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Biomedical subjects

J T Cacioppo

Publications and source records attributed to J T Cacioppo.

86 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Lip and nonpreferred forearm EMG activity as a function of orienting task.

Subjects performed orthographic or semantic orienting tasks while preparing an overt response (pressing one of two buttons). Electromyographic (EMG) activity of lip and nonpreferred forearm muscles and heart rate were monitored. Only lip EMG activity distinguished the extent of covert processing, evidencing greater activity during the semantic than sensory task. In contrast, increased nonpreferred forearm EMG and cardiac activity accompanied the behavioral response. It was concluded that general semantic and autonomic activity serve biological needs, but in addition, there are specific patterns of physiological response that are intrinsic to convert information processing.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Effects of exogenous changes in heart rate on facilitation of thought and resistance to persuasion.

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of an accelerated heart rate on information processing and resistance to persuasion. Experiment 1 addressed the effects on cognitive performance of manipulating heart rate exogenously for brief periods of time. Fourteen subjects wearing implanted demand-type cardiac pacemakers performed reading comprehension and sentence generation tasks while their heart rate was either accelerated or not accelerated. Results revealed that performance was better when heart rate was accelerated than when it was not accelerated. Experiment 2 addressed the effects on counterargumentation and resistance to persuasion of manipulating heart rate using the cardiac-pacing technique employed in Experiment 1. Subjects read highly involving counterattitudinal communications while their heart rate was either ostensibly or actually accelerated. Accelerated heart rate resulted in the generation of more total thoughts and counterarguments than did basal heart rate; resistance to persuasion was related significantly to the number of counterarguments generated. The methodology used provides a means by which social psychologists can study the effects on social processes of actual but unperceived changes in physiological processes.

Cardiac Pacing, Artificial↗
PubMed1978

Physiological differentiation of sensory and cognitive tasks as a function of warning, processing demands, and reported unpleasantness.

Low and highly stressful sensory tasks (viewing slides of autopsy) were employed to assess the effects of stressful stimuli that required a minimal amount of cognitive elaboration. Cognitive (arithmetic, anagram, and digit-string memorization) tasks each at two levels of difficulty were matched for reported unpleasantness with autopsy slides to provide stimuli in which stress reactions were constant but cognitive processing requirements varied. Heart rate, skin potential level, and skin potential responses were monitored. Thirty-two subjects received two presentations of each type of task, one each of which was preceded by a warning signal. The results indicated that heart rate accelerated during cognitive tasks and decelerated during slide presentations of autopsy; the warning signal accentuated the heart-rate pattern associated with the task. Analyses of individual tasks revealed that heart rate was greater during the performance of difficult (more cognitively demanding) than easy cognitive tasks but that heart rate was not affected by the reported unpleasantness of the autopsy slides. Skin potential responses were more evident during the presentation of stressful (unpleasant) stimuli for both cognitive and sensory tasks; skin potential level, however, differentiated neither the tasks nor the stressfulness of stimuli within the tasks. These results are interpreted as being consistent with Lacey's hypothesis concerning cognitive elaboration, cardiac activity, and response patterning.

Affect↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Neuromuscular circuits in affect-laden information processing.

Substantial evidence has accrued indicating the involvement of neuromuscular circuits in covert information processing. The physiological systems imparting emotional tone to covert processing, however, are less well understood. Reviewed here are findings from a variety of methodologies which suggest that somatic patterns, particularly in the face, reflect moment by moment emotional reactions. These findings imply neuromuscular involvement in affect-laden information processing; less conclusive, though suggestive, are data indicating that the proprioceptive feedback from these phasic and specific patterns of response are integrated cortically and influence covert processing and overt responding.

Emotions↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Negative behavior during marital conflict is associated with immunological down-regulation.

