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Biomedical subjects

F Eves

Publications and source records attributed to F Eves.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Six-month observational study of prompted stair climbing.

BACKGROUND: Despite strong evidence that prompts at the point of choice between escalators and stairs encourage stair use, the long-term effects of stair prompts have not yet been investigated. Presented here are the results of a 6-month observational study of prompted stair climbing. METHODS: Escalator and adjacent stair use were monitored in a shopping mall in the Midlands region of the United Kingdom. Participants were coded for gender, age, and ethnicity. A 2-week baseline period was followed by a 12-week intervention using motivating messages on the stair risers. Follow-up data were also collected for 2 weeks immediately after the removal of the banners and 6 weeks later. RESULTS: A total of 45,361 escalator/stair-choice observations were made. Stair use increased significantly during the intervention period and, when the banners were removed, remained higher than at baseline. There were also significant interactions with time across the different population groups. CONCLUSIONS: The full public health benefits of increasing physical activity levels can only be realized if the activity is sustained. These results demonstrate that stair-riser banners can elicit a sustained increase in stair use and, even when the banners were withdrawn, overall stair use remained higher than at baseline.

Elevators and Escalators↗
PubMed1988

The use of bilateral skin conductance measurement in elucidating stimulus versus response processing influences on the orienting reaction.

In three experiments the importance of behavioural consequences as a determinant of the amplitude of the electrodermal response is demonstrated. Bilateral skin conductance responses were examined to same-different stimuli consisting of moderate intensity tones differing in pitch (S1, S2), to a response cue to make a unimanual button-press if the stimulation were judged the same (S3), and to feedback (S4). In the first two experiments in which a right-hand action was required, responses were larger to S2 than S1 on 'response', compared with 'no-response' trials. This was replicated in the second experiment where the same effect was also found to S3. In the third experiment the hand performing the action was varied; the influence of stimulus consequences on responses to S2 was replicated when the right hand performed the action; when the left hand was involved elevated responses to S2 occurred, irrespective of the perceptual judgement. In all experiments responses tended to be larger on trials where a correct judgement was made. The use of bilateral recording with a unilateral behavioural response confirmed the influence of effector functions on electrodermal responses. Hemispheric influences were contralateral and excitatory. The results were discussed in terms of multiple central determinants on electrodermal responses, the influence of cerebral laterality, and of sympathetic-somatic coupling.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Rate of habituation of electrodermal orienting responses: a comparison of instructions to stop responding, count stimuli, or relax and remain indifferent.

Thirty-nine subjects listened to two series of repetitive tones, the second series of which was of higher or lower pitch and of higher intensity. Before the first series all subjects were given conventional instructions to relax and adopt a passive attitude to the tones. Before the second tone series one of three instructions was given: to maintain a relaxed and passive attitude, to inhibit responding, to count the stimuli silently. The three groups showed roughly equivalent rates of habituation to the first tones series but the group instructed to count the tones showed slower habituation than the groups instructed to remain indifferent or to inhibit responses. A recommendation to clarify task demands in habituation experiments, by informing subjects that the aim was to see how quickly subjects stopped responding, showed no advantages over conventional instructions.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Effect of propranolol and phenothiazines on electrodermal orienting and habituation in schizophrenia.

Bilateral electrodermal orienting responses were measured to repeated auditory stimuli in schizophrenic patients and controls. In 3 studies phasic activity to moderate intensity sounds of patients on no drugs or phenothiazines was predominantly hyper- or hypo-responsive. Controls showed moderate or slow habituation. Propranolol was found to facilitate habituation in slow habituators and to reinstate responses in half of non-responders, especially when given as the sole drug. The effects seldom had a counterpart in changes in non-specific responses or levels of skin conductance. Modulatory influences on stimulus and response processing and on lateral asymmetries in responses may underlie propranolol's efficacy in treating schizophrenia.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Orienting, habituation, sensitisation, and dishabituation in the electrodermal system of consecutive, drug free, admissions for schizophrenia.

Thirty-three consecutive admissions for schizophrenia with PSE diagnoses and free of neuroleptics were compared with 31 hospital staff for distinguishing features of bilateral electrodermal activity to a sequence of mild tones followed by a sequence of conspicuous tones with variation of temporal parameters. To mild tones most patients were either non-responders or non-habituators whereas most controls were habituators or non-habituators. To conspicuous tones patients as a group were more responsive but without the features of sensitisation to a test stimulus shown by controls. Patients as a group had more non-specific response and higher levels of skin conductance which showed less adaptation than controls. To a large extent previously reported difference in response latencies, rise-times and half-recovery times would appear to be a function of habituation rate. Patient -control differences may reflect anxiety and stress in patients, though lateral asymmetries in activity have a deeper salience for the nature of schizophrenia.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Contribution of generalized negative affect to elevated menstrual cycle symptom reporting.

We investigated women's belief that they suffered from premenstrual syndrome (PMS) by monitoring patterns of symptom reporting over a 5-week period in relation to the underlying trait of negative affect. We expected that women reporting high negative affect would be more likely to report menstrual cycle distress than those reporting low negative affect. One hundred twenty-one women rated the typical occurrence and severity of premenstrual changes on a retrospective questionnaire and then made daily ratings of their changes for the duration of one cycle. In addition, they completed a questionnaire measuring positive and negative affect. Data analysis revealed a clear subgroup whose retrospective reports of premenstrual change were not substantiated by the cycle of their daily ratings. Although this subgroup also reported more negative affect, the magnitude of the effect was relatively small. The possible contribution of both negative outlook and the meaning of the self-identified label of PMS are discussed.

Adolescent↗