Differentiating orienting and defensive responses to concealed information: the role of verbalization.

Using physiological measures, concealed information can be validly assessed. Orienting theory has been proposed to account for concealed information testing. As orienting is characterized by heart rate deceleration, one would expect this type of heart rate response to concealed information.

The validity of finger pulse line length for the detection of concealed information.

Building on the orienting theory of the Concealed Information Test, Elaad and Ben-Shakhar [Elaad, E., & Ben-Shakhar, G. (2006).

Is it better to have controlled and lost than never to have controlled at all? An experimental investigation of control over pain.

Trying to control pain is a common human goal. But little is know about what happens when one loses control over pain. This paper reports an experiment with 74 healthy volunteers, half of whom were given control over a pain stimulus and subsequently lost control, and half of whom never had control over the pain.

Mind-reading in young adults with ASD: does structure matter?

This study further elaborates on the mind-reading impairments of young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The hypothesis is that differences in mind-reading abilities between subjects with ASD and control subjects become more apparent when they have to infer thoughts and feelings of other persons in a less structured or more chaotic conversation, than when they have to do so in a more structured conversation. Conform to the empathic accuracy design, subjects viewed two videotaped interactions depicting two strangers and attempted to infer thoughts and feelings.

Startling secrets: startle eye blink modulation by concealed crime information.

We used the startle eye blink paradigm to investigate the processes underlying physiological responding to concealed information. Autonomic responding was measured together with eye blink responses to startle probes presented during mock crime and control pictures. Based upon 'orienting theory', greater startle modulation to crime pictures in comparison to control pictures was expected.

Psychophysiological analysis (PSPHA): a modular script-based program for analyzing psychophysiological data.

In psychophysiological research, complex tailor-made and interactive analyses of biosignals (e.g., skin conductance, heart rate, and respiration) are often required.

Antisociality, underarousal and the validity of the Concealed Information Polygraph Test.

The Concealed Information Polygraph Test has been advocated as the preferred method for the physiological detection of deception. In this study, we further examined the validity of the Concealed Information Test in antisocial individuals. Physiological responding to concealed information was assessed in 48 male prisoners, and compared with responding in 31 male community volunteers.

Resistance to extinction in evaluative conditioning.

A well-demonstrated phenomenon in traditional Pavlovian conditioning research with humans is that of experimental extinction. In contrast, human evaluative conditioning research suggests that evaluative learning shows marked resistance to extinction. Here, the authors replicate both findings concurrently.

Psychopathic traits and autonomic responding to concealed information in a prison sample.

We examined the role of psychopathic traits on physiological responding during a concealed information polygraph test among prison inmates (n = 40). The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996) was used to assess psychopathic traits. Cardiac, electrodermal, and respiratory responses were measured while participants were presented with personal and control names and asked to conceal recognition of personal information.

Children with mathematics learning disabilities in Belgium.

In Belgium, between 3% and 8% of the children in elementary schools have mathematics learning disabilities (MLD). Many of these children have less developed linguistic, procedural, and mental representation skills. Moreover, a majority of the children have been found to show inaccurate prediction and evaluation skills in Grade 3.

Advanced mind-reading in adults with Asperger syndrome.

This study investigated the mind-reading abilities of 19 adults with Asperger syndrome and 19 typically developing adults. Two static mind-reading tests and a more naturalistic empathic accuracy task were used. In the empathic accuracy task, participants attempted to infer the thoughts and feelings of target persons, while viewing a videotape of the target persons in a naturally occurring conversation with another person.

Autonomic and behavioral responding to concealed information: differentiating orienting and defensive responses.

A mock crime experiment was conducted to examine whether enhanced responding to concealed information during a polygraph examination is due to orienting or defensive responding. Thirty-six undergraduate students enacted one of two mock crimes. Pictures related to both crimes were presented while heart rate, magnitude of the skin conductance response, and reaction times to a secondary probe were measured.

Fear-conditioned cues of impending pain facilitate attentional engagement.

Aims Of Study: Selective attention to signals of impending pain allows the avoidance of bodily harm. In order to identify the attentional components involved in the selection of pain signals over competing demands, we used an emotional modification of an exogenous cueing task.

Methods: Fifty-two pain-free volunteers detected visual targets of which the location was correctly or incorrectly predicted by a spatial cue.

STIVID: A VBSCRIPT-based program for adding visual and auditory stimuli on videotapes.

Some psychological experiments require placement of visual and auditory stimuli on predefined frames in a videotape. We introduce STIVID (STImuli on VIDeo) as a method of performing this task STIVID can add images, words, simple shapes, and audio tones to specific frames of existing video files created in AVI format. STIVID is written in Visual Basic and uses VBScripts to modify the AVI files.

A simple and sensitive method to measure timing accuracy.

Timing accuracy in presenting experimental stimuli (visual information on a PC or on a TV) and responding (keyboard presses and mouse signals) is of importance in several experimental paradigms. In this article, a simple system for measuring timing accuracy is described. The system uses two PCs (at least Pentium II, 200 MHz), a photocell, and an amplifier.