Although increased morbidity and mortality have been reliably associated with social isolation and less satisfying personal relationships, relatively little is known about the underlying biopsychosocial mechanisms. We assessed problem-solving behaviors and changes in immune function in 90 newlywed couples who were admitted to a hospital research unit for 24 hours. Subjects who exhibited more negative or hostile behaviors during a 30-minute discussion of marital problems showed greater decrements over 24 hours relative to low negative subjects on four functional immunological assays (natural killer cell lysis, blastogenic response to two mitogens, and the proliferative response to a monoclonal antibody to the T3 receptor), as well as larger increases in the numbers of total T lymphocytes and helper T lymphocytes. High negative subjects had higher antibody titers to latent Epstein-Barr virus than low negative subjects, consistent with down-regulated immune function. Women were more likely to show negative immunological changes than men. The discussion of marital problems also led to larger increases in blood pressure that remained elevated longer in high negative subjects than low negative subjects. Positive or supportive problem-solving behaviors were not related to either immunological or blood pressure changes. These physiological differences were particularly noteworthy because marital satisfaction was high in both groups, and couples had been selected on the basis of stringent mental and physical health criteria. These data provide additional support for the link between personal relationships and immune function.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Heterogeneity in neuroendocrine and immune responses to brief psychological stressors as a function of autonomic cardiac activation.

Human responses to brief psychological stressors are characterized by changes and large individual differences in autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune function. The authors examined the effects of brief psychological stressors on cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and cellular immune response in 22 older women to investigate the common effects of stress across systems. They also used interindividual variation in heart rate reactivity, cardiac sympathetic reactivity (as indexed by preejection period reactivity in their reactivity paradigm), and cardiac vagal reactivity (as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity) to explore the heterogeneity in human responses to brief psychological stressors. The results revealed that brief psychological stressors heightened cardiac activation, elevated plasma catecholamine concentrations, and affected the cellular immune response. It was also found that individuals characterized by high, relative to low, cardiac sympathetic reactivity showed higher stress-related changes in adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol plasma levels but comparable changes in epinephrine and norepinephrine concentrations. These data suggest that the effects of psychological stressors on cardiovascular and cellular immune response are governed by coordinated regulatory mechanism(s) and that going beyond the simple notion of heart rate reactivity to examine neural substrates may shed light on the interrelationships among and the regulatory mechanisms for the autonomic, endocrine, and immune responses to stressors.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Marital conflict in older adults: endocrinological and immunological correlates.

OBJECTIVE: To assess endocrinological and immunological correlates of marital conflict and marital satisfaction, 31 older couples (mean age 67 years) who had been married an average of 42 years were studied. METHOD: Couples were admitted to the Clinical Research Center and a catheter was placed in each subject's arm. Blood was drawn on entry for immunological assays; for hormone analyses, five blood samples were drawn during a 30-minute conflict discussion and a 15-minute recovery session. The conflict session was recorded on videotapes that were later coded for problem-solving behaviors using the Marital Interaction Coding System (MICS). RESULTS: Among wives, escalation of negative behavior during conflict and marital satisfaction showed strong relationships to endocrine changes, accounting for 16% to 21% of the variance in the rates of change of cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and norepinephrine (but not epinephrine). In contrast, husbands' endocrine data did not show significant relationships with negative behavior or marital quality. Both men and women who showed relatively poorer immunological responses across three functional assays (the blastogenic response to two T-cell mitogens and antibody titers to latent Epstein-Barr virus) displayed more negative behavior during conflict; they also characterized their usual marital disagreements as more negative than individuals who showed better immune responses across assays. CONCLUSION: Abrasive marital interactions may have physiological consequences even among older adults in long-term marriages.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Postmenopausal hormone replacement: effects on autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune reactivity to brief psychological stressors.

