and negative) and neutral pictures only in the group of young men. Also in this group, correlation analyses showed a marginally significant association between cortisol and free recall. However, exploratory analyses revealed only a negative relationship between the stress-induced cortisol response and free recall of negative pictures. Moreover, stress impaired recognition memory of positive pictures in all participants, although this effect was not related to the cortisol or alpha-amylase response. These results indicate that both age and sex are critical factors in acute stress effects on specific aspects of long-term memory retrieval of emotional and neutral material. They also point out that more research is needed to better understand their specific role.

Acute pre-learning stress and declarative memory: impact of sex, cortisol response and menstrual cycle phase.

This study explores the influence of pre-learning stress on performance on declarative memory tasks in healthy young adults in relation to sex and menstrual cycle phase. The sample was composed of 119 students (32 men and 87 women) from 18 to 25 years of age. The women were tested in different hormonal stages (30 in follicular phase, 34 in luteal phase, and 23 using oral contraceptives). The participants were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or a control condition. Afterwards, their memory performance was measured using a standardized memory test (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test). In the control condition, all groups of women recalled more words than men, but these differences disappeared in the group exposed to TSST because men's performance on the memory test improved, but only to the level of women. In addition, our data suggest that in women the relationship between cortisol and memory can be modulated by sex hormone levels, since in luteal women a negative relationship was found between memory performance and peak cortisol level. These results confirm that sex differences need to be considered in the relationship between pre-learning stress and memory performance.

Estudio del acuerdo entre las valoraciones sobre la calidad de vida de pacientes con la enfermedad de Alzheimer y sus cuidadores / No disponible

Fundamento y objetivo. Para el desarrollo de la investigación y la práctica clínica centrada en el paciente con demencia, es esencial considerar variables subjetivas reportadas por el propio sujeto como la calidad de vida. La finalidad de este trabajo es medir la calidad de vida de los pacientes con enfermedad de Alzheimer (EA) según una doble perspectiva (paciente y cuidador) y estimar el acuerdo entre ambos evaluadores. Material y métodos. Se administró la escala QoL-AD a 40 díadas formadas por pacientes con EA leve y sus cuidadores. Se obtuvo la matriz de correlaciones, se realizó un análisis comparativo de las valoraciones y se midió el acuerdo en las puntuaciones totales y en cada ítem. Resultados. Las puntuaciones totales otorgadas por los pacientes en la escala QoL-AD fueron significativamente superiores a las de sus cuidadores, siendo el tamaño del efecto moderado. Las puntuaciones de pacientes y cuidadores en los ítems 1-3, 6, 9 y 13 se correlacionaron significativa y positivamente. El acuerdo paciente-cuidador fue significativo y moderado para las puntuaciones totales y sin significado clínico en el examen ítem a ítem. Conclusiones. Los pacientes tienen una percepción de su calidad de vida más positiva que sus cuidadores; además, el acuerdo entre observadores es débil. Sería de interés analizar los factores de pacientes y cuidadores que contribuyen a estas diferencias y considerar otras fuentes de información complementarias en los casos en que exista una alta discrepancia(AU)

Introduction and objective. Assessing subjective, patientreported outcomes such as quality of life (QoL) is crucial to patient-centered health care and research. This study aims to evaluate QoL as perceived patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their caregivers and to measure agreement between raters. Subjects and methods. QoL-AD scale was administered to 40 mild AD patients and their caregivers. ANOVA and correlational analyses were performed and agreement was estimated for both total scores and each item’s score. Results. Patients’ ratings on all items were significantly higher than caregivers’ ratings with moderate size effect. Significant positive correlations between patients’ ratings and caregivers’ ratings were found for item 1, 2, 3, 6, 9 and 13. Patient-caregiver agreement was significant but only moderate for total scores. Moreover, the agreement on each item was not clinically significant. Conclusions. Not only have patients a more positive perspective of their QoL, but patient-caregiver agreement is not satisfactory as well. It would be advisable to determine the factors predicting agreement and search for complementary information when there was high discrepancy(AU)

