Respiratory responses during affective picture viewing

Previous research has demonstrated covariation of physiological responding with judgments of valence and arousal. However, until now links between these affective dimensions and respiratory measures have not been extensively investigated. In this study, eight picture series of different affective va...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological psychology 2004-11, Vol.67 (3), p.359-373
Main Authors: Gomez, Patrick, Stahel, Werner A, Danuser, Brigitta
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect - physiology
Affectivity. Emotion
Arousal
Arousal - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Emotion
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Galvanic Skin Response - physiology
Heart rate
Heart Rate - physiology
Humans
Judgment
Male
Personality. Affectivity
Pictures
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Respiration
Skin conductance
Valence
Visual Perception
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Summary:Previous research has demonstrated covariation of physiological responding with judgments of valence and arousal. However, until now links between these affective dimensions and respiratory measures have not been extensively investigated. In this study, eight picture series of different affective valence and arousal level were shown to 30 subjects, while respiration, skin conductance level (SCL), heart rate (HR) and affective judgments were measured. With increasing pleasantness, inspiratory time lengthened, mean inspiratory flow decreased and thoracic breathing increased. With increasing arousal, inspiratory time and total breath duration shortened and mean inspiratory flow, minute ventilation, thoracic breathing and electrodermal activity increased. These findings confirm the importance of arousal in respiratory responding, but also indicate a modulatory role of affective valence. We propose that the arousal effects reflect energy mobilization in preparation to act, and that the valence effects might be a manifestation of an attention bias toward negative stimuli.
ISSN:0301-0511
1873-6246
DOI:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.03.013