THE EFFECTS OF PHOTIC DRIVING ON MOOD STATES

The EEG photic driving response is a sensitive neurophysiological meas ure. It has been used to assess drug effects, forms of epilepsy, neuro logical status of Alzheimer's patients, and physiological arousal. Pho tic driving also impacts the psychological status of a person by produ cing increased visual imagery and decreased physiological and subjecti ve arousal. In this study, ten volunteers underwent nocturnal polysomn ography followed by six daytime testing sessions. The six sessions con sisted of the alpha attenuation test, two visual analog scales for moo d, the Stanford Sleepiness Scale, photic stimulation, and the multiple sleep latency test. These tests were administered 2 hours upon awaken ing and every 2 hours thereafter. The mean mood across the six daytime testing sessions was computed for all mood variables pre-and post-pho tic stimulation. Significant differences were found for the subjective moods ''sleepy,'' ''alert,'' and ''effort.'' However, no significant differences were found for pre-and post-photic driving for ''angry,'' ''irritable,'' ''hungry,'' ''tense,'' ''overall,'' ''happy,'' ''sexual ,'' and ''sad.'' Additionally, all participants reported increased vis ual imagery during photic driving, as measured by their responses to a n imagery questionnaire. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.