Relationships between recall of perceived exertion and blood lactate concentration in a judo competition

Relationships between perceived exertion and blood lactate have usually been studied in laboratory or training contexts but not in competition, the most important setting in which sports performance is evaluated. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between psychological and physiological indices of the physical effort in a competition setting, taking into account the duration of effort. For this, we employed two Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE and CR-10) and lactic acid plasma concentration as a biological marker of the effort performed. 13 male judo fighters who participated in a sports club competition provided capillary blood samples to assay lactate concentrat…

The Role of Gender in Teachers’ Perceived Stress and Heart Rate

Gender differences in cardiovascular variables in response to laboratory stressors have been described. In real situations, although occupational stress is considered one of the major causes of cardiovascular diseases, there are few studies that follow a psychophysiological approach, such as in a work context. In these settings, excessive environmental demands might produce nonadaptive emotional responses, depending on the way people perceive their work settings. Concretely, there are few published studies that take into account the changes of perceived stress (PS) and/or heart rate (HR) considering the ecological moment. Thus, our interest was to study the changes of both variables during…

Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve

The relationship between parameters extracted from the musical stimuli and emotional response has been traditionally approached using several physical measures extracted from time or frequency domains. From time-domain measures, the musical onset is defined as the moment in that any musical instrument or human voice issues a musical note. The onsets’ sequence in the performance of a specific musical score creates what is known as the onset curve (OC). The influence of the structure of OC on the emotional judgment of people is not known. To this end, we have applied principal component analysis on a complete set of variables extracted from the OC to capture their statistical structure. We h…

Estrés y drogadicción: una perspectiva actualizada para 2020

The role of stress in addiction is complex. In this editorial we highlight the main issues of interest in the ongoing research in relation to drug addiction and stress from an up-to-date perspective. Thus, taking into account that several bibliographic reviews have been published recently on the subject, the aim of this editorial has been to  gather  updated information in order to point out future directions of research that could make a valuable contribution to the knowledge about addictions and the role that stress plays in them. Finally, we stress the need for interdisciplinary research that addresses stress and addictions by incorporating and integrating physical and psychosocial facto…

Interoception moderates the relation between alexithymia and risky-choices in a framing task: A proposal of two-stage model of decision-making.

Decision-making depends on the context (frame) in which questions and alternatives are presented. Moreover, research has showed that the ability to detect bodily sensations (interoception) and being able to attribute these changes to emotions correctly (alexithymia) influence how we make decisions. The aim of the present research was to study how interoception and alexithymia might affect the Framing effect (FE), a cognitive bias closely related to emotional system. 42 healthy participants completed the Risky-choice Framing task and their interoception and alexithymia levels were measured. Results showed that the participants were more risk-taking under the negative frames in comparison to …

Testosterone, Cortisol, and Mood in a Sports Team Competition

In 1 humans, hormonal responses to winning/losing and their relationships to mood and status change have mostly been examined in individual athletic competitions. In this study, the salivary testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) and mood responses to a real match between two professional basketball teams were investigated. Data about individuals’ contributions to outcome, performance appraisal, and attribution of outcome to internal/external factors were also collected. Results did not show statistically significant different T and C responses depending on the outcome. Negative mood was significantly enhanced, especially in the losers, while winners showed a better appraisal of team performance…

sj-docx-3-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 – Supplemental material for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve

Supplemental material, sj-docx-3-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve by Elena Saiz-Clar, Miguel Ángel Serrano and José Manuel Reales in Psychology of Music

Dosimetric characteristics of backscattered electrons in lead.

In electron beam therapy, tissue overdose due to electrons backscattered from lead has been profusely studied. To quantify this dose enhancement effect, an electron backscatter factor (EBF) was defined as the ratio of dose at the tissue-inhomogeneity interface with and without the scatterer present. The dependence of the EBF on energy at the scatterer surface is not well known for energies lower than 3 MeV which is the most frequent clinical situation. In this work, we have done Monte Carlo calculations with the GEANT code to study EBF in lead at this energy range. The applicability of this code and the developed procedure for dose estimation has been experimentally verified. The dependence…

Good decision-making is associated with an adaptive cardiovascular response to social competitive stress.

