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Studying the dynamics of autonomic activity during emotional experience
Author(s) -
Golland Yulia,
Keissar Kobi,
LevitBinnun Nava
Publication year - 2014
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/psyp.12261
Subject(s) - psychology , stimulus (psychology) , dynamics (music) , cognitive psychology , autonomic nervous system , reliability (semiconductor) , psychophysiology , developmental psychology , social psychology , neuroscience , heart rate , medicine , pedagogy , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , blood pressure , radiology
Recent theories emphasize the dynamic aspects of emotions. However, the physiological measures and the methodological approaches that can capture the dynamics of emotions are underdeveloped. In the current study, we investigated whether moment‐to‐moment changes in autonomic nervous system ( ANS ) activity are reliably associated with the unfolding of emotional experience. We obtained cardiovascular and electrodermal signals from participants while they viewed emotional movies. We found that the ANS signals were temporally aligned across individuals, indicating a reliable stimulus‐driven response. The degree of response reliability was associated with the emotional time line of the movie. Finally, individual differences in ANS response reliability were strongly correlated with the subjective emotional responses. The current research offers a methodological approach for studying physiological responses during dynamic emotional situations.