Affective Arousal Research Articles

Affective and Cognitive Responses to Musical Performances of Early 20th Century Classical Solo Piano Compositions

Effective audience engagement with musical performance involves social, cognitive and affective elements. We investigate the influence of observers’ musical expertise and instrumental motor expertise on their affective and cognitive responses to complex and unfamiliar classical piano performances of works by Scriabin and Hanson presented in audio and audio-visual formats. Observers gave their felt affect (arousal and valence) and their action understanding responses continuously while observing the performances. Liking and familiarity were rated after each excerpt. As hypothesized: visual information enhanced observers’ action understanding and liking ratings; observers with music training rated their action understanding, liking and familiarity higher than did nonmusicians; observers’ felt affect did not vary according to their musical or motor expertise. Contrary to our hypotheses: visual information had only a slight effect on observers’ arousal felt affect responses and none on valence; musicians’ specific instrumental motor expertise did not influence action understanding responses. We also observed a significant negative relationship between action understanding and felt affect responses. Ideas of empathy in musical interactions motivated the research; the empathy framework in relation to musical performance is discussed. Nonmusician audiences might be sensitized to challenging musical performances through multimodal strategies to build the performer-observer connection and increase understanding of performance.

Lessons from helping behavior in rats.

Helping involves other-oriented actions that have the potential to benefit another. The last ten years has seen the introduction of several experimental paradigms to study helping in rats. In the best characterized of these, a free rat opens a door to release a rat trapped in an acrylic tube or pool of water. Helping is proffered independent of the opportunity to socially interact. Both an absence and an excess of affective arousal or anxiety antagonize helping whereas mild levels of distress facilitate helping. Helping is socially selective and highly sensitive to the social environment with non-helpers antagonizing and additional helpers facilitating another rat's propensity to help.

The Effect of Architectural Forms on Aesthetic Response : Study Case

This research seeks to identify building exterior characteristics that are best liked, most pleasing, rated beautiful and exciting by architects. A methodology based on mixed research methods was developed. The study sought architect’s preferences for twelve different public buildings. Analysis of 68 responses to the survey questionnaire identified several building’s exteriors characteristics that were consistently most preferred aesthetically. Four formal attributes. Complexity, Order, Ambiguity, and Potency, each of which was measured by three variables, and one variable added to the ambiguity, so a total of 13 formal (cognitive / perceptual) variables were included in the study. The effects of these attributes on affective responses, i.e., Arousal and Evaluation, each of which was measured by three variables, were examined. The analysis of the scatter chart identifies the level of association between two dependent variables, aesthetic response and formal features. A medium to a strong relationship has been recognized between aesthetic response with moderate complexity and moderate to high levels of order and organization also with near high levels of novelty and mystery. Though, a weak correlation between the remaining of the dependent variables indicates a thin relationship. The higher the level of ambiguity in the exterior, the more excited the receiver. The higher the classification of mystery and novelty, the higher the degrees of excitement by the respondent. There is also a strong correlation between higher levels of polysemy and ratings of arousal, exciting and stimulation. The aesthetic evaluation (beauty) of the building depends and is influenced mainly by the preference of pleasure and admiration, and these three variables are affected by other variables such as ambiguity, complexity, and order. The aesthetic response is a complex process where each variable is affected by another variable, which ultimately leads to a comprehensive aesthetic evaluation.

First-Hand Accounts of Interoceptive Difficulties in Autistic Adults.

Interoceptive awareness refers to one's ability to detect, discriminate, and regulate internal bodily and mental processes. Interoceptive challenges in ASD remain under researched and poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed texts of adults who self-identify as autistic describing their interoceptive challenges. Many individuals described limited awareness of hunger, satiation, or thirst, which contributed to eating disordered behavior in some instances. Others described limited awareness or difficulty understanding affective arousal, pain or illness, and difficulty differentiating benign body signals from signals that represent medical concerns. Findings from this study call for increased research attention on this topic, and a need for valid and objective measures for assessing interoception in ASD.

In the Flow of Life: Capturing Affective Socializing Dynamics Using a Wearable Sensor and Intensive Daily Diaries.