Competition elicits different psychological and cardiovascular responses depending on a person's skills. Decision-making has been considered a distal factor that influences competition, but there are no studies analyzing this relationship. Our objective was to analyze whether decision-making affects the response to competition. Specifically, we aimed to test whether good performers on a decision-making test, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), showed an adaptive cardiovascular response to competition. In all, 116 participants (44 women) performed the IGT and were classified into Good or Poor decision-makers. Subsequently, they were exposed to a stress task in two different conditions: a face-to-f…

Emotional stress & decision-making: an emotional stressor significantly reduces loss aversion

Stress influences loss aversion, the principle that losses loom larger than gains, although the nature of this relationship is unclear. Studies show that stress reduces loss aversion; however, stress response has been only studied by means of physiological measures, but the stressor emotional impact remained unclear. Since emotions can modify stress response and increase the activity of the loss aversion neural substrates, it could be expected that an emotional stressor may produce the opposite effect, i.e. loss aversion increase. 69 participants were divided into experimental and control group. The first one was exposed to emotional stress through a 5-minutes video, and control group viewe…

Respuestas psicobiológicas en profesores al inicio y al final de un curso académico

La evidencia científica indica que el estrés laboral incrementa el riesgo de enfermedad cardiovascular. Las respuestas emocionales, cardiovasculares y endocrinas se ven afectadas por la experiencia diaria. La percepción de estrés, el estado de ánimo negativo, la frecuencia cardíaca (FC) y la presión arterial (PA) incrementan en los periodos laborales. La respuesta del cortisol (C) no es tan clara, existiendo resultados contradictorios. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar en profesores los marcadores de estrés durante dos jornadas laborales. Además se evaluó el papel del género en la respuesta de estrés en 49 profesores. Para ello, se midió la percepción de estrés, el estado de ánimo, la…

Different Conceptions of Burnout and Its Relationships with Job Strain and Emotional Intelligence

Burnout is an emotional syndrome that involves a prolonged response to stress. Its study in the work environment is of interest, since it manifests itself through negative attitudes toward work and affects the emotional, attitudinal, and physical level of the person who suffers it. The most relevant instruments for measuring burnout are the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), most commonly used, and the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM). Likewise, taking into account the emotional nature of the Burnout, it is related to Emotional Intelligence (EI), playing a very important role in the adaptive capacity of individuals in stressful situations. The aim of the present study is (1) to analyze t…

sj-docx-2-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 – Supplemental material for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve

Supplemental material, sj-docx-2-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve by Elena Saiz-Clar, Miguel Ángel Serrano and José Manuel Reales in Psychology of Music

sj-docx-1-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 – Supplemental material for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve by Elena Saiz-Clar, Miguel Ángel Serrano and José Manuel Reales in Psychology of Music

Psychobiological Responses to Competition in Women

From an evolutionary perspective, questions have been raised about whether women have a psychobiological pattern similar to that of men. In humans, hormonal effects of competition and its outcome have been investigated under the biosocial status hypothesis, which proposes that, after a competition, winners would show increases in testosterone whereas losers would show reductions, and the challenge hypothesis, which emphasizes the functional role of testosterone increases in the spring to promote agonistic behavior related to territoriality and access to females. Subsequently, the coping competition model has defended the study of competition within a more general stress model, considering t…

Niveles de Salud Psicosocial en función del Nivel de Experiencia en Residencias [Psychosocial health levels depending on experience in workers in residences]

Scientific literature has paid little attention to the direct care staff residences for people with disabilities. However, their workload is considerable and it has higher risk of stress than other social service workers. The main objective of this study is to analyze the relationships between experience and the psychosocial health levels in workers who look after people with disabilities in residences. A transversal study with 100 participants was made. Results show that workers who are working more time in residences with disable people have lower levels in some health variables (hypertension, headache, back pain, stomachache, GHQ-total and GHQ-depression) and in psychosocial variables (e…

sj-docx-4-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 – Supplemental material for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve

Supplemental material, sj-docx-4-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve by Elena Saiz-Clar, Miguel Ángel Serrano and José Manuel Reales in Psychology of Music

Research trends in the journal Hormones and Behavior (1987-2000).

As a continuation of the study carried out by Svare more than 15 years ago (Horm. Behav. 22 (1988), 139) and to determine the tendencies of the evolution of behavioral endocrinology since then, our aim was to extend his work until 2000, assuming that the journal Hormones and Behavior would be representative of the field at large. To study this 14-year period and compare it with Svare's data, we kept the same criteria and categories, behavioral patterns, and species. Our results show that "sexual behavior" in "rodents" is still the most extensive field studied by behavioral endocrinologists, although frequency of other topics is increasing, above all "aggressive and emotional responses," and…

Hormonal and emotional responses to competition using a dyadic approach: Basal testosterone predicts emotional state after a defeat.

The present study analyzes the testosterone (T), cortisol (C) and emotional response in competitive interactions between dyads, as well as the relationship between basal T and the emotional response. Seventy-two men and women (36 dyads) participated in same-sex dyads in a face-to-face laboratory competition, and thirty-two men and women (16 dyads) carried out the same task in a non-competitive condition. Salivary samples (5 ml of saliva, plastic vials) were provided at three time points (baseline, task, and post-task), and subsequently T (pg/ml) and C (nmol/L) concentrations were measured using ELISA method. Participants completed self-reported measures of emotional valence, emotional arous…

Anticipatory cortisol, testosterone and psychological responses to judo competition in young men.

