Distinct Emotional States Research Articles

Exploring the Effects of Technology-Enabled Mindfulness and Meditation on Stress Management

Background: Studies suggest that certain technologies may help regulate emotional states and reduce stress. Spire is a wearable device that measures breathing patterns to identify distinct emotional states—calm, tense or focus—to send feedback to the user. Muse is a meditation device that gives real time user audio-feedback based on the EEG wave patterns.

The jingle and jangle of emotion assessment: Imprecise measurement, casual scale usage, and conceptual fuzziness in emotion research.

Although affective science has seen an explosion of interest in measuring subjectively experienced distinct emotional states, most existing self-report measures tap broad affect dimensions and dispositional emotional tendencies, rather than momentary distinct emotions. This raises the question of how emotion researchers are measuring momentary distinct emotions in their studies. To address this question, we reviewed the self-report measurement practices regularly used for the purpose of assessing momentary distinct emotions, by coding these practices as observed in a representative sample of articles published in Emotion from 2001-2011 (n = 467 articles; 751 studies; 356 measurement instances). This quantitative review produced several noteworthy findings. First, researchers assess many purportedly distinct emotions (n = 65), a number that differs substantially from previously developed emotion taxonomies. Second, researchers frequently use scales that were not systematically developed, and that include items also used to measure at least 1 other emotion on a separate scale in a separate study. Third, the majority of scales used include only a single item, and had unknown reliability. Together, these tactics may create ambiguity regarding which emotions are being measured in empirical studies, and conceptual inconsistency among measures of purportedly identical emotions across studies. We discuss the implications of these problematic practices, and conclude with recommendations for how the field might improve the way it measures emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record

Toward an implicit measure of emotions: ratings of abstract images reveal distinct emotional states

ABSTRACTAlthough implicit tests of positive and negative affect exist, implicit measures of distinct emotional states are scarce. Three experiments examined whether a novel implicit emotion-assessment task, the rating of emotion expressed in abstract images, would reveal distinct emotional states. In Experiment 1, participants exposed to a sadness-inducing story inferred more sadness, and less happiness, in abstract images. In Experiment 2, an anger-provoking interaction increased anger ratings. In Experiment 3, compared to neutral images, spider images increased fear ratings in spider-fearful participants but not in controls. In each experiment, the implicit task indicated elevated levels of the target emotion and did not indicate elevated levels of non-target negative emotions; the task thus differentiated among emotional states of the same valence. Correlations also supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the implicit task. Supporting the possibility that heuristic processes underlie the ratings, group differences were stronger among those who responded relatively quickly.

Cognition of stability in atonal music in teenagers with no musical experience.

Musical understanding arising any musical stimulus is generally a complex task, as it is the product of cognition, of the subsequent emotional response, as well as of the complementary interaction between cognitive and aesthetic understanding (Eggebrecht, 2010). Levinson's (1997) Statement and Elaboration of Concatenationism suggests that musical understanding is achieved when listeners are able to distinguish between four separate yet interrelated points: (a) comprehension on a small scale, (b) enjoyment of the successive parts of a piece of music, and their relationship, (c) the way in which the parts interrelate, and (d) the appreciation of the musical value of individual parts and the cogency of their succession.The body of knowledge on musical understanding is not complete without considering Architectonicism, the ability to grasp large-scale musical form and structure that enhances musical appreciation (Levinson, 1997, 2006) and, according to Kivy (2001), translates into intellectual pleasure rather than musical pleasure. Hence, this type of listening experience always involves the unfolding of successive events (expectation-delay-resolution), where sound stimuli are perceived by the listener as being inconclusive and ambiguous, that is, psychological formalism. As a result, the listener will feel the urge to clarify the ambiguity in order to experience satisfaction (Meyer, 1956).Listener expectations can unleash distinct emotional states. According to Huron, the emotions evoked . . involve five functionally distinct physiological systems: imagination, tension, prediction, reaction and appraisal. Each of these systems can evoke responses independently (Huron, 2006, p. 7). Huron considers that these issues may to a great extent point to the difficulty of understanding the musical message, and indeed this difficulty is further increased when the analysis focuses on contemporary music, that is, 20th and 21st century music, which is marked by a lack of formal structuring and the unconventional use of musical parameters, such as dissonance, rhythm, timbre, or melody intrinsic difficulties.Given the breadth of the concept, for the purpose of this study, the term atonal is restricted to music that rejects tonal functions and relationships (Alain, 1981, p. 109; von der Weid, 1997, p. 35), and is mainly represented by the styles of the Second Viennese School composers (Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern) and their music composed from 1908 until the dodecaphonic system was developed in 1923 (Bosseur, 1996, p. 20). This may explain both the lack of popularization of contemporary music and the limited exposure of the population to this type of music, namely, its extrinsic difficulties. Nevertheless, it is . . the logical culmination of a tendency that started during Romanticism (Bennett, 2003, p. 26).The scientific literature in the field of comprehension manifests the aforementioned intrinsic (cognitive difficulty) and extrinsic difficulties (lack of familiarity and exposure). According to some authors (Lerdahl & Jackendoff, 1983; Raffman, 2003), the inability to understand this type of music is due to the fact that the listener lacks a measure of relative pitch stability. He or she is unable to accept the absence of tonal centers or to establish a regular metrical hierarchy, for example.Difficulties Caused by Auditory HabitsAnother group of