Interpersonal socializing is important to many sociological outcomes, but assessing the affective dynamics within interactional contexts is extremely challenging methodologically. As a first step toward capturing socializing and affective outcomes concurrently, this pilot study (n = 118) combines intensive daily surveys with a wearable sensor that tracked affective arousal. This approach allowed the operationalization of affect along its two primary dimensions, valence and arousal, which were then linked to periods socializing with a romantic partner, a best friend, and/or a group of friends. Although socializing predicted positive and negative affective valence concurrently in time, only socializing with groups of friends consistently predicted increased affective arousal. Findings for romantic partners and/or socializing with a close friend suggest that low arousal "downtime" with close intimates may also provide important social functions. This work demonstrates a new biosignaling approach to affective dynamics broadly relevant to emotion-related sociological research.

Perception and Appreciation of Tactile Objects: The Role of Visual Experience and Texture Parameters

This exploratory study was designed to examine the effects of visual experience and specific texture parameters on both discriminative and aesthetic aspects of tactile perception. To this end, the authors conducted two experiments using a novel behavioral (ranking) approach in blind and (blindfolded) sighted individuals. Groups of congenitally blind, late blind, and (blindfolded) sighted participants made relative stimulus preference, aesthetic appreciation, and smoothness or softness judgment of two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) tactile surfaces through active touch. In both experiments, the aesthetic judgment was assessed on three affective dimensions, Relaxation, Hedonics, and Arousal, hypothesized to underlie visual aesthetics in a prior study. Results demonstrated that none of these behavioral judgments significantly varied as a function of visual experience in either experiment. However, irrespective of visual experience, significant differences were identified in all these behavioral judgments across the physical levels of smoothness or softness. In general, 2D smoothness or 3D softness discrimination was proportional to the level of physical smoothness or softness. Second, the smoother or softer tactile stimuli were preferred over the rougher or harder tactile stimuli. Third, the 3D affective structure of visual aesthetics appeared to be amodal and applicable to tactile aesthetics. However, analysis of the aesthetic profile across the affective dimensions revealed some striking differences between the forms of appreciation of smoothness and softness, uncovering unanticipated substructures in the nascent field of tactile aesthetics. While the physically softer 3D stimuli received higher ranks on all three affective dimensions, the physically smoother 2D stimuli received higher ranks on the Relaxation and Hedonics but lower ranks on the Arousal dimension. Moreover, the Relaxation and Hedonics ranks accurately overlapped with one another across all the physical levels of softness/hardness, but not across the physical levels of smoothness/roughness. These findings suggest that physical texture parameters not only affect basic tactile discrimination but differentially mediate tactile preferences, and aesthetic appreciation. The theoretical and practical implications of these novel findings are discussed.

Perception and Appreciation of Tactile Objects: The Role of Visual Experience and Texture Parameters †

This exploratory study was designed to examine the effects of visual experience and specific texture parameters on both discriminative and aesthetic aspects of tactile perception. To this end, the authors conducted two experiments using a novel behavioral (ranking) approach in blind and (blindfolded) sighted individuals. Groups of congenitally blind, late blind, and (blindfolded) sighted participants made relative stimulus preference, aesthetic appreciation, and smoothness or softness judgment of two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) tactile surfaces through active touch. In both experiments, the aesthetic judgmen t was assessed on three affective dimensions, Relaxation, Hedonics, and Arousal, hypothesized to underlie visual aesthetics in a prior study. Results demonstrated that none of these behavioral judgments significantly varied as a function of visual experience in either experiment. However, irrespective of visual experience, significant differences were identified in all these behavioral judgments across the physical levels of smoothness or softness. In general, 2D smoothness or 3D softness discrimination was proportional to the level of physical smoothness or softness. Second, the smoother or softer tactile stimuli were preferred over the rougher or harder tactile stimuli. Third, the 3D affective structure of visual aesthetics appeared to be amodal and applicable to tactile aesthetics. However, analysis of the aesthetic profile across the affective dimensions revealed some striking differences between the forms of appreciation of smoothness and softness, uncovering unanticipated substructures in the nascent field of tactile aesthetics. While the physically softer 3D stimuli received higher ranks on all three affective dimensions, the physically smoother 2D stimuli received higher ranks on the Relaxation and Hedonics but lower ranks on the Arousal dimension. Moreover, the Relaxation and Hedonics ranks accurately overlapped with one another across all the physical levels of softness/hardness, but not across the physical levels of smoothness/roughness. These findings suggest that physical texture parameters not only affect basic tactile discrimination but differentially mediate tactile preferences, and aesthetic appreciation. The theoretical and practical implications of these novel findings are discussed.