This study compares the anticipatory hormonal and psychological responses of 17 male judo players to an official competition with the data obtained during eight resting sessions carried out at the same time of day, throughout an entire sports season. Testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) levels were determined 1 h and 30 min before competition, and mood, anxiety and expectancies were also evaluated. C levels and anxiety scores were concurrently higher before the contest than in resting conditions; however, non-significant correlations between them were found. The anticipatory T response was not significant for the whole group. However, one group of subjects did display T increases, higher C lev…

Early stages of the acute physical stress response increase loss aversion and learning on decision making: A Bayesian approach

Abstract When the cortisol peak is reached after a stressor people learn slower and make worse decisions in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). However, the effects of the early stress response have not received as much attention. Since physical exercise is an important neuroendocrine stressor, this study aimed to fill this gap using an acute physical stressor. We hypothesized that this stress stage would promote an alertness that may increase feedback-sensitivity and, therefore, reward-learning during IGT, leading to a greater overall decision-making. 90 participants were divided into two groups: 47 were exposed to an acute intense physical stressor (cycloergometer) and 43 to a distractor 5 min …

The Role of Perceived Control in the Psychophysiological Responses to Disgust of Subclinical OCD Women

Obsessive‒compulsive disorder (OCD), and especially contamination obsessions and washing compulsions, has been related to disgust. However, when its cardiovascular correlates have been studied, contradictory results have been found, including heart rate accelerations and decelerations. The aim of this study is to analyze emotional, cognitive, and cardiovascular responses in nonclinical (control) and subclinical participants with obsessive‒compulsive contamination/washing symptoms when confronted with a disgusting stimulus. Twenty-seven participants (14 subclinical OCD) completed a behavioral avoidance task with a contamination-based stimulus while their heart rate and subjective variables w…

Sex differences in autonomic response and situational appraisal of a competitive situation in young adults.

Competition is a social stressor capable of eliciting physiological responses modulated by the outcome. The main objective of this study was to analyze the psychophysiological changes associated with competition and its outcome in men and women, taking into account the role of situational appraisal. To this end, 112 young people (46 men and 66 women) participated in a laboratory task in a competitive or non-competitive condition, while Blood Pressure (BP), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), and Skin Conductance (SC) responses were measured. Our results indicate that competition elicits higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) than a non-competitive task; in addition, winners presented a greater R-R …

Emotional and Cognitive Variables Associated with Contamination-Related Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

AbstractDifferent variables have been associated with the development/ maintenance of contamination-related obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), although the relevance of these factors has not been clearly established. The present study aimed to analyze the relevance and specificity of these variables. Forty-five women with high scores on obsessive-compulsive contamination symptoms (n= 16) or checking symptoms (n= 15), or non-clinical scores (n= 14) participated in a behavioral approach/avoidance task (BAT) with a contamination-OCD stimulus. Vulnerability variables and participants’ emotional, cognitive, physiological and behavioral responses to the BAT were appraised. Results show that fea…

Job Satisfaction and Cortisol Awakening Response in Teachers Scoring high and low on Burnout

The burnout syndrome is an important psychosocial risk in the job context, especially in professions with a strong social interaction, as in the case of teaching. High levels of burnout have been related to negative psychological indicators and hormonal alterations. This study compares job satisfaction and the cortisol awakening response (CAR) in teachers scoring high (HB) and low (LB) on burnout. HB teachers showed lower job satisfaction and no significant differences in the CAR when compared with the LB group. The results of the study suggest a general dissatisfaction with work along with a different functioning of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in HB teachers. Although non…

sj-docx-6-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 – Supplemental material for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve

Supplemental material, sj-docx-6-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve by Elena Saiz-Clar, Miguel Ángel Serrano and José Manuel Reales in Psychology of Music

Rational-experiential thinking style and rational intergroup cooperation: the moderating role of intergroup conflict / Estilos de pensamiento racional-experiencial y la cooperación intergrupal racional: el rol modulador del conflicto intergrupal

AbstractCooperative relationships between groups are difficult because of the high human capability to differentiate between in-group vs. out-group members. This obstacle exists even when the groups can obtain benefits for themselves from cooperation with other groups (rational cooperation). Based on an interactionist approach, the authors propose that personal (individual differences) and situational (conflicts) factors contribute to rational intergroup cooperation. The authors conducted a preliminary correlational study (Study 1) and an experimental investigation (Study 2). In Study 1, the authors examined, with 105 participants, the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the R…

A monte carlo study of dose rate distribution around the specially asymmetric CSM3-a 137Cs source.

