Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY
Volume 80, Issue 3, Pages 173-181Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.01.010
Keywords
Affect modulated startle; Emotional facial expressions; Emotional scenes; Autonomic responses; Valence and arousal ratings
Funding
- German Research Society (DFG)
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We examined if emotional faces elicit physiological responses similar to pictures of emotional scenes. Forty one students viewed emotional scenes (negative, neutral, and positive) and emotional faces (angry, neutral, and happy). Heart rate, orbicularis oculi and electrodermal activity were measured continuously, and the startle reflex was elicited. Although the patterns of valence and arousal ratings were comparable, physiological response patterns differed. For scenes we replicated the valence-specific modulation of the startle response, heart rate deceleration, and the arousal-related modulation of the electrodermal response. In contrast, for faces we found valence-specific modulation only for the electrodermal response, but the startle and heart rate deceleration were modulated by arousal. Although arousal differences may account for some differences in physiological responding this shows that not all emotional material that is decoded similarly leads to the same psychophysiological output. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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