Determinants of quality of life in Alzheimer's disease: perspective of patients, informal caregivers, and professional caregivers.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic medical condition with symptoms that compromise patients' quality of life (QoL). The identification of the factor predicting QoL in AD is essential to develop more effective interventions. Recent research suggests that these factors could be different for the distinct informants. This study explores the QoL predictors considering three different sources of information: patients, caregivers, and healthcare staff. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a sample of 102 patients, their primary caregivers, and 15 members of the healthcare staff evaluated patients' QoL (QoL-AD Scale). Patients' and caregivers' demographic and clinical data (cognitive function, neuropsychiatric symptoms, depression, and caregivers' burden) were considered as QoL predictors. RESULTS: In multivariate-adjusted linear regression analyses, we observed that patients' ratings were mainly affected by their mood whereas caregivers' ratings were also negatively influenced by patients' irritability and burden. According to staff ratings, both psychotic symptoms and neuroleptics were associated with lower QoL. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that depression is the main variable related to patients' QoL and that more careful management of neuropsychiatric disorders is necessary. Both proxies' ratings are not equivalent to patients' reports in terms of predictors but they are complementary. Thus, a thorough QoL assessment should consider separately the perspective of the different informants.

Psychophysiological reactivity to environmental tobacco smoke on smokers and non-smokers.

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is an air pollutant with a relevant impact on public health. In addition, ETS is a significant stimulus that may elicit different responses depending on previous experience and current status regarding smoking. Exposure to cigarette cues has been shown to be a reliable method for inducing subjective and physiological responses. However, the role of ETS as a stimulus has not received, to date, enough attention in the research literature. This study aimed to analyse both the autonomic and subjective responses of smokers and non-smokers to exposure to ETS. To that end, 41 non-smokers and 57 smokers were exposed to ETS, in a controlled laboratory setting. We measured the subjective perception of smoke, unpleasantness, heart rate and skin conductance to compare the reactions of smokers and non-smokers to ETS. Additionally, subjective tobacco craving after exposure was assessed for current smokers. We found different psychophysiological responses to ETS exposure for smokers and non-smokers. Smokers showed a generalised increase in autonomic activity, significantly greater than that of non-smokers. In addition, heart rate increase during exposure to ETS was positively correlated with subjective craving. Our data suggested that ETS was an important stimulus and acted as a relevant cue for smokers; it induced both psychophysiological reactions and subjective craving. Hence, this kind of stimulus within the cue-reactivity research paradigm may be useful for studying the effect of ETS on smokers' reactions, craving, quitting attempts, or relapse probabilities.

Enhancing effects of acute psychosocial stress on priming of non-declarative memory in healthy young adults.

Social stress affects cognitive processes in general, and memory performance in particular. However, the direction of these effects has not been clearly established, as it depends on several factors. Our aim was to determine the impact of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity to psychosocial stress on short-term non-declarative memory and declarative memory performance. Fifty-two young participants (18 men, 34 women) were subjected to the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST) and a control condition in a crossover design. Implicit memory was assessed by a priming test, and explicit memory was assessed by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The TSST provoked greater salivary cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) responses than the control task. Men had a higher cortisol response to stress than women, but no sex differences were found for sAA release. Stress was associated with an enhancement of priming but did not affect declarative memory. Additionally, the enhancement on the priming test was higher in those whose sAA levels increased more in response to stress (r(48) = 0.339, p = 0.018). Our results confirm an effect of acute stress on priming, and that this effect is related to SNS activity. In addition, they suggest a different relationship between stress biomarkers and the different memory systems.

Salivary alpha-amylase response to acute psychosocial stress: the impact of age.