White matter abnormalities in misophonia

Misophonia is a condition in which specific ordinary sounds provoke disproportionately strong negative affect and physiological arousal. Evidence for neurobiological abnormalities underlying misophonia is scarce. Since many psychiatric disorders show white matter (WM) abnormalities, we tested for both macro and micro-structural WM differences between misophonia patients and healthy controls.We collected T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images from 24 patients and 25 matched controls. We tested for group differences in WM volume using whole-brain voxel-based morphometry and used the significant voxels from this analysis as seeds for probabilistic tractography. After calculation of diffusion tensors, we compared group means for fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, and directional diffusivities, and applied tract-based spatial statistics for voxel-wise comparison.Compared to controls, patients had greater left-hemispheric WM volumes in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, anterior thalamic radiation, and body of the corpus callosum connecting bilateral superior frontal gyri. Patients also had lower averaged radial and mean diffusivities and voxel-wise comparison indicated large and widespread clusters of lower mean diffusivity.We found both macro and microstructural WM abnormalities in our misophonia sample, suggesting misophonia symptomatology is associated with WM alterations. These biological alterations may be related to differences in social-emotional processing, particularly recognition of facial affect, and to attention for affective information.

The effects of the order of picture presentation on the subjective emotional evaluation of pictures

In the last twenty years, a great number of studies on subjective emotional evaluation of affective pictures have been published. However, it is well-known that the order of presentation may entail sequential effects, which is the perception of a previous stimulus that may influence the next stimulus's perception. Our study examines whether the order of picture presentation influences the subjective evaluation of their affective valence and arousal. The results showed some influence of the order of presentation on affective valence: unpleasant pictures at the end were less unpleasant than unpleasant pictures at the beginning, and the neutral picture, when presented after unpleasant pictures, was more pleasant than when presented after pleasant pictures. No effect of presentation order on arousal was found. These findings suggest that several picture presentation orders should be used in future experiments on emotions to avoid possible effects of the order on affective valence.

The Impact of Visual Art and High Affective Arousal on Heuristic Decision-Making in Consumers.

In marketing, the use of visual-art-based designs on products or packaging crucially impacts consumers’ decision-making when purchasing. While visual art in product packaging should be designed to induce consumer’s favorable evaluations, it should not evoke excessive affective arousal, because this may lead to the depletion of consumer’s cognitive resources. Thus, consumers may use heuristic decision-making and commit an inadvertent mistake while purchasing. Most existing studies on visual arts in marketing have focused on preference (i.e., affective valence) using subjective evaluations. To address this, we applied a neuroscientific measure, electroencephalogram (EEG) to increase experimental validity. Two successive tasks were designed to examine the effects of affective arousal and affective valence, evoked by visual artwork, on the consecutive cognitive decision-making. In task 1, to evaluate the effect of visual art, EEG of two independent groups of people was measured when they viewed abstract artwork. The abstract art of neoplasticism (AbNP) group (n = 20) was showing Mondrian’s artwork, while the abstract art of expressionism (AbEX) group (n = 18) viewed Kandinsky’s artwork. The neoplasticism movement strove to eliminate emotion in art and expressionism to express the feelings of the artist. Building on Gallese’s embodied simulation theory, AbNP and AbEX artworks were expected to induce lower and higher affect, respectively. In task 2, we investigated how the induced affect differentially influenced a succeeding cognitive Stroop task. We anticipated that the AbEX group would deplete more cognitive resources than AbNP group, based on capacity limitation theory. Significantly stronger affect was induced in the AbEX group in task 1 than in the AbNP group, especially in affective arousal. In task 2, the AbEX group showed a faster reaction time and higher error rate in the Stroop task. According to our hypotheses, the higher affective arousal state of the AbEX group might deplete more cognitive resources during task 1 and result in poorer performance in task 2 because affect impacted their cognitive resources. This is the first study using neuroscientific measures to prove that high affective arousal induced by visual arts on packaging may induce heuristic decision-making in consumers, thereby advancing our understanding of neuromarketing.