OBJECTIVE: Postmenopausal status increases some aspects of women's physiological responses to psychological stress; however, the influences of chronic hormone replacement with estrogen and progestogen on these responses are not known. We investigated possible effects of long-term estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), both with and without progestogen, on physiological reactivity to brief laboratory stressors. METHOD: We studied three groups of postmenopausal women: 16 on estrogen alone, 14 on estrogen and progestogen, and 25 control participants receiving no replacement therapy. Cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immune data were collected at baseline and after speech and math tasks. RESULTS: In all groups, the stressors reduced vagal cardiac control (indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia); increased heart rate and plasma epinephrine, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and cortisol levels; and altered T lymphocyte response (measured by mitogen-induced cell proliferation), natural killer cell lysis, and circulating leukocyte subsets. Women on either type of ERT had higher total cortisol levels (reflecting an estrogen effect on cortisol binding globulin) and greater mitogen-induced blastogenesis across measurement periods than controls. They also showed greater vagal withdrawal and less decline in mitogen-stimulated blastogenesis in response to the stressors. Combined estrogen and progestogen was associated with higher epinephrine and lower circulating total lymphocytes, T cells, and CD4+ T cells across measurement periods, and with intermediate levels of vagal withdrawal in response to the stressors. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term ERT was associated with enhanced parasympathetic responsiveness to stress, suggesting possible reduced demand for potentially detrimental sympathetic activation; and with higher overall levels and smaller stress-induced reductions of mitogen-stimulated blastogenesis, suggesting up-regulated T cell function.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cardiovascular and immune responses to acute psychological stress in young and old women: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the relationships between cardiovascular and natural killer (NK) cell number changes on acute psychological stress in women. METHOD: Data from eight different studies were analyzed. A total of 128 healthy female subjects, 85 younger (18-45 years) and 43 older (49-87 years), had been subjected to a speech stressor (N = 80) or a mental effort stressor (N = 48), mental arithmetic, or the Stroop test. Correlations between changes in NK cell numbers, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, and heart rate (HR) were computed. Meta-analysis programs were used to study correlations across studies and to examine whether correlations differed with stressors or age. RESULTS: In all studies, significant increases over baseline were observed for each variable. Across studies, the mean weighted r between changes in HR, DBP, and SBP was medium (rw = .25) to large (rw = .64). A medium to large average correlation between HR and NK changes (rw = .37) was observed, whereas average correlations of changes in NK cell numbers with blood pressure changes were small to medium (rw < or = .23). Correlations between changes in NK cell numbers and cardiovascular variables were homogeneous across studies, whereas mutual correlations between cardiovascular variables were heterogeneous. One moderator variable showed itself: correlations between HR and DBP reactions were larger in studies with older than younger subjects. CONCLUSION: NK cell changes and HR responses induced by acute stress in women are regulated, to some extent, by the same mechanisms. Neither the type of stressor nor age seem to be very important when considering correlations between NK cell and cardiovascular changes. This study integrates information about NK cell and cardiovascular responses in women that can be used as reference material in future studies.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Epstein-Barr virus antibodies in whole blood spots: a minimally invasive method for assessing an aspect of cell-mediated immunity.

OBJECTIVE: Study 1: Introduce and validate a method for measuring EBV p18-VCA antibodies in whole blood spots to provide a minimally invasive marker of cell-mediated immune function. Study 2: Apply this method to a large community-based study of psychopathology in children and adolescents. METHODS: The EBV antibody method was evaluated through analysis of precision, reliability, stability, and comparisons with plasma and indirect immunofluorescence methods. The effects of life events on p18-VCA antibody level were considered in a subsample of 9, 11, and 13 year-old children participating in the Great Smoky Mountains Study in North Carolina. The subsample was stratified by age, sex, and degree of overall life strain. RESULTS: Dried blood spots provided a convenient, sensitive, precise, and reliable method for measuring EBV p18-VCA antibody titer. Life events were positively associated with p18-VCA antibodies in girls but not in boys. CONCLUSIONS: The validity of the blood spot EBV p18-VCA antibody assay, as well as the ease of sample collection, storage, and transportation, may provide an opportunity for psychoneuroimmunology to explore a wider range of stress models in larger, community-based studies.

Adolescent↗