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Airways, respiration, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia during picture viewing
Author(s) -
Ritz Thomas,
Thöns Miriam,
Fahrenkrug Saskia,
Dahme Bernhard
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2005.00312.x
Subject(s) - psychology , respiration , respiratory system , vagal tone , cardiology , medicine , heart rate , anatomy , psychiatry , autonomic nervous system , blood pressure
Emotional stimuli can cause airway constriction; however, it is uncertain whether a dimensional or categorical model of emotion can better describe airway changes. Also, little is known about the affective modulation of respiration and vagal activity, which can influence airway tone. We studied changes in oscillatory resistance (R os ), respiration, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in asthmatics and controls during viewing of affective pictures eliciting anxiety, depression, disgust, happiness, contentment, erotic tension, or neutral affect. R os , respiration, cardiac activity, and self‐report were measured during picture presentations. R os increased monotonically with picture unpleasantness mainly due to disgust pictures. RSA and respiratory timing parameters were particularly sensitive to erotic pictures. Differences between asthmatics and controls were minimal, suggesting that airway responses to unpleasant pictures are not specific to asthma.