Gender Differences in Psychophysiological Responses to Disgust

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Rohrmann ◽  
Henrik Hopp ◽  
Markus Quirin
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Immunoglobulin A ◽  
Subjective Responses ◽  
Film Clips ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Open Question ◽  
Secretory Immunoglobulin ◽  
Conductance Level

Several studies have revealed that women report stronger feelings of disgust than men ( Gross & Levenson, 1995 ; Schienle, Schäfer, Stark, Walter, & Vaitl, 2005 ). However, the extent to which this gender difference also influences physiological disgust responses remains an open question. In Experiment 1, 54 female and 41 male participants were exposed to slides of different disgust-content. In Experiment 2, 47 women and 53 men watched two film clips showing hygiene-related or food-related disgust stimuli, respectively. Differences between males and females in reported and physiological disgust responses (heart rate, electrodermal activity, salivary cortisol, secretory immunoglobulin A) were tested by analysis of variance. Replicating previous studies, women reported stronger feelings of disgust than men across all disgust inductions. Additionally, in Study 1, women showed a higher increase in skin conductance level than men. In conclusion, gender moderates subjective responses to disgust, whereas physiological disgust responses are only marginally moderated by gender. Gender stereotypes as an explanation for the results are discussed.

scholarly journals Affective Synchrony and Autonomic Coupling during Cooperation: A Hyperscanning Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Elide Vanutelli ◽  
Laura Gatti ◽  
Laura Angioletti ◽  
Michela Balconi
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Social Bond ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
Joint Actions ◽  
Social Dynamic ◽  
Conductance Level

Previous research highlighted that during social interactions people shape each other’s emotional states by resonance mechanisms and synchronized autonomic patterns. Starting from the idea that joint actions create shared emotional experiences, in the present study a social bond was experimentally induced by making subjects cooperate with each other. Participants’ autonomic system activity (electrodermal: skin conductance level and response: SCL, SCR; cardiovascular indices: heart rate: HR) was continuously monitored during an attentional couple game. The cooperative motivation was induced by presenting feedback which reinforced the positive outcomes of the intersubjective exchange. 24 participants coupled in 12 dyads were recruited. Intrasubject analyses revealed higher HR in the first part of the task, connoted by increased cognitive demand and arousing social dynamic, while intersubject analysis showed increased synchrony in electrodermal activity after the feedback. Such results encourage the use of hyperscanning techniques to assess emotional coupling in ecological and real-time paradigms.

scholarly journals Vocal Synchrony of Robots Boosts Positive Affective Empathy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2502
Author(s):  
Shogo Nishimura ◽  
Takuya Nakamura ◽  
Wataru Sato ◽  
Masayuki Kanbara ◽  
Yuichiro Fujimoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Subjective Ratings ◽  
Subjective Responses ◽  
Facial Electromyography ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Vocal Prosody ◽  
Conductance Level

Robots that can talk with humans play increasingly important roles in society. However, current conversation robots remain unskilled at eliciting empathic feelings in humans. To address this problem, we used a robot that speaks in a voice synchronized with human vocal prosody. We conducted an experiment in which human participants held positive conversations with the robot by reading scenarios under conditions with and without vocal synchronization. We assessed seven subjective responses related to affective empathy (e.g., emotional connection) and measured the physiological emotional responses using facial electromyography from the corrugator supercilii and zygomatic major muscles as well as the skin conductance level. The subjective ratings consistently revealed heightened empathic responses to the robot in the synchronization condition compared with that under the de-synchronizing condition. The physiological signals showed that more positive and stronger emotional arousal responses to the robot with synchronization. These findings suggest that robots that are able to vocally synchronize with humans can elicit empathic emotional responses.

Valence Lasts Longer than Arousal

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Gomez ◽  
P.G. Zimmermann ◽  
S. Guttormsen Schär ◽  
B. Danuser
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Mood Induction ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
High Arousal ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Film Clips ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Conductance Level

How long induced moods last is a critical question for mood research, but has been only poorly addressed to date. In particular, physiological parameters have rarely been included to assess the effectiveness of mood induction procedures. We investigated the persistence of four different moods (positive high-arousal, positive low-arousal, negative high-arousal, and negative low-arousal) induced by film clips during a computer task. We measured subjective affective state, respiration, skin conductance level (SCL), heart rate, and corrugator activity. People who watched the two negative clips reported more negative valence after the task and showed more facial frowning and lower SCL during the task than people who watched the two positive clips. No arousal effects persisted throughout the task. The results suggest that induced changes in the valence dimension of moods are maintained throughout an intervening task and are physiologically best reflected by corrugator activity and SCL, whereas induced changes in the arousal dimension dissipate quickly. The implications of these findings for mood research are discussed.

