Expressive tendencies and physiological response to stress

Where is emotional feeling felt in the body? An integrative review

Contemporary research on "embodied emotion" emphasizes the role of the body in emotional feeling. The evidence base on interoception, arguably the most prominent strand of embodied emotion research, places emphasis on the cardiac, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems. In turn, interoception has evidence-based links with improved emotion regulation. Despite the focus on separate bodily systems, it is unclear whether particular interoceptive locations play a greater role in emotional feeling and emotion regulation. Further, according to Gross' "process model", the sooner that regulation of an emotion occurs, the better; hence, it is additionally important to identify the first body areas to activate. These issues are investigated in a two-stage integrative review. The first stage was preliminary, giving an overview of the evidence base to highlight the distribution of measured body areas. This indicated that 86% of publications (n = 88) measured cardiac activity, 26% measured the respiratory system, and six percent the gastrointestinal system. Given the emphasis placed on all three systems in interoception theory and research on emotion, this suggests a dearth of comprehensive findings pertaining to feeling locations. The second stage investigated the core issues of where emotional feelings are felt in the body and time-related implications for regulation. This was based on ten texts, which together suggested that the head, throat and chest are the most consistently detected locations across and within numerous emotional contexts. Caution is required, however, since-among other reasons discussed-measurement was not time-restricted in these latter publications, and direct physiological measurement was found in only a minority of cases.

Psychological, physical, and interpersonal correlates of emotional expressiveness, conflict, and control

This article examines the relations between emotional expression, conflict over expression, and emotional control and psychological and physical distress. Fifty married couples completed two mail‐in surveys containing the Emotional Expressiveness Questionnaire (EEQ), the Ambivalence Over Emotional Expression Questionnaire (AEQ), and the Emotional Control Questionnaire (ECQ), as well as measures of psychological and physical well‐being. They also made expressiveness and well‐being ratings of their spouses. AEQ and ECQ scores were significantly positively correlated with measures of psychological distress and questionnaire measures of physical discomfort. In addition, AEQ scores for items dealing explicitly with anger predicted visits to health‐care provider for illness. EEQ scores did not predict either psychological distress or physical symptoms. AEQ scores were also positively correlated with spouse's symptoms and alcohol use. Wives' expressiveness ratings for their husbands were negatively correlated with a number of indices of psychological distress, while husbands' ratings of wives' expressiveness were positively correlated with measures of distress. Generally, expressiveness, inhibition, and conflict over expression in one spouse did not consistently predict well‐being of the other. Implications of these findings for future research in the area of emotion and illness as well as in relationship satisfaction are discussed.

Differentiating Flow Experiences in Physical Versus Mental Activities: A Sequential Explanatory Study

Flow is a desirable state of consciousness and absorption in an optimally challenging activity. Prior research has investigated individual differences in flow. The present study investigates flow by contrasting physical versus mental activities, using a mixed-methods, sequential explanatory design. The sample from the quantitative phase included 205 undergraduate university students assessed on measures of personality, difficulties in emotion regulation, and flow. The big-five traits intellect and conscientiousness, as well as the emotion regulation subscale “lack of emotional clarity” predicted flow during mental activities, but unexpectedly no variables significantly predicted physical flow activities. The second phase used semi-structured interviews with 10 participants. Analyses of the interviews helped further explain the statistical findings, revealing four main themes: role of stress, source of guilt, presence of others, and satisfaction and fulfillment. We conclude that flow is especially relevant in physical activities which have advantages over mental activities in opportunities to experience flow.

