scholarly journals Physiological Responses to a Haunted-House Threat Experience: Distinct Tonic and Phasic Effects

2022 ◽  
pp. 095679762110322
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Tashjian ◽  
Virginia Fedrigo ◽  
Tanaz Molapour ◽  
Dean Mobbs ◽  
Colin F. Camerer
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Orienting Response ◽  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
Phasic Activity ◽  
Activity Frequency ◽  
Human Laboratory ◽  
Group Effects

Threats elicit physiological responses, the frequency and intensity of which have implications for survival. Ethical and practical limitations on human laboratory manipulations present barriers to studying immersive threat. Furthermore, few investigations have examined group effects and concordance with subjective emotional experiences to threat. The current preregistered study measured electrodermal activity in 156 adults while they participated in small groups in a 30-min haunted-house experience involving various immersive threats. Results revealed positive associations between (a) friends and tonic arousal, (b) unexpected attacks and phasic activity (frequency and amplitude), (c) subjective fear and phasic frequency, and (d) dissociable sensitization effects linked to baseline orienting response. Findings demonstrate the relevance of (a) social dynamics (friends vs. strangers) for tonic arousal and (b) subjective fear and threat predictability for phasic arousal.

scholarly journals Contextual and endogenous effects on physiology during a haunted house fear induction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Tashjian ◽  
Virginia Fedrigo ◽  
Tanaz Molapour ◽  
dean mobbs ◽  
Colin Camerer
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Emotional Contagion ◽  
Physiological Arousal ◽  
Psychological Responses ◽  
Relationship Type ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Human Laboratory ◽  
Group Effects

Threat exposure elicits physiological and psychological responses, the frequency and intensity of which, and concordance between, has implications for survival. Ethical and practical limitations on human laboratory fear inductions make it essentially impossible to measure response to extreme threat. Furthermore, ecologically valid investigations of group effects on fear are lacking in humans. The current preregistered study measured tonic and phasic electrodermal activity in 156 human participants while they participated in small groups in a 30 minute sequence of threats of varying intensity (a haunted house). Results revealed that (i) friends increased overall arousal, (ii) unexpected attacks elicited greater phasic responses than expected attacks, (iii) subjective fear increased frequency of phasic spikes, and (iv) startle had dissociable effects on frequency and amplitude of phasic reactivity. Findings show that etiology of emotional contagion varies depending on relationship type (increased among friends) and subjective fear is associated with temporal aspects of physiological arousal.

scholarly journals Phasic Electrodermal Activity During the Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC)

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
pp. 533-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam C. Raikes ◽  
Sydney Y. Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Standardized Assessment ◽  
Test Element ◽  
Compensatory Mechanism ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Phasic Activity ◽  
Delayed Recall ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
History Of

Context: The long-term effects of concussion on brain function during cognitive tasks are not fully understood and neuroimaging findings are equivocal. Some images show hyperactivation of prefrontal brain regions in previously concussed individuals relative to controls, suggesting increased cognitive resource allocation. Others show prefrontal hypoactivation and hyperactivation in other regions as a presumed compensatory mechanism. Given the relationship between sympathetic arousal and neural activation, physiologic measures of arousal, such as electrodermal activity, may provide additional insight into the brain's functional changes in those with a history of concussion. Objective: To quantify differences in electrodermal activity during a commonly used standardized neurocognitive assessment between individuals with or without a history of concussion. Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Setting: Research laboratory. Patients or Other Participants: Seven asymptomatic individuals with a self-reported history of physician-diagnosed, sport-related concussion (number of previous concussions = 1.43 ± 0.53; time since most recent concussion = 0.75 to 6 years, median = 3 years) and 10 individuals without a history of concussion participated in this study. Main Outcome Measure(s): All participants wore bilateral wrist electrodermal activity sensors during the Standardized Assessment of Concussion. We measured normalized phasic (reactive) electrodermal activity during each test element (orientation, immediate recall, concentration, delayed recall). Results: A significant group-by-test element interaction was present (P = .003). Individuals with a history of concussion had greater phasic activity during delayed recall (P < .001). Delayed-recall phasic activity was greater in both groups relative to the other elements. Conclusions: Delayed recall resulted in greater physiologic arousal in previously concussed individuals relative to healthy control participants, supporting previous neuroimaging findings of increased prefrontal cortex activity during memory tasks after concussion. Given similar task performance and arousal patterns across the test, our results suggest that previously concussed individuals incur additional cognitive demands in a short-delay recall task.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Different Types of Alarm Sounds and Children’s Perceived Risk Based on Their Physiological Responses