Chinese diaspora tourists' emotional experiences and ancestral hometown attachment

This study adopts a mixed method to examine Chinese diaspora tourists' ancestral hometown emotional experiences. A qualitative approach was used to establish a conceptual framework of emotional experience, and quantitative research was performed to evaluate the effects of respondents' emotional experiences on their ancestral hometown attachment with diaspora tourism. Results show that diaspora tourists' emotional hometown experiences included nostalgic memory and affective arousal, which influenced diaspora tourists' hometown attachment. Specifically, nostalgic memory positively influenced place dependence, place identity and affective attachment; affective arousal positively influenced place identity and social bonding. Diaspora tourists' emotional experiences and hometown attachment also differed demographically. These findings provide practical implications for the construction of diaspora ancestral hometowns.

Spousal interference and relational turbulence during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Relational Turbulence Theory proposes that when romantic partners interrupt everyday routines in response to transitions, affective arousal will be heightened in the form of more intense emotions. The goal of this study was to test this theoretical logic in a married sample of 165 spouses during the initial peak of the COVID-19 pandemic (April, 2020). Participants completed an online survey measuring how often their spouse interfered with their daily routines, the negative emotions they experienced when interacting with their spouse, and how much turbulence they perceived in the marriage. Results of a parallel multiple mediation model provided support for the theory in the context of this global pandemic; anger and sadness toward the spouse independently mediated the effect of interference from that spouse on relational turbulence in the marriage.

Effectiveness of a Multicomponent Treatment for Fibromyalgia Based on Pain Neuroscience Education, Exercise Therapy, Psychological Support, and Nature Exposure (NAT-FM): A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.

A recent study (FIBROWALK) has supported the effectiveness of a multicomponent treatment based on pain neuroscience education (PNE), exercise therapy (TE), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and mindfulness in patients with fibromyalgia. The aim of the present RCT was: (a) to analyze the effectiveness of a 12-week multicomponent treatment (nature activity therapy for fibromyalgia, NAT-FM) based on the same therapeutic components described above plus nature exposure to maximize improvements in functional impairment (primary outcome), as well as pain, fatigue, anxiety-depression, physical functioning, positive and negative affect, self-esteem, and perceived stress (secondary outcomes), and kinesiophobia, pain catastrophizing thoughts, personal perceived competence, and cognitive emotion regulation (process variables) compared with treatment as usual (TAU); (b) to preliminarily assess the effects of the nature-based activities included (yoga, Nordic walking, nature photography, and Shinrin Yoku); and (c) to examine whether the positive effects of TAU + NAT-FM on primary and secondary outcomes at post-treatment were mediated through baseline to six-week changes in process variables. A total of 169 FM patients were randomized into two study arms: TAU + NAT-FM vs. TAU alone. Data were collected at baseline, at six-week of treatment, at post-treatment, and throughout treatment by ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Using an intention to treat (ITT) approach, linear mixed-effects models and mediational models through path analyses were computed. Overall, TAU + NAT-FM was significantly more effective than TAU at posttreatment for the primary and secondary outcomes evaluated, as well as for the process variables. Moderate-to-large effect sizes were achieved at six-weeks for functional impairment, anxiety, kinesiophobia, perceived competence, and positive reappraisal. The number needed to treat (NNT) was 3 (95%CI = 1.6–3.2). The nature activities yielded an improvement in affective valence, arousal, dominance, fatigue, pain, stress, and self-efficacy. Kinesiophobia and perceived competence were the mediators that could explain a significant part of the improvements obtained with TAU + NAT-FM treatment. TAU + NAT-FM is an effective co-adjuvant multicomponent treatment for improving FM-related symptoms.

Callous-Unemotional Features are Associated with Emotion Recognition Impairments in Young ODD Children with Low but not High Affective Arousal.