Relation between PTSD symptom clusters and positive memory characteristics: A network perspective

Positive memory characteristics relate to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity. We utilized a network approach to examine relations between PTSD clusters (intrusions, avoidance, negative alterations in cognitions and mood [NACM], alterations in arousal and reactivity [AAR]) and positive memory characteristics (count, accessibility, valence, vividness, coherence, time perspective, sensory details). We identified differential relations between PTSD clusters and positive memory characteristics, and central/bridging symptoms. Participants were an Amazon Mechanical Turk-recruited sample of 206 individuals (M_age = 35.36; 61.20% females). We estimated a regularized Gaussian Graphic Model comprising four nodes representing the PTSD clusters and six nodes representing positive memory characteristics. Regarding cross-community relations, AAR (highest node strength) was negatively associated with positive memory count, valence, coherence, and accessibility; avoidance was positively and negatively associated with positive memory vividness and count respectively. The NACM-AAR and intrusion-avoidance edges were significantly stronger than most edges. From the PTSD community, AAR and avoidance had the highest bridge strength and bridge expected influence respectively; from the positive memory community, coherence and vividness had the highest bridge strength and bridge expected influence respectively. Results indicate the potential pivotal role of AAR, avoidance, coherence, and vividness in the PTSD-positive memory relation, which renders them assessment/treatment targets pending further investigation.

An experiment to assess emotional and physiological arousal and personality correlates while imagining deceit

In order to examine how personality traits, emotional arousal and physiological arousal affect deception confidence, students (N = 102) completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) as well as stress and deception tasks while their heart rate variability was measured. Findings indicated psychoticism did not moderate how physiologically aroused participants were while viewing emotionally salient stimuli (video of a road traffic accident) or the thought of enacting deceit, although this came close to significance. However, participants (particularly males) higher in psychoticism reported less subjective distress after imagining enacting deceit than those lower on psychoticism. Extroversion had no impact on physiological arousal when viewing emotionally salient stimuli or thinking about enacting deceit. However, extroverts reported more subjective distress after thinking about enacting deceit than introverts. Also, deception confidence was not correlated to any of these variables. Future research could examine a sample higher in psychoticism and how this trait impacts deception confidence.

Coherence between subjective experience and physiology in emotion: Individual differences and implications for well-being

Emotion theorists have characterized emotions as involving coherent responding across various emotion response systems (e.g., covariation of subjective experience and physiology). Greater response system coherence has been theorized to promote well-being, yet very little research has tested this assumption. The current study examined whether individuals with greater coherence between physiology and subjective experience of emotion report greater well-being. We also examined factors that may predict the magnitude of coherence, such as emotion intensity, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression. Participants (N = 63) completed self-report measures of well-being, expressive suppression, and cognitive reappraisal. They then watched a series of emotionally evocative film clips designed to elicit positive and negative emotion. During the films, participants continuously rated their emotional experience using a rating dial, and their autonomic physiological responses were recorded. Time-lagged cross-correlations were used to calculate within-participant coherence between intensity of emotional experience (ranging from neutral to very negative or very positive) and physiology (composite of cardiac interbeat interval, skin conductance, ear pulse transit time, finger pulse transit time and amplitude, systolic and diastolic blood pressure). Results indicated that individuals with greater coherence reported greater well-being. Coherence was highest during the most emotionally intense film and among individuals who reported lower expressive suppression. However, coherence was not associated with reappraisal. These findings provide support for the idea that greater emotion coherence promotes well-being and also shed light on factors that are associated with the magnitude of coherence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional overactivity in patients with irritable bowel syndrome

BACKGROUND

Negativity is often observed in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). No study has examined their emotional expressiveness as a marker of emotional reactivity. We investigated IBS patients' vulnerability to an emotional load by associating their expressiveness with psychological and neurophysiological assessments. We hypothesized that IBS would be characterized by a lack of expressiveness coupled with high scores in psychological and neurophysiological parameters.

METHODS

We assessed the emotional facial expressions (EMFACS), psychological (anxiety, depression, alexithymia), and neurophysiological (cortisol, heart rate variability (HRV)) parameters of 25 IBS patients and 26 healthy controls (HC) while they watched fear-eliciting movie extracts.

