Date of Award
4-1985
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Dr. Chris Koronakos
Second Advisor
Dr. Frederick P. Gault
Third Advisor
Dr. Roger E. Ulrich
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
An experiment was performed to examine the effects of the visual stimulus property of flicker on respiration rate and state-anxiety level. Forty undergraduate college student volunteers were randomly assigned to three groups which received intermittent photic stimulation (IPS) and a control group which did not receive IPS. Each IPS group received and the range of flicker frequencies, 4 cycles per second to 14 cycles per second, in a different pattern. All subjects were administered measures for trait-anxiety and changes in state-anxiety.
Results suggest that respiration rate positively covaries with the frequency of the intermittent visual stimulus within this range of frequencies. The level of state-anxiety was not increased by exposure to IPS. All subjects showed a decrease in state-anxiety scores. However, the high trait-anxiety (HTA) subjects showed significantly less variability in their change scores on the state-anxiety measure than did the low trait-anxiety (LTA) subjects.
Recommended Citation
Guilford, Patricia Moulton, "The Effects of Intermittent Photic Stimulation upon Respiration Rate and Anxiety" (1985). Masters Theses. 1387.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1387