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Electrocortical and electrodermal responses covary as a function of emotional arousal: A single‐trial analysis
Author(s) -
Keil Andreas,
Smith J. Carson,
Wangelin Bethany C.,
Sabatinelli Dean,
Bradley Margaret M.,
Lang Peter J.
Publication year - 2008
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.1469-8986.2008.00667.x
Subject(s) - psychology , audiology , arousal , electroencephalography , electrophysiology , skin conductance , developmental psychology , neuroscience , medicine , biomedical engineering
Electrophysiological studies of human visual perception typically involve averaging across trials distributed over time during an experimental session. Using an oscillatory presentation, in which affective or neutral pictures were presented for 6 s, flickering on and off at a rate of 10 Hz, the present study examined single trials of steady‐state visual evoked potentials. Moving window averaging and subsequent Fourier analysis at the stimulation frequency yielded spectral amplitude measures of electrocortical activity. Cronbach's alpha reached values >.79, across electrodes. Single‐trial electrocortical activation was significantly related to the size of the skin conductance response recorded during affective picture viewing. These results suggest that individual trials of steady‐state potentials may yield reliable indices of electrocortical activity in visual cortex and that amplitude modulation of these indices varies with emotional engagement.