KEY RESULTS

Overall, the task elicited an increase in state anxiety and consistent HRV responses. However, IBS patients differed from HC as they displayed more sadness and tended to display more rage. Contrary to HC, IBS patients showed an increase in heart rate and a decrease in parasympathetic regulation, reflecting an enhanced responsiveness corroborated by higher scores in depression and state anxiety. Consistent with their higher difficulty in identifying feelings, a component of alexithymia positively correlated with their expressions of rage, they were not aware of their increase in anxiety during the task, whereas HC were. No linear relationship between patients' expressions and their neurophysiological responses was found.

CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES

Irritable bowel syndrome patients displayed greater emotional expressiveness with negative prevalence. This reflects an emotional vulnerability potentially related to low regulation skills and underscores the importance of considering the central dysregulation hypothesis in IBS as a promising avenue of research.

Cognitive Load Alters Neuronal Processing of Food Odors

Obesity is a major health concern in modern societies. Although decreased physical activity and enhanced intake of high-caloric foods are important risk factors for developing obesity, human behavior during eating also plays a role. Previous studies have shown that distraction while eating increases food intake and leads to impaired processing of food stimuli. As olfaction is the most important sense involved in flavor perception, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques to investigate the influence of cognitive memory load on olfactory perception and processing. Low- and high-caloric food odors were presented in combination with either low or high cognitive loads utilizing a memory task. The efficacy of the memory task was verified by a decrease in participant recall accuracy and an increase in skin conductance response during high cognitive load. Our behavioral data reveal a diminished perceived intensity for low- but not high-caloric food odors during high cognitive load. For low-caloric food odors, bilateral orbitofrontal (OFC) and piriform cortices (pirC) showed significantly lower activity during high compared with low cognitive load. For high-caloric food odors, a similar effect was established in pirC, but not in OFC. Insula activity correlates with higher intensity ratings found during the low cognitive load condition. We conclude lower activity in pirC and OFC to be responsible for diminished intensity perception, comparable to results in olfactory impaired patients and elderly. Further studies should investigate the influence of olfactory/gustatory intensities on food choices under distraction with special regards to low-caloric food.

Psychophysiological Reactivity in Couples During a Marital Interaction Task

The ability to regulate our own physiological arousal when dealing with the emotional expression of our partner is crucial for satisfactory and stable intimate relationships. In previous physiological studies of marital interactions, researchers have found greater levels of psychophysiological arousal for members of the couple in conflictual interactions in comparison with positive interactions. Past researchers have established that intense and prolonged autonomic and neuroendocrine arousal during marital conflict can have negative consequences for mental and physical health. In this study we examined the physiological reactivity, as measured by skin conductance level, heart rate and cortisol levels, from both partners during a couple's interaction task consisting of a structured conversation about positive and negative aspects of their relationship. Participants were thirty-two heterosexual couples (N = 64) in a committed monogamous relationship with a minimum duration of one year. We found higher heart rate and cortisol levels during negative interaction condition when compared with the positive condition. Skin conductance was higher in the positive interaction condition, when compared with the negative interaction condition. In addition, we found a significant negative association between heart rate variability and autonomic arousal evoked by the interaction task. The implications of these findings for the effects of marital strain on health as well as for the design of risk-reducing interventions, namely biofeedback are discussed.

Emotional Intelligence

This article presents a framework for emotional intelligence, a set of skills hypothesized to contribute to the accurate appraisal and expression of emotion in oneself and in others, the effective regulation of emotion in self and others, and the use of feelings to motivate, plan, and achieve in one's life. We start by reviewing the debate about the adaptive versus maladaptive qualities of emotion. We then explore the literature on intelligence, and especially social intelligence, to examine the place of emotion in traditional intelligence conceptions. A framework for integrating the research on emotion-related skills is then described. Next, we review the components of emotional intelligence. To conclude the review, the role of emotional intelligence in mental health is discussed and avenues for further investigation are suggested.