The effect of temporal lobe surgery on electrodermal activity: implications for an organic hypothesis in the aetiology of schizophrenia

1979 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. K. Toone ◽  
E. Cooke ◽  
M. H. Lader
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Temporal Lobectomy ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
And Control ◽  
Spontaneous Fluctuations ◽  
Conductance Level

SynopsisIt has recently been suggested that the bilateral asymmetry of electrodermal activity (EDA) reported in schizophrenia may be related to unilateral temporal lobe dysfunction. To test this hypothesis, 3 aspects of EDA – skin conductance level (SCL), number of spontaneous fluctuations (SF), and skin conductance response (SCR) – were measured bilaterally in 10 patients who had undergone unilateral temporal lobectomy. No differences could be detected between the operated and non-operated sides within the patient group, nor between the patient and control groups. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Multiple measures of hemispheric dysfunction in schizophrenia and depression

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sid J. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Perceptual Task ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Chronic Schizophrenics ◽  
The Right ◽  
Conductance Level

SYNOPSISElectrodermal, electroencephalographic and perceptual measures of lateral hemispheric function were obtained from groups of chronic schizophrenics, depressives and normals on 2 occasions, separated by 4 weeks. The measures of hemispheric function were derived from previous research. About half of the schizophrenics were medicated on both occasions; the other schizophrenics underwent drug ‘washout’ before the first session. Results revealed that the measures of laterality were not strongly intercorrelated. In the perceptual task, the schizophrenics and normals displayed different laterality effects. Unlike the normals, the schizophrenics' left hemisphere function appeared to be inferior to the right hemisphere function in the perceptual task. The laterality effects of the depressives and normals differed on two electrodermal measures: skin conductance level and skin conductance response amplitude. The depressives' electrodermal activity from the right hand was diminished as compared with the left hand; the normals did not show this effect. Medication decreased electrodermal activity in the schizophrenics, but had no significant effect on laterality. These results suggest that the various measures of laterality used singly in previous research in psychopathology may not all assess the same phenomenon.

scholarly journals Effect of Exposure Time on Thermal Behaviour: A Psychophysiological Approach

Signals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 863-885
Author(s):  
Bilge Kobas ◽  
Sebastian Clark Koth ◽  
Kizito Nkurikiyeyezu ◽  
Giorgos Giannakakis ◽  
Thomas Auer
Keyword(s):  
Circadian Rhythm ◽  
Thermal Behaviour ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
The Body ◽  
Climate Chamber ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Conductance Level

This paper presents the findings of a 6-week long, five-participant experiment in a controlled climate chamber. The experiment was designed to understand the effect of time on thermal behaviour, electrodermal activity (EDA) and the adaptive behavior of occupants in response to a thermal non-uniform indoor environment were continuously logged. The results of the 150 h-long longitudinal study suggested a significant difference in tonic EDA levels between “morning” and “afternoon” clusters although the environmental parameters were the same, suggesting a change in the human body’s thermal reception over time. The correlation of the EDA and temperature was greater for the afternoon cluster (r = 0.449, p < 0.001) in relation to the morning cluster (r = 0.332, p < 0.001). These findings showed a strong temporal dependency of the skin conductance level of the EDA to the operative temperature, following the person’s circadian rhythm. Even further, based on the person’s chronotype, the beginning of the “afternoon” cluster was observed to have shifted according to the person’s circadian rhythm. Furthermore, the study is able to show how the body reacts differently under the same PMV values, both within and between subjects; pointing to the lack of temporal parameter in the PMV model.

Defense Mechanism Test and Electrodermal Activity

1998 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 279-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lennart Bogren ◽  
Inga-Britt Bogren ◽  
Lars-Håkan Thorell
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Affective Disorder ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Schizophrenic Disorder ◽  
Model Situation ◽  
Defence Strategies ◽  
Conductance Level

Electrodermal activity was registered during examination with the Defense Mechanism Test of 21 patients diagnosed with anxiety disorder, affective disorder, or schizophrenic disorder. The test can be interpreted as a model situation of how a person defends himself against a threat to avoid anxiety. We used Andersson's modified version of the test and tested the hypothesis that electrodermal activity should increase when there were responses categorised as Anxiety and decrease when there were responses categorised as defences or when the threat was correctly identified. We found significant increase in all electrodermal variables in connection with responses categorised as Anxiety. After exposures with responses categorised as Isolation, the maximal skin conductance level and the magnitude of late nonspecific responses were significantly decreased. After exposures when the threat was identified and thus no longer subliminal, the electrodermal activity was significantly decreased. All these findings support our hypothesis. After exposures with responses categorised as Denial all electrodermal variables were significantly increased. Similarly in responses categorised as Repression, Introaggression, and Disavowal or denial of hero's sex the frequency of late nonspecific responses were significantly increased. The increased electrodermal activity could be due to insufficient defence strategies as categorised in the Defense Mechanism Test.

Effects of Provocation on Emotions and Aggression: An Experimental Study with Aggressive Children

2006 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Stadler ◽  
Sonja Rohrmann ◽  
Sibylle Steuber ◽  
Fritz Poustka
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Competitive Reaction ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Conduct Disordered ◽  
Physiological Variables ◽  
Aggressive Children ◽  
Conductance Level

In this study, the effects of an experimental-induced provocation on emotions and aggression were examined in 34 aggressive conduct-disordered children using a competitive reaction time paradigm. Two experimental conditions were created, an increasing provocation and a low constant provocation condition. Self-rated anger was assessed directly after provocation on a 5-point-visual scale. In addition, negative and positive emotions as well as physiological measures (heart rate and skin conductance level) were measured at baseline and after provocation. Results revealed that participants’ aggressive behaviour and subjective emotions differed as a function of the opponent’s level of provocation. Concerning physiological parameters, no significant differences were found between the experimental conditions. These results suggest that affective, but not physiological variables characterize reactive aggression in conduct-disordered children.

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