title: Studying the dynamics of autonomic activity during emotional experience.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Sagol Institute for Applied Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel.
authors.forename: Yulia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Golland
authors.forename: Kobi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Keissar
authors.forename: Nava
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Levit-Binnun
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Continuous physiological signals; Dynamic emotional experiences; Electrodermal; Emotion; Heart rate; Intersubject correlation