Intramodal Olfactory Priming of Positive and Negative Odors in Humans Using Respiration-Triggered Olfactory Stimulation (RETROS)

Priming describes the principle of modified stimulus perception that occurs due to a previously presented stimulus. Although we have begun to understand the mechanisms of crossmodal priming, the concept of intramodal olfactory priming remains relatively unexplored. Therefore, we applied positive and negative odors using respiration-triggered olfactory stimulation (RETROS), enabling us to record the skin conductance response (SCR) and breathing data without a crossmodal cueing error and measure reaction times (RTs) for olfactory tasks. RT, SCR, and breathing data revealed that negative odors were perceived significantly more arousing than positive ones. In a second experiment, 2 odors were applied during consecutive respirations. Here, we observed intramodal olfactory priming effects: A negative odor preceded by a positive odor was rated as more pleasant than when the same odor was preceded by a negative odor. Additionally, a longer identification RT was found for the second compared with the first odor. We interpret this as increased "perceptual load" due to incomplete first odor processing while the second odor was presented. Furthermore, intramodal priming can be considered a possible reason for the increase of identification RT. The use of RETROS led to these novel insights into olfactory processing beyond crossmodal interaction by providing a noncued unimodal olfactory test, and therefore, RETROS can be used in the experimental design of future olfactory studies.

The Autonomic Nervous System and Emotion

In many evolutionary/functionalist theories, emotions organize the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and other physiological systems. Two kinds of patterned activity are discussed: (a) coherence (i.e., emotions organize and coordinate activity within the ANS, and between the ANS and other response systems such as facial expression and subjective experience), and (b) specificity (i.e., emotions activate different patterns of ANS response for different emotions). For each kind of patterning, significant methodological obstacles are considered that need to be overcome before empirical studies can adequately test theories and resolve controversies. Finally, links that coherence and specificity have with health and well-being are considered.

Coherence between emotional experience and physiology: does body awareness training have an impact?

Two fundamental issues in emotion theory and research concern: (a) the role of emotion in promoting response coherence across different emotion systems; and (b) the role of awareness of bodily sensations in the experience of emotion. The present study poses a question bridging the two domains; namely, whether training in Vipassana meditation or dance, both of which promote attention to certain kinds of bodily sensations, is associated with greater coherence between the subjective and physiological aspects of emotion. We used lag correlations to examine second-by-second coherence between subjective emotional experience and heart period within individuals across four different films. Participants were either: (a) experienced Vipassana meditators (attention to visceral sensations), (b) experienced dancers (attention to somatic sensations), and (c) controls with no meditation or dance experience. Results indicated a linear relationship in coherence, with meditators having highest levels, dancers having intermediary levels, and controls having lowest levels. We conclude that the coherence between subjective and cardiac aspects of emotion is greater in those who have specialized training that promotes greater body awareness.

Der „Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire”

Zusammenfassung. Vorgestellt wird eine deutsche Adaption des „Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire” (BEQ; Gross & John, 1995 ). Das Instrument erfasst mit Hilfe von 16 Items ökonomisch drei Dimensionen der Expressivität: Negative Expressivität, Positive Expressivität und Impulsintensität. In Studie 1 (n = 385) wurden mittels konfirmatorischer Faktorenanalyse die interne faktorielle Struktur und die psychometrischen Eigenschaften für die Faktoren des BEQ bestimmt. In einer Längsschnittstudie (Studie 2) wurden die Stabilität und Validität des BEQ untersucht: Zum ersten Messzeitpunkt wurde die selbstberichtete Expressivität von 220 Probanden erhoben. Zum zweiten Messzeitpunkt (sechs Monate später) wurden neben der selbstberichteten Expressivität für jeden Probanden zwei Fremdurteile sowie globale Maße der Persönlichkeit, positive und negative Affektivität und Maße der physischen und psychischen Gesundheit erfasst. Die Dimensionen des BEQ sind zeitlich stabil und positiv mit den Fremdurteilen korreliert. Negative Expressivität und Impulsintensität sind mit Neurotizismus, negativer Affektivität, physischen Beschwerden und Depressivität verbunden. Positive Expressivität ist mit Extraversion, Offenheit und positiver Affektivität assoziiert. Frauen zeigen im Vergleich zu Männern höhere Werte in allen Dimensionen des BEQ, welche mit Alter negativ korreliert sind.

