Physiological Response Patterns in Ulcer Patients: Phasic and Tonic Components of the Electrogastrogram

Physiological response patterns in duodenal ulcer patients, rheumatoid arthritics, and healthy subjects were investigated by recording electrogastrograms (EGGs) and several other physiological measures during presentations of mildly stressful stimuli. Ulcer patients were physiologically less reactive to the stimuli than the other groups; with the exception of increases in tonic galvanic skin potential (GSP) responses during arithmetic problems, ulcer patients were responsive only while viewing slides taken during autopsies when they evidenced increases in gastric activity and phasic GSP responses. The EGG proved to be a valuable measure for differentiating both the groups and the tasks. Both ulcer patients and healthy subjects demonstrated increases in phasic (frequency and amplitude) EGG activity during affective but not during cognitive stimuli, and ulcer patients and arthritics could be differentiated from healthy subjects on the basis of tonic (basal resting levels and displacement) EGG activity. These results were interpreted to surest the possibility that phasic and tonic components of the EGG may each be associated with different types of gastrointestinal activity.