The impact of stress on health varies across the different stages of human life. Aging is associated with psychobiological changes that could limit our ability to cope with stressors. Therefore, it is crucial to clarify the physiological mechanisms that underlie the stress response and the changes that occur in them as we age. Our aim was to investigate age differences in the salivary alpha amylase (sAA) response to stress, and its relationship with other typical stress biomarkers such as cortisol and heart rate (HR). Sixty-two participants divided into two age groups (younger group: N=31, age range: 18-35 years; older group: N=31, age range: 54-71 years) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test and a control condition in a crossover design. No age differences were found in the sAA or HR responses to stress. However, the sAA global output was higher in older than younger adults. Additionally, in the stress condition, the total amount of cortisol released was positively related to the total sAA released, while the HR increase was positively related to the sAA increase. Our results do not support the existence of an attenuated autonomic nervous system response to stress in older adults, but rather a heightened sympathetic tone. Furthermore, we found further evidence of the coordination between the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system and the autonomic nervous system in their response to acute psychosocial stress.

The impact of cortisol reactivity to acute stress on memory: sex differences in middle-aged people.

Stress has been identified as a main factor involved in the cognitive changes that occur during the aging process. This study investigated sex differences in the relationship between the magnitude of the acute stress-induced salivary cortisol response and memory performance among middle-aged people. To this end, 16 men and 16 women (aged 54-72 years) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test and a control condition in a crossover design. Afterwards their memory performance was measured using a standardized memory test (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test). Only among women, there was an acute impact of stress on memory performance and a significant relationship between a higher cortisol response to the stressor and poorer memory performance in both the stress and control conditions. Additionally, a poorer memory performance was related to earlier timing of sexual maturation (age at menarche), which was also marginally related to higher cortisol reactivity to stress. These results confirm that sex is a critical factor in the relationship between cortisol and poor memory performance. Furthermore, the findings emphasize a strong link between the individual cortisol response to stress and memory functioning among postmenopausal women.

Incidence of anovulatory menstrual cycles among dysmenorrheic and non-non-dysmenorrheic [corrected] women: effects on symptomatology and mood.

The incidence of spontaneous anovulatory (SA) menstrual cycles among dysmenorrheic and non-dysmenorrheic women and their effects on symptomatology and mood were examined in 52 university students distributed into two groups (18 dysmenorrheic women and 34 non-dysmenorrheic women) according to the presence or absence of symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea. Women were tested in menstrual, ovulatory and premenstrual phases. In order to estimate the proportion of ovulatory and SA cycles the basal body temperature (BBT) method was used. Results indicated that the percentage of SA cycles found in dysmenorrheic women does not confirm that primary dysmenorrhea only occurs in ovulatory cycles. In addition, the ovulatory cycles did not present greater symptomatology than the anovulatory cycles in self-rating of negative affect. In fact, menstrual symptomatology was not associated with ovulatory cycles. These data confirm that primary dysmenorrhea does not only depend on the endocrine factors which regulate the menstrual cycle but also on other factors such as social or psychological ones.

Incidence of anovulatory menstrual cycles among dysmenorrheic and non-dismenorrheic women: effects on symptomatology and mood / Incidencia de ciclos menstruales anovulatorios entre mujeres dismenorreicas y no dismenorreicas: efectos sobre sintomatología y humor

The incidence of spontaneous anovulatory (SA) menstrual cycles among dysmenorrheic and non-dysmenorrheic women and their effects on symptomatology and mood were examined in 52 university students distributed into two groups (18 dysmenorrheic women and 34 non-dysmenorrheic women) according to the presence or absence of symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea. Women were tested in menstrual, ovulatory and premenstrual phases. In order to estimate the proportion of ovulatory and SA cycles the basal body temperature (BBT) method was used. Results indicated that the percentage of SA cycles found in dysmenorrheic women does not confirm that primary dysmenorrhea only occurs in ovulatory cycles. In addition, the ovulatory cycles did not present greater symptomatology than the anovulatory cycles in self-rating of negative affect. In fact, menstrual symptomatology was not associated with ovulatory cycles. These data confirm that primary dysmenorrhea does not only depend on the endocrine factors which regulate the menstrual cycle but also on other factors such as social or psychological ones (AU)