Personality and electrodermal response lability: an interpretation

Electrodermal response (EDR) lability is a psychophysiological trait reflecting stable individual differences in electrodermal activation as indexed by frequency measures of phasic EDR activity. There is no consistent evidence that EDR lability reflects dispositional or clinical anxiety. However, EDR lability appears to be related to individual differences in the overt expression of emotional and antagonistic impulses. Greater EDR lability is associated with a relatively undemonstrative and agreeable disposition, whereas greater EDR stability is associated with a relatively expressive and antagonistic disposition. The inverse relationship between EDR lability and the expression of emotional and antagonistic impulses suggests that EDR lability may reflect individual differences in the effortful control of such expression. This hypothesis is consistent with cognitive effort interpretations of phasic EDR activity, with evidence of the sensitivity of phasic EDR activity to capacity-demanding tasks, and with evidence of reduced spare capacity among EDR labile individuals under cognitive challenge. Individual differences in effortful self-control may explain the association of greater EDR lability with essential hypertension and greater EDR stability with forms of antisocial behavior.

Dissociation of sad facial expressions and autonomic nervous system responding in boys with disruptive behavior disorders

Although deficiencies in emotional responding have been linked to externalizing behaviors in children, little is known about how discrete response systems (e.g., expressive, physiological) are coordinated during emotional challenge among these youth. We examined time-linked correspondence of sad facial expressions and autonomic reactivity during an empathy-eliciting task among boys with disruptive behavior disorders (n=31) and controls (n=23). For controls, sad facial expressions were associated with reduced sympathetic (lower skin conductance level, lengthened cardiac preejection period [PEP]) and increased parasympathetic (higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) activity. In contrast, no correspondence between facial expressions and autonomic reactivity was observed among boys with conduct problems. Furthermore, low correspondence between facial expressions and PEP predicted externalizing symptom severity, whereas low correspondence between facial expressions and RSA predicted internalizing symptom severity.

Appearing truthful generalizes across different deception situations

The authors investigated whether the ability to appear truthful is specific to deception situations. Male participants were interrogated after they took part in 2 high-stake deception situations, one involving a mock crime and another involving a false opinion. The videotaped interrogations from each situation were shown to independent groups of undergraduate observers. The proportion of observers who judged each participant as truthful in one situation correlated highly with the proportion of observers who judged the same participant as truthful in the other situation. This was not correlated with physiognomy judgments. Follow-up studies revealed that although the participants showed consistency in their facial, body, and paralinguistic behaviors across situations, observers' judgments seemed to be driven only by the consistency of the dynamic facial behaviors. These results are discussed in terms of the evolutionary importance of the face in communication.

Age and gender differences in cardiac reactivity and subjective emotion responses to emotional autobiographical memories

This research reports age and gender differences in cardiac reactivity and subjective responses to the induction of autobiographical memories related to anger, fear, sadness, and happiness. Heart rate (HR) and subjective state were assessed at baseline and after the induction of each emotion in 113 individuals (61 men, 52 women; 66% European American, 34% African American) ranging in age from 15 to 88 years (M = 50.0; SD = 20.2). Cardiac reactivity was lower in older individuals; however, for anger and fear, these age effects were significantly more pronounced for the women than the men. There were no gender differences in subjective responses, however, suggesting that the lower cardiac reactivity found among older people is dependent on gender and the specific emotion assessed.

Emotional experiencing in women with posttraumatic stress disorder: congruence between facial expressivity and self-report

The congruence between facial expressivity and self-report of emotion was examined among 11 women with sexual assault-related PTSD and 8 women without PTSD, under both a neutral and a sexual assault prime condition. The PTSD group demonstrated some incongruities in emotional responding. Although the PTSD group was as facially expressive as the control group, they reported more arousal to the emotional stimuli. Further, an inverse relationship between negative facial expressivity and self-report to negative stimuli was found for some variables for the PTSD group only, such that the less expressions they showed facially, the more negative they reported feeling. However, the overall pattern of results suggests fewer significant relationships between expression and experience than predicted.

