Modeling Skin Conductance Response Time Series during Consecutive Rapid Decision-Making under Concurrent Temporal Pressure and Information Ambiguity

Emergency situations promote risk-taking behaviors associated with anxiety reactivity. A previous study using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has demonstrated that prespecified state anxiety predicts moderate risk-taking (middle-risk/high-return) after salient penalty events under temporal pressure and information ambiguity. Such moderate risk-taking can be used as a behavioral background in the case of fraud damage. We conducted two psychophysiological experiments using the IGT and used a psychophysiological modeling approach to examine how moderate risk-taking under temporal pressure and information ambiguity is associated with automatic physiological responses, such as a skin conductance response (SCR). The first experiment created template SCR functions under concurrent temporal pressure and information ambiguity. The second experiment produced a convolution model using the SCR functions and fitted the model to the SCR time series recorded under temporal pressure and no temporal pressure, respectively. We also collected the participants’ anxiety profiles before the IGT experiment. The first finding indicated that participants with higher state anxiety scores yielded better model fitting (that is, event-related physiological responses) under temporal pressure. The second finding demonstrated that participants with better model fitting made consecutive Deck A selections under temporal pressure more frequently. In summary, a psychophysiological modeling approach is effective for capturing overlapping SCRs and moderate risk-taking under concurrent temporal pressure and information ambiguity is associated with automatic physiological and emotional reactivity.

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Intolerance of uncertainty and physiological responses during instructed uncertain threat: a multi-lab investigation

10.31234/osf.io/5xdsy ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jayne Morriss ◽

Daniel E. Bradford ◽

Nicolò Biagi ◽

Shannon Wake ◽

Ema Tanovic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Skin Conductance ◽

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Physiological Responses ◽

Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽

Orbicularis Oculi ◽

Physiological Measure ◽

Corrugator Supercilii ◽

Secondary Analyses ◽

Threat Of Shock

Individuals with high self-reported Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) tend to interpret uncertainty negatively. Recent research has been inconclusive on evidence of an association between IU and physiological responses during instructed uncertain threat. To address this gap, we conducted secondary analyses of IU and physiology data recorded during instructed uncertain threat tasks from two lab sites (Wisconsin-Madison; n = 128; Yale, n = 103). Higher IU was associated with: (1) greater corrugator supercilii activity to predictable and unpredictable threat of shock, compared to the safety from shock, and (2) poorer discriminatory skin conductance response between the unpredictable threat of shock, relative to the safety from shock. No IU-related effects were observed for the orbicularis oculi. These findings suggest that IU-related biases may be captured differently depending on the physiological measure during instructed uncertain threat. Implications of these findings for neurobiological models of uncertainty and anticipation in anxiety are discussed.

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Skin Conductance Response to Emotional Stimuli and Injury Location in Patients with Single Right Hemisphere Damage

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.01.2050 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 41 (S1) ◽

pp. S166-S166

Author(s):

S. Álvarez ◽

G. Lahera

Keyword(s):

Skin Conductance ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Physiological Responses ◽

Insular Cortex ◽

Right Hemisphere Damage ◽

Biofeedback System ◽

The Relationship

IntroductionRight hemisphere damage (RHD) has been related to alterations in emotion processing. However, results regarding physiological responses are limited and inconsistent. More research regarding specific brain areas involved in emotional physiological responses is needed.ObjectivesTo examine the skin conductance response (SCR) to emotion eliciting images in patients with single RHD. To explore the relationship between SCR and brain injury location in patients with single RHD.AimsTo examine the relationship between SCR and cortical and subcortical damage in RH regarding emotional processing.MethodForty-one individuals with RHD due to stroke were assessed (mean age 68.5, SD 12.2, 51.1 males). The amplitude of event-related SCR was registered through a biofeedback system while observing 54 photographs from the international affective picture system (IAPS). Emotional images were classified using two different approaches: emotional valence (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral) and social vs. non-social content. Brain damage location, determined through medical records, included cortical (frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes) as well as sub-cortical (caudate nucleus, thalamus, lenticular nucleus, insular cortex, basal ganglia and limbic system) structures.ResultsAmplitude of SCR to emotional images was significantly lower in individuals with occipital cortex injury compared to those with damage in other brain locations (P < 0.05). These results were consistent through all stimuli categories but non-social pictures, which presented the same pattern though, did not reach statistical significance.ConclusionsResults show a relationship between occipital areas in HD and SCR to emotional eliciting stimuli, suggesting occipital right lobe involvement in physiological emotional processing.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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Normatively Irrelevant Affective Cues Affect Risk-Taking under Uncertainty: Insights from the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Skin Conductance Response, and Heart Rate Variability

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11030336 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 336

Author(s):

Giulia Priolo ◽

Marco D’Alessandro ◽

Andrea Bizzego ◽

Nicolao Bonini

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Heart Rate Variability ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Risk Taking ◽

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Iowa Gambling Task ◽

Incongruent Condition ◽

Congruent Condition ◽

Gambling Task ◽

Affective Cues

Being able to distinguish between safe and risky options is paramount in making functional choices. However, deliberate manipulation of decision-makers emotions can lead to risky behaviors. This study aims at understanding how affective reactions driven by normatively irrelevant affective cues can interfere with risk-taking. Good and Bad decks of the Iowa Gambling Task have been manipulated to make them unpleasant through a negative auditory manipulation. Anticipatory skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate variability (HRV) have been investigated in line with the somatic marker hypothesis. Results showed fewer selections from Good decks when they were negatively manipulated (i.e., Incongruent condition). No effect of the manipulation was detected when Bad decks were negatively manipulated (i.e., Congruent condition). Higher anticipatory SCR was associated with Bad decks in Congruent condition. Slower heart rate was found before selections from Good decks in Control and Congruent condition and from Bad decks in Incongruent condition. Differences in heart rate between Bad and Good decks were also detected in Congruent condition. Results shed light on how normatively irrelevant affective cues can interfere with risk-taking.

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