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (24) ◽  
pp. 5091
Author(s):  
Jiaxu Zhou ◽  
Xiaohu Jia ◽  
Guoqiang Xu ◽  
Junhan Jia ◽  
Rihan Hai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Kindergarten Children ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Alarm Sounds

Due to differences in cognitive ability and physiological development, the evacuation characteristics of children are different from those of adults. This study proposes a novel method of using wearable sensors to collect data (e.g., electrodermal activity, EDA; heart rate variability, HRV) on children’s physiological responses, and to continuously and quantitatively evaluate the effects of different types of alarm sounds during the evacuation of children. In order to determine the optimum alarm for children, an on-site experiment was conducted in a kindergarten to collect physiological data for responses to different types of alarm sounds during the evacuation of 42 children of different ages. The results showed that: (1) The alarm sounds led to changes in physiological indicators of children aged 3–6 years, and the effects of different types of alarm sounds on EDA and HRV activities were significantly different (p < 0.05). Skin conductance (SC), skin conductance tonic (SCT) and skin conductance level (SCL) can be used as the main indicators for analysing EDA of children in this experiment (p < 0.05), and the indicators of ultralow frequency (ULF) and very low frequency (VLF) for HRV were not affected by the type of alarm sounds (p > 0.05). (2) Unlike adults, kindergarten children were more susceptible to the warning siren. The combined voice and warning alarm had optimal effects in stimulating children to perceive risk. (3) For children aged 3–6 years, gender had a significant impact on children’s reception to evacuation sound signals (p < 0.05): Girls are more sensitive than boys in receiving evacuation sound signals, similar to findings of studies of risk perception of adult males and females. In addition, the higher the age, the greater the sensitivity to evacuation sound signals, which accords with results of previous studies on the evacuation dynamics of children.

Exploring soundscaping options for the cognitive environment in an open-plan office

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-202
Author(s):  
Young Lee ◽  
Elizabeth C Nelson ◽  
Mark J Flynn ◽  
Joshua S Jackman
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Acoustic Noise ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Wearable Devices ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
Cognitive Environment ◽  
Performance Satisfaction ◽  
Acoustic Variation

A major source of noise complaints in open-plan offices has consistently been co-workers talking nearby or talking on the phone. Various masking sounds such as white noise and pink noise have been explored to reduce the intelligibility level of speech from adjacent co-workers in open-plan offices. Recently, nature soundscapes such as water, rainfall or birdsong have been introduced instead of conventional white or pink noises. Water sounds with limited acoustic variation have shown more effectiveness than nature sounds with high acoustic variation such as birdsong. This study examined four types of background sounds in a controlled lab environment that simulated a typical open-plan office in a large pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom. The purpose was to understand cognitive performance, satisfaction and preference, and physiological responses among the four types of background sounds: no external acoustic noise, typical daily office noise, white noise and spring water sound. The study employed three methods: an assessment of cognitive performance to measure memory, distractibility and decision-making; a survey to understand subjective satisfaction and preference; and use of wearable devices to monitor physiological responses. Two different types of wearable devices were used: pulse oximeter and electrodermal activity sensor to compare physiological responses to the four types of sounds. This article discusses discrepancies found between participants’ satisfaction/preference and their cognitive performance under the four background sounds and potential future implications of masking sounds in open-plan offices.

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.