Parental socialization of children's dysregulated expression of emotion and externalizing problems

The relations of parents' warmth, emotional expressivity, and discussion of emotion to 2nd-5th graders' regulation of emotional expressivity, externalizing problem behaviors, and expressivity were examined. Parents' and children's facial expressions to evocative slides were observed, as was parents' discussion of the slides, and parents and teachers provided information on children's regulation of expressivity and problem behavior. Analyses supported the hypothesis that the effect of parental variables on children's problem behavior was at least partly indirect through their children's regulation of emotion. Children's low negative (versus positive) facial expressivity to negative slides was associated with problem behavior for boys. A reversed model did not support the possibility that children's functioning had causal effects on parenting. The findings suggest that parents' emotion-related behaviors are linked to children's regulation of expressivity and externalizing behaviors.

Constricted expressiveness and psychophysiological reactivity in schizophrenia

The present study investigated flat affect in schizophrenia within a multicomponent model of emotions in which affects were identified with the expression or display of feelings. Display, as well as other components of emotion, such as subjective experience and psychophysiological reactivity, were examined as 24 schizophrenic inpatients (12 with flat affect) and 12 depressed inpatients were guided through imagery of personal emotional experiences. It was hypothesized that display variables would show a relationship with flat affect, whereas physiological and subjective variables would not. Increased flatness of affect was associated with longer pauses and reduced dyadic interaction and less zygomatic (cheek) electromyogram activity. The flat affect patients unexpectedly showed more corrugator (brow) electromyogram activity compared with the depressed group, which perhaps reflects difficulty in self-expression. The flat affect group had faster heart rates at baseline. The groups did not, however, differ in self-report of the intensity of experienced emotion. These results support the view that flat affect patients show a reduction in emotional display, whereas other subsystems of emotion processing appear normally engaged.

Changes in cognitive coping strategies predict EBV-antibody titre change following a stressor disclosure induction

Previous research has shown that emotional disclosure of traumatic or stressful events is associated with facilitating insight into the experience, improving mood, and modulating some aspects of the immune system. The current study examined how cognitive changes and experiential involvement during an emotional disclosure induction protocol relate to immune functioning, as measured by IgG antibody titres to the Epstein-Barr virus viral capsid antigen (EBV-VCA). Seventy-six college undergraduates were randomly assigned to either a disclosure induction or an assessment-only control condition. Experimental subjects met with an experimenter for three weekly 20-min individual sessions during which time they were asked to discuss a stressful or traumatic topic which they had previously discussed only minimally with others. Blood was drawn a week prior to the first session and at one week following the third session. Subjects completed the Impact of Event Scale (IES) after session 1 and at followup, and the extent of experiential involvement in disclosure during each session was assessed by means of the Experiencing Scale. Mood was assessed before and after each disclosure using the Nowlis Mood Adjective Checklist. Although the disclosure induction did not directly affect EBV-VCA antibody titres, individual differences in subjects' ability to involve themselves in the disclosure process and abandon their avoidance of the stressful tropic during the course of the 3-wk period were predictive of antibody decrements. These associations were more pronounced for individuals who disclosed older and more troublesome events.

Evolution and facial action in reflex, social motive, and paralanguage

Based upon current evolutionary theory and recent laboratory and field data, this paper introduces a behavioral-ecology view of human facial displays that contrasts with previous views of faces as innate, prototypic, "iconic" expressions of fundamental emotions. First, I detail the criteria for establishing genetic and epigenetic contributions to facial behavior. Under these criteria, cross-cultural communality in canonical facial displays implies neither their genetic control nor their fundamental relation to emotion. New findings reestablish phylogenetic continuity by showing that human facial displays and vigilance for them, like their nonhuman counterparts, coevolve in the service of social motives; faces issued in solitude typically reflect imaginary or implicit interaction. Two evolutionary trends are probably involved in shaping facial actions--emancipation of reflexes, and automatization of instrumental acts. Modern conceptions of genetic and cultural evolution, and knowledge about animal signaling, suggest new hypotheses regarding the origins and functions of facial displays. In so doing, they clarify how facial displays relate to reflexion, motive and intention, emotion and psychophysiology, and language and paralanguage.