La incidencia de ciclos menstruales anovulatorios espontáneos (SA) entre las mujeres dismenorreicas y no dismenorreicas y sus efectos sobre sintomatología y humor fueron examinados en 52 estudiantes universitarias distribuidas en dos grupos (18 dismenorreicas y 34 no-dismenorreicas) de acuerdo a la presencia o ausencia de síntomas de dismenorrea primaria. Las mujeres fueron evaluadas en las fases menstrual, ovulatoria y premenstrual. Para estimar la proporción de ciclos ovulatorios y SA se utilizó el método de la temperatura basal corporal (BBT). Los resultados indicaron que el porcentaje de ciclos SA encontrados en mujeres dismenorreicas no confirma que la dismenorrea primaria solo ocurra en ciclos ovulatorios. Además, los ciclos ovulatorios no presentaron mayor sintomatología que los ciclos anovulatorios en las medidas de autoinforme de afecto negativo. De hecho, la sintomatología menstrual no estuvo asociada con ciclos ovulatorios. Estos datos confirman que la dismenorrea primaria no solo depende de los factores endocrinos que regulan el ciclo menstrual, sino también de otros factores sociales o psicológicos (AU)

An initiative in Spain for the study of women's health: the Murcia Twin Registry.

The present article describes the initial steps taken in setting up a twin registry in Spain. The Murcia Twin Registry (MTR) will focus initially on perimenopausal women's health. It will be administered and managed by the University of Murcia and the Murcia Health Council and will start with a database of 452 pairs of female twins born between 1940 and 1965 in the region of Murcia, Spain. Once the MTR is established and has gained some experience, our goal is to expand the age range and include males and opposite-sex twins. The current main areas of research interest are menopause, preventive behaviors, lifestyle and health as well as quality of life.

Efectos moduladores de la personalidad y la valoración subjetiva en la respuesta autonómica ante una tarea de hablar en público en mujeres sanas / Modulating effects of personality and situational appraisal on the autonomic response to a public speaking task in healthy women

El objetivo de este estudio fue examinar en una muestra de 16 mujeres, el efecto los de rasgos de personalidad y la valoración subjetiva ante un estresor social de laboratorio (hablar en público) en la respuesta cardiovascular y electrodérmica. Se midieron las respuestas de conductancia de la piel, la frecuencia cardiaca (FC) y el volumen del pulso periférico (VPP) durante un periodo de descanso, preparación, tarea y recuperación ante un discurso académico. Los sujetos fueron clasificados según sus puntuaciones altas o bajas en el cuestionario de personalidad EPQ, el STAI y en las medidas subjetivas. Los sujetos mostraron un aumento de la activación fisiológica significativo durante las fases de preparación y ejecución del discurso, esta activación estuvo modulada por las variables de personalidad y la valoración subjetiva. Los sujetos más extrovertidos mostraron mayor frecuencia de respuestas electrodérmicas (RED) a lo largo de todo el registro. Los sujetos que percibieron la tarea como más difícil mostraron los valores más altos en frecuencia cardiaca. Por último, aquéllos que percibieron un mayor estrés y esfuerzo mostraron un porcentaje de cambio mayor en volumen de pulso. Estos resultados apoyan el uso de la tarea de hablar en público como un buen estresor de laboratorio y la importancia de la experiencia subjetiva y los rasgos de personalidad del individuo como variables que modulan dicha respuesta. (AU)

Anticipatory autonomic response to a public speaking task in women: the role of trait anxiety.

The aim of this research was to study anticipatory autonomic responses their relationship to trait anxiety. Twenty-three women prepared an evaluated speech (S-condition) and 22 women an evaluated essay (W-condition). Heart rate (HR), finger pulse volume (FPV) and skin conductance were recorded before, during and after preparation of the task and during task performance; state-anxiety was evaluated before and after the task. In the total sample, state-anxiety was higher in the S- than in W-condition and this anxiety increase was accompanied by FPV reductions. However, when the sample was split according to trait anxiety scores, HR during preparation and increases of state-anxiety were greater in S- than W-condition in only in high-anxious women. Results suggest that specificity of anticipatory HR response to a public speaking task in women is moderated by cognitive anxiety.