Language Style Matching as a Predictor of Social Dynamics in Small Groups

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L. Gonzales ◽  
Jeffrey T. Hancock ◽  
James W. Pennebaker
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Language Style ◽  
Language Style Matching

scholarly journals Gender Differences in Tonic and Phasic Electrodermal Activity Components

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dindar S. Bari
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
New Method ◽  
Skin Potential ◽  
Males And Females

Electrodermal activity (EDA) is a well-established psychophysiological measurement for research and clinical approaches. Males and females often display different physiological responses to stimuli, which can be detected by EDA recordings. Using a new method to measure skin conductance (SC), skin potential (SP) and skin susceptance (SS) simultaneously at the same electrode, these differences were investigated. SC, SP, and SS were recorded from 60 participants during relaxation and stress. It was found that both tonic and phasic EDA parameters indicated gender differences. In addition, females displayed greater tonic and phasic EDA parameters (except for skin potential responses (SPRs)) than males under both relaxation and conditions of stimulation (stress). However, these results were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). This suggests that it is perhaps important to consider gender or at least note type of gender in EDA researches, but this cannot be generalized to clinical approaches.

scholarly journals Using Psychophysiological Sensors to Assess Mental Workload in Web Browsing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel Jimenez-Molina ◽  
Cristian Retamal ◽  
Hernan Lira
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Mental Workload ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Web Browsing ◽  
Web Page ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
Electroencephalogram Eeg

The mental workload induced by a Web page is essential for improving the user&rsquo;s browsing experience. However, continuously assessing the mental workload during a browsing task is challenging. In order to face this issue, this paper leverages the correlation between stimuli and physiological responses, which are measured with high-frequency, non-invasive psychophysiological sensors during very short span windows. An experiment was conducted to identify levels of mental workload through the analysis of pupil dilation measured by an eye-tracking sensor. In addition, a method was developed to classify real-time mental workload by appropriately combining different signals (electrodermal activity (EDA), electrocardiogram, photoplethysmography (PPG), electroencephalogram (EEG), temperature and eye gaze) obtained with non-invasive psychophysiological sensors. The results show that the Web browsing task involves on average four levels of mental workload. Also, by combining EEG with the PPG and EDA, the accuracy of the classification reaches 95.73 %.

scholarly journals Measuring narrative engagement: The heart tells the story

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Richardson ◽  
Nicole K. Griffin ◽  
Lara Zaki ◽  
Auburn Stephenson ◽  
Jiachen Yan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Body Temperatures ◽  
Active Process ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
Physiological Evidence ◽  
Auditory Scenes ◽  
Delivery Medium

AbstractStories play a fundamental role in human culture. They provide a mechanism for sharing cultural identity, imparting knowledge, revealing beliefs, reinforcing social bonds and providing entertainment that is central to all human societies. Here we investigated the extent to which the delivery medium of a story (audio or visual) affected conscious and subconscious engagement with the narrative. Although participants self-reported greater involvement for watching video relative to listening to auditory scenes, stronger physiological responses were recorded for auditory stories. Sensors placed at their wrists showed higher and more variable heart rates, greater electrodermal activity, and even higher body temperatures. We interpret these findings as physiological evidence that the stories were more cognitively and emotionally engaging when presented in an auditory format. This may be because listening to a story, rather than watching a video, is a more active process of co-creation, and that this imaginative process in the listener’s mind is detectable on the skin at their wrist.

Best Prosody for News: A Psychophysiological Study Comparing a Broadcast to a Narrative Speaking Style

2021 ◽  
pp. 009365022110593
Author(s):  
Emma Rodero ◽  
Lucía Cores-Sarría
Keyword(s):  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Objective Assessment ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Psychophysiological Study ◽  
Physiological Approach ◽  
Speaking Style ◽  
Time Evaluation

Studies in different languages have identified a broadcast speaking style, a particular manner that broadcasters have of reading news. This speaking style is characterized by an emphatic intonation with a fast speech rate easily recognizable by listeners. Some authors have stated that messages in this style are not positively perceived by listeners, as it is repetitive and regular, but there is no empirical data to support this conclusion, nor has the style been analyzed with physiological measures. The physiological approach has some advantages, such as a more objective assessment and real-time evaluation. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the effectiveness, adequacy, and physiological response of this broadcast style compared to a narrative pattern. We combined self-report with physiological measures. Fifty-six participants listened to six news pieces in both styles and with two voices, male and female. They had to rate the effectiveness and adequacy of the news while we measured their physiological responses (heart rate and electrodermal activity). The results showed that news conveyed through the broadcast style elicited less cognitive resource allocation and emotional arousal than the narrative pattern, but there were no significant differences in self-report evaluations.

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