Dimensions of negative affectivity, self-reported somatic symptoms, and health-related behaviors

This study focused on the relationship between personality dispositions, self-reported somatic symptoms, and health-related behaviors in undergraduate students. Findings are presented which indicate systematic correlations between health complaints and negative affectivity (NA), a common and pervasive mood disposition. Generally, there was a stronger relationship between NA and self-reported somatic symptoms than between NA and variables reflecting health-related behaviors, lifestyle, and general fitness. Significant correlations between health complaints and capacity for imaginative involvement (absorption), as well as self-reported measures of emotional inhibition, were also demonstrated. However, it is uncertain whether absorption and emotional inhibition properly belong to the NA construct. The results also indicated differences with respect to the strength of the associations between various dimensions of NA and particular types or classes of health complaints. For example, cognitive anxiety (e.g. worry, ruminations, disturbing thoughts) was more strongly related to somatic complaints than behavioral (social avoidance) components of anxiety. Moreover, diffuse and widespread symptoms (e.g. weakness and fatigue) were more strongly associated with NA than more specific and localized symptoms, particularly musculo-skeletal complaints, although complaints belonging to the musculoskeletal category obtained the highest group mean score. The results strongly suggest that a differentiated approach to the study of NA-symptom connections should be adopted.

Heart beat interoception: a study of individual differences

There were two principal aims of the study: to carry out preliminary evaluation of a novel heartbeat tracking technique for objectively measuring cardiac interoception; and to determine whether good and poor heartbeat perceivers could be differentiated with respect to other parameters reflecting individual differences in emotionality, including gender and 'emotional character'. Subjects first completed a battery of self-report questionnaires designed to measure characteristics of emotional experience, and then underwent a series of heartbeat tracking trials in which they used the index finger to tap in synchrony with their ongoing heartbeat activity (interoceptive tracking) and also with an audiotape of pre-recorded heartbeat sounds (exteroceptive tracking). The perceptual index was based on the variability of beat to tap latency. Concurrent validity findings suggested that the tracking index reflects a promising measure of cardiac interoceptive acuity. Good perceivers were found to have higher heart-rate measures than poor perceivers. With regard to 'emotional character' good perceivers had higher state anxiety, and were less emotionally expressive, although these differences were only marginally significant (P less than 0.08) with multivariate testing. Applications of the heartbeat tracking technique for further empirical evaluation of the role of interoception in emotion are discussed.

Towards a psychobiological model of cancer: psychological considerations

To date, the evidence relating to the role of stress and psychological variables in cancer aetiology and promotion is contradictory. We have attempted to clarify the issues by presenting an hypothetical psychobiological model. Two components of this model are described: (1) a characteristic behaviour pattern (Type C) which may mediate stress reactions and (2) the biological concomitants of this behaviour pattern. The mechanisms of cancer initiation and promotion are described in a companion paper (Pettingale). The main hypothesis advanced by this model is that the psychological factors described may promote cancer development; the model is offered for investigation.

Emotional control and autonomic arousal in breast cancer patients

Thirty breast cancer patients and 27 "healthy" controls were compared for differences in personality, reported emotional state and autonomic responses occurring under conditions of acute experimental stress. The data indicated that breast cancer patients were more likely than a control group to report a tendency to control emotional reactions, particularly anger, and to respond to stress using a repressive coping style. Emotional state reported at different points throughout the procedure suggested that the breast cancer group experienced more anxiety and disturbance but were more inclined to inhibit their reactions. There were no differences between the groups on autonomic measures but within the breast cancer group increased electrodermal activity was significantly associated with a tendency to respond to stress using a repressive coping style. The results are discussed in relation to psychobiological models of cancer.