The CSM3 137Cs type stainless-steel encapsulated source is widely used in manually afterloaded low dose rate brachytherapy. A specially asymmetric source, CSM3-a, has been designed by CIS Bio International (France) substituting the eyelet side seed with an inactive material in the CSM3 source. This modification has been done in order to allow a uniform dose level over the upper vaginal surface when this `linear' source is inserted at the top of the dome vaginal applicators. In this study the Monte Carlo GEANT3 simulation code, incorporating the source geometry in detail, was used to investigate the dosimetric characteristics of this special CSM3-a 137Cs brachytherapy source. The absolute do…

Testosterone and attribution of successful competition

Mood, personal merit, and/or its perception have been suggested to be mediating factors in testosterone responses to competition. Previously we have found that personal contribution and attribution were related to testosterone levels after successful competition. To confirm such associations, two basketball teams (n = 17 players) that emerged as winners in two actual matches were studied. Salivary testosterone levels and mood were measured before and after the games. Individual contribution to the outcome was assessed, and personal satisfaction and causal attribution of outcome were reported by players. Testosterone concentrations increased to near significance in Team 1 but not in Team 2, …

Burnout as an important factor in the psychophysiological responses to a work day in Teachers

Burnout syndrome is an important psychosocial risk in the job context, especially in professions with a strong social interaction, as in the case of teaching. This study analyses the role of burnout in the psychophysiological responses to a work day in teachers. High burnout was related to worse mood, and higher perceived stress throughout the work day. Moreover, burnout is positively related to systolic blood pressure and negatively related to salivary cortisol levels at the beginning of the work day. Higher scores of burnout in teachers are also related to lower heart rate in the middle of the work day. The psychophysiological responses to a work day are specifically associated with the d…

Hormonal changes after competition predict sex‐differentiated decision‐making

Heart rate variability after vigorous physical exercise is positively related to loss aversion

Loss aversion bias, whereby losses loom larger than gains, can be reduced by stress. At the same time, vigorous physical exercise is a powerful neuroendocrine stressor and heart rate variability (HRV) provides an objective measure of the actual exercise impact, relative to each individual physical condition. Our aim was to study whether vigorous exercise can influence loss aversion, considering HRV in this relation. We hypothesized that the lower HRV derived from vigorous exercise (i.e., when stressor produced the most impact) would predict a lower loss aversion.Two groups (Experimental,Results revealed a significant group x HRV interaction. In the control group, HRV was not associated with…

Endocrine and mood responses to two working days in female teachers.

AbstractCurrently, a considerable amount of work stress is present in school teachers, one of the occupational groups with the highest levels of job strain and burnout. As chronic stress produces significant modifications in emotional adjustment and neuroendocrine functioning, we aimed to investigate the role of these work stress constructs in the endocrine and mood responses of a group of female teachers during two working days (WD) at different moments in the academic year. We studied mood as well as levels of cortisol and testosterone, representative of a predominant catabolic or anabolic balance. Our results showed that higher “control” was associated with higher positive mood (p = .028…

Stressing the Stress or the Complexity of the Human Factor: Psychobiological Consequences of Distress

Work stress is a complex process that takes place during the interaction between work demands and workers’ abilities. Karasek’s conceptualization of job stress (job demands-control model) predominates over other models of work stress. Job strain appears if there is an imbalance between demands and control. However, this parsimonious model is quite complex, mainly in the control dimension. Control is defined as the ability to cope with job demands; however, control is an ambiguous term that includes personal and job abilities and decision processes. Therefore, stress (or job strain) is a complex process that involves many different human resources to cope with job demands. In this context, i…

Technical Report: Repeatability of Contrast Sensitivity Test in Children

Contrast sensitivity (CS) in children is not routinely measured in the clinical setting, although CS losses have been found in amblyopic and premature children. Thus simple visual acuity measurements do not completely assess their quality of vision. To evaluate contrast sensitivity in children, a reliable and easy test, sampling the entire spatial frequency range, is necessary. Purpose This study aimed to evaluate the repeatability and normal range of the contrast sensitivity function measured using the Topcon CC-100 instrument, in children aged between 4 and 9 years, for use as a diagnostic tool. Methods Contrast sensitivity was measured in 25 children, 11 boys and 14 girls, with normal or…

sj-docx-5-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 – Supplemental material for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve

Supplemental material, sj-docx-5-pom-10.1177_03057356211031658 for Predicting emotions in music using the onset curve by Elena Saiz-Clar, Miguel Ángel Serrano and José Manuel Reales in Psychology of Music

Intergroup conflict and rational decision making.

The literature has been relatively silent about post-conflict processes. However, understanding the way humans deal with post-conflict situations is a challenge in our societies. With this in mind, we focus the present study on the rationality of cooperative decision making after an intergroup conflict, i.e., the extent to which groups take advantage of post-conflict situations to obtain benefits from collaborating with the other group involved in the conflict. Based on dual-process theories of thinking and affect heuristic, we propose that intergroup conflict hinders the rationality of cooperative decision making. We also hypothesize that this rationality improves when groups are involved …