Psychophysiological response patterns to affective film stimuli

Psychophysiological research on emotion utilizes various physiological response measures to index activation of the defense system. Here we tested 1) whether acoustic startle reflex (ASR), skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate (HR) elicited by highly arousing stimuli specifically reflect a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-04, Vol.8 (4), p.e62661-e62661
Main Authors: Bos, Marieke G N, Jentgens, Pia, Beckers, Tom, Kindt, Merel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activation
Adolescent
Adult
Affect - physiology
Anxiety
Arousal - physiology
Bioindicators
Biology
Biomarkers
Clinical psychology
Cognition & reasoning
Conductance
Emotional behavior
Emotions
Emotions - physiology
Fear & phobias
Female
Galvanic Skin Response
Heart Rate
Humans
Male
Medicine
Motion Pictures
Nervous system
Neurobiology
Photic Stimulation
Physiology
Psychophysiology
Reflex, Startle
Resistance
Self Report
Skin conductance response
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Startle response
Stimuli
Studies
Young Adult
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Summary:Psychophysiological research on emotion utilizes various physiological response measures to index activation of the defense system. Here we tested 1) whether acoustic startle reflex (ASR), skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate (HR) elicited by highly arousing stimuli specifically reflect a defensive state and 2) the relation between resting heart rate variability (HRV) and affective responding. In a within-subject design, participants viewed film clips with a positive, negative and neutral content. In contrast to SCR and HR, we show that ASR differentiated between negative, neutral and positive states and can therefore be considered as a reliable index of activation of the defense system. Furthermore, resting HRV was associated with affect-modulated characteristics of ASR, but not with SCR or HR. Interestingly, individuals with low-HRV showed less differentiation in ASR between affective states. We discuss the important value of ASR in psychophysiological research on emotion and speculate on HRV as a potential biological marker for demarcating adaptive from maladaptive responding.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0062661