Despite increasing support for the distinction between primary and secondary variants of callous-unemotional features in children with disruptive behavioural disorders, evidence about whether emotion recognition deficits are only characteristic of primary CU is inconclusive. We tested whether, in young children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD; N = 74), level of affective arousal moderated the association between CU and performance on behavioural measures of emotional abilities. The association between CU and emotion recognition abilities was dependent on the child's level of affective arousal with higher CU associated with poorer emotion recognition abilities for ODD children with lower affective arousal (r = -0.49; p = .007) but not for those with higher levels (r = 0.03; p = .838). Our results replicate recent findings and give support to the notion that the primary CU variant is characterised emotionally by under arousal of affect, low affect dysregulation and impaired emotion recognition abilities.

When and How Does Work-family Conflict Turn into Psychological Disorder?

ABSTRACT
 The paper attempts to re-conceptualize work-family conflict based on qualitative contents from online survey of Indian managers. Researchers focus on perceptions of work-family conflict tracing the typology of antecedents and sources, dynamics of feelings aroused, covert adjustments, overt/behavioural manifestations, and the consequences to individuals and organizations. It is contended that covert adjustments (through ego defense mechanisms) in a conflict situation play a pivotal role before giving behavioural expression to feelings aroused. Further it is contributed to work-family conflict using 2(positive/negative)x2 (directed toward self/others)x3(location; workplace/family/both) model together with the adverse effects of psychological deviance. The researchers add value to the existing literature on conflict management by extending the role of psychological dynamics of affective arousal, covert adjustments and overt manifestations of conflict, and progression of the conflict experience into psychological distress possibly leading to adverse effects of psychological deviance requiring psychiatric or psychological help.

Thematic section on child and youth complex trauma: Promoting social courage to shift practices, policies and research

Thematic section on child and youth complex trauma: Promoting social courage to shift practices, policies and research

Exploring resilience in the affect regulation of family violence-exposed adolescents

Objectives: The study explores the presence of the three components of Ungar’s (2019) biopsychosocial process definition of resilience in the context of family violence-exposed adolescents’ descriptions of affect regulation when experiencing high affect arousal. Methods: A convenience sample of 16 youth, age 15-25 with histories of family psychological, and/or physical violence exposure, completed semi-structured qualitative interviews describing affect regulation during arousal states in past stressful situations. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Utilising deductive framework analysis, predefined thematic coding was conducted in NVivo. Results: Rich descriptions were generated of youth’s adaptive capacities to regulate affect while under stress. We explored the presence of the three components of Ungar’s (2019) resilience definition in the data: 1) Risk affect regulation during hyper-/hypo-arousal states, 2) Navigation of access to and negotiation for meaningful promotive and protective internal and external factors, and 3) Resilience outcomes of recovery, adaptation, and transformation. The framework analysis of Ungar’s (2019) resilience definition illuminated differential interactions between adolescents and access to resources in their environments. Despite some resource deficits, participants demonstrated adaptive resilience when regulating affect. Implications: Ungar’s (2019) process resilience definition highlights the interconnection between youth’s resource needs and the capacity of their environments to provide them to enhance resilience. Results suggest that interventions to increase resilience should incorporate the full biopsychosocial ecological process model with a focus on regulation capacity. The knowledge gained from youth perspectives of affect regulation processes is directly applicable to complex trauma-informed interventions to increase self-regulation and resilience while reducing behavioural reactivity for violence-exposed adolescents.

Protocol for the impact of CBT for insomnia on pain symptoms and central sensitisation in fibromyalgia: a randomised controlled trial.

