The SB performed a paced mental task at three levels of difficulty, while time-locked recordings of pupil diameter, heart rate, and skin resistance were made. A similar pattern of sympatheticlike increase was found in the three autonomic functions during information intake and processing, followed by a decrease during the report phase. The peak response in each measure was ordered as a function of task difficulty.

Perseveration in schizophrenia may take a variety of forms, which can be conceptualized as varying manifestations of an underlying neurocognitive deficit. Comparative studies have demonstrated higher than normal levels of perseverative responding among schizophrenia patients on capacity-demanding tasks, including prompted discourse, reversal learning, and the generation of guessing sequences. There is little evidence that perseveration is associated with deficit signs of schizophrenia. However, perseveration appears to covary with both positive thought disorder and voluntary motor disturbance. Perseveration in schizophrenia thus appears to be a productive sign elicited by a failure to mobilize cognitive resources in situations requiring controlled information processing and the concomitant inhibition of activated but task-inappropriate responses. An information-processing model proposed by Shallice (1988) attributes perseveration to a failure of a higher level executive control system to modulate a lower level response selection system under a requirement for novel response generation. This model suggests that perseveration is the consequence of a failure of frontal specification of striatal outputs during controlled processing, resulting in the continued reselection of previously activated outputs.

Bibliographic searches identified 14 controlled and uncontrolled outcome evaluations of biofeedback-based treatments for temporomandibular disorders published since 1978. This literature includes two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of each of three types of biofeedback treatment: (1) surface electromyographic (SEMG) training of the masticatory muscles, (2) SEMG training combined with adjunctive cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques, and (3) biofeedback-assisted relaxation training (BART). A detailed review of these six RCTs, supplemented with information from non-RCT findings, was conducted to determine the extent to which each type of intervention met treatment efficacy criteria promulgated by the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB). We conclude that SEMG training with adjunctive CBT is an efficacious treatment for temporomandibular disorders and that both SEMG training as the sole intervention and BART are probably efficacious treatments. We discuss guidelines for designing and reporting research in this area and suggest possible directions for future studies.

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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.