title: Are valence and arousal separable in emotional experience?
abstract: The bipolar valence-arousal model of conscious experience of emotions is prominent in emotion research. In this work, we examine the validity of this model in the context of feelings elicited by visual stimuli. In particular, we examine whether arousal has a unique contribution over bivariate valence (separate measures for pleasure and displeasure) in explaining physiological arousal (electrodermal activity, EDA) and self-reported feelings at the level of item-specific responses across and within individuals. Our results suggest that self-reports of arousal have neither an advantage in predicting EDA nor make a unique contribution when valence is present in the model. Acceptance of the null hypothesis was confirmed with the use of the Bayesian information criterion. Arousal also showed no advantage over valence in predicting global feelings, but demonstrated a small unique component (1.5% to 4% of variance explained). These results have practical implications for both experimental design in the study of emotions and the underlying bases of their conscious experience.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Haifa.
authors: Assaf
authors: A
authors: Kron
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.
authors: Maryna
authors: M
authors: Pilkiw
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.
authors: Jasmin
authors: J
authors: Banaei
authors: Department of Psychology, Hebrew University.
authors: Ariel
authors: A
authors: Goldstein
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto.
authors: Adam Keith
authors: AK
authors: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D057181:Pleasure / Q000502:physiology; D057566:Self Report