IntroductionApproximately 50% of individuals with fibromyalgia (a chronic widespread pain condition) have comorbid insomnia. Treatment for these comorbid cases typically target pain, but growing research supports direct interventions for insomnia (eg, cognitive behavioural treatment for insomnia (CBT-I)) in these patients. Previous research suggests sustained hyperarousal mediated by a neural central sensitisation mechanism may underlie insomnia and chronic pain symptoms in fibromyalgia. We hypothesise CBT-I will improve insomnia symptoms, improve clinical pain and reduce central sensitisation. The trial will be the first to evaluate the short-term and long-term neural mechanisms underlying insomnia and pain improvements in fibromyalgia. Knowledge obtained from this trial might allow us to develop new or modify current treatments to better target pain mechanisms, perhaps reversing chronic pain or preventing it.Methods and analysisFemale participants (n=130) 18 years of age and older with comorbid fibromyalgia (with pain severity of at least 50/100) and insomnia will be recruited from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, and surrounding areas. Participants will be randomised to 8 weeks (plus 4 bimonthly booster sessions) of CBT-I or a sleep hygiene control group (SH). Participants will be assessed at baseline, post-treatment, 6 and 12 months follow-ups. The following assessments will be completed: 2 weeks of daily diaries measuring sleep and pain, daily actigraphy, insomnia severity index, pain-related disability, single night of polysomnography recording, arousal (heart rate variability, cognitive affective arousal), structural and functional MRI to examine pain-related neural activity and plasticity and mood (depression, anxiety).Ethics and disseminationEthics approval was obtained in July 2018 from the University of Missouri. All data are expected to be collected by 2022. Full trial results are planned to be published by 2024. Secondary analyses of baseline data will be subsequently published.Trial registration number NCT03744156.

Daily associations between affect and alcohol use among adults: The importance of affective arousal

ObjectiveLittle is known about whether level of affective arousal (i.e., high vs. low) is associated with alcohol use and whether this relationship differs by valence (i.e., positive vs. negative affect) among adults. MethodsParticipants were n = 93 self-reported current drinkers (ages 25–65) who reported positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) seven times a day and alcohol use once a day for seven consecutive days. For each individual, mean levels of high arousal PA (e.g., excited), low arousal PA (e.g., satisfied), high arousal NA (e.g., frustrated), and low arousal NA (e.g., sad) were computed for each day. ResultsAlcohol use was reported on 30% of person-days, with an average of 2.3 drinks consumed on drinking days. Heavy episodic drinking (4+/5+ drinks for women/men) occurred on 4% of days. After covarying for age, gender, and weekday, days with higher-than-usual levels of high arousal PA were associated with a 52% increase in the odds of consuming any alcohol and a 105% increase in the odds of engaging in heavy episodic drinking. Individuals reporting more low arousal PA on average had a 77% increase in the odds of heavy episodic drinking. No significant associations between high or low arousal NA and alcohol use were found. ConclusionsGreater PA, but not NA, was associated with heavy alcohol use at both the within- and between-person levels, perhaps attributable to social and enhancement drinking motives. Results differed by arousal, highlighting the importance of considering a wide range of affective states when examining alcohol use behavior.

Fear of failure: What drives it in Latin America?

Objetivo: Identificamos y cuantificamos el impacto de varios factores que afectan la respuesta emocional de los individuos frente al miedo al fracaso dada la situación externa que enfrentan en cinco países latinoamericanos: Brasil, Colombia, Chile, México y Perú. Originalidad: Proponemos un modelo de la experiencia del miedo al fracaso y verificamos una versión reducida del mismo. Asimismo, identificamos las diferencias en los factores entre los diferentes países considerados. Metodología: Utilizamos un modelo logístico de datos de panel no balanceado para Latinoamérica durante los años 2010-2015 y verificamos la robustez de los resultados con un modelo logístico de corte transversal. Resultados: Encontramos que ser mujer y madre soltera aumenta el miedo al fracaso de las personas, mientras que la edad y la educación superior lo reducen. La autopercepción de los individuos reduce su miedo al fracaso en casi un 19\%, lo que implica que una autopercepción positiva los ayudará a superar su respuesta emocional frente al miedo al fracaso. También descubrimos que la red de contactos empresariales de las personas puede mitigar y la experiencia empresarial negativa pasada puede aumentar el miedo al fracaso, pero estos efectos cambian entre los países. Recomendaciones: Para fomentar la respuesta positiva de los empresarios ante el miedo al fracaso, las incubadoras de empresas deben trabajar en sus rasgos personales, especialmente el exceso de confianza. Además, los gobiernos regionales deben tomar medidas para promover una mayor participación femenina y educación empresarial para todos. Limitación: Estamos sujetos a la limitación de la base de datos del GEM en la recopilación de datos. Conclusión: La experiencia de las personas hacia el miedo al fracaso es un proceso que se ve afectado por su género, edad, educación y autopercepción. Además, es un proceso dinámico que se mitiga o amplifica con la red de emprendedores y la experiencia empresarial negativa anterior.