First evidence for differential and sequential efferent effects of stimulus relevance and goal conduciveness appraisal

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2006.09.001

Biological Psychology

Volume 74, Issue 3, March 2007, Pages 347-357

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2006.09.001 Get rights and content

Abstract

In the context of a memory task, participants were presented with pictures displaying biological and cultural threat stimuli or neutral stimuli (stimulus relevance manipulation) with superimposed symbols signaling monetary gains or losses (goal conduciveness manipulation). Results for heart rate and facial electromyogram show differential efferent effects of the respective appraisal outcomes and provide first evidence for sequential processing, as postulated by Scherer's component process model of emotion. Specifically, as predicted, muscle activity over the brow and cheek regions marking the process of relevance appraisal occurred significantly earlier than facial muscle activity markers of goal conduciveness appraisal. Heart rate, in contrast, was influenced by the stimulus relevance manipulation only.

Section snippets

Participants

Forty-four (38 female) University of Geneva undergraduates, mainly psychology students, were recruited in the context of a course requirement or via ads posted in a university building. Because of apparatus failure, two female participants had to be excluded from all analyses. The remaining 42 participants were aged between 19 and 40 years (M = 22.1, S.D. = 4.55). Another female participant was excluded from the heart rate analyses because of abnormal arrhythmia. On the basis of a random procedure,

Manipulation check

Participants remembered the picture content (stimulus relevance manipulation) very well and made virtually no mistakes (<1%). They had more difficulties recalling which symbol had been superimposed on the picture (indicating the degree of goal conduciveness). Of the answers concerning the goal conduciveness manipulation check, 5.8% were incorrect and the respective trials were excluded from further analyses.

Heart rate

The four-factorial ANOVA revealed an interaction effect of time × stimulus relevance, F

Discussion

Our main hypothesis was that the proposed sequential nature of the appraisal process (Scherer, 1984, Scherer, 2001) should be manifested in physiological responding. Differences between the stimulus relevance conditions were thought to be reflected earlier in bodily responses than differences between the goal conduciveness conditions. First, we will discuss the efferent effects of the stimulus relevance appraisal. Second, we will do the same with the goal conduciveness appraisal. Finally, the

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Future investigations should do so and further examine the possibility of differential predictive power of baseline and reactivity features. That facial muscle activity at the M. Zygomaticus major (including muscles that are located close-by) is able to capture fear and very negative stimulation has been reported before (Aue et al., 2007; Bradley and Lang, 2007; Ekman, 2003; Elgee, 2003; Larsen et al., 2003). Such activity may relate to the existence of a so-called fear grimace or bared-teeth display (Van Hooff, 1972) as well as signal appeasement and submissive behavior in primates (Parr et al., 2016; Waller and Dunbar, 2005).
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^☆: This research was supported by grant 11-61659.00 of the Swiss National Science Foundation to Klaus R. Scherer and Anders Flykt.

¹: Present address: University of Chicago, IL, USA.

²: Present address: Karlstad University, Sweden.

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First evidence for differential and sequential efferent effects of stimulus relevance and goal conduciveness appraisal☆

Abstract

Section snippets

Participants

Manipulation check

Heart rate

Discussion

Behaviour Research and Therapy

Behaviour Research & Therapy

Journal of Neuroscience Methods

Biological Psychology

Die Differenzierung verschiedener Lächeltypen: FACS-Codierung und Einschätzungen. Eine Untersuchung zur Eindrucksbildung

Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Psychologie

Autonomic determinism: the modes of autonomic control, the doctrine of autonomic space, and the laws of autonomic constraint

Psychological Review

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia: autonomic origins, physiological mechanisms, and psychophysiological implications

Psychophysiology

Emotion and motivation

Social neuroscience: principles of psychophysiological arousal and response

The psychophysiology of emotion

The psychophysiology of emotions

Electromyographic activity over facial muscle regions can differentiate the valence and intensity of affective reactions

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

About brows: emotional and conversational signals.

Darwin, deception and facial expression

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Manual for the Facial Action Coding System

Felt, false, and miserable smiles

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior

Laughing at death

Psychoanalytic Review

Behavioral markers and recognizability of the smile of enjoyment

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Guidelines for human electromyographic research

Psychophysiology

The Neuropsychology of Anxiety

Motivational organisation of emotions: autonomic changes, cortical responses and reflex modulation

The autonomic nervous system and its coordination by the brain

Facial expressions as indicators of appraisal processes

Emotion, attention, and the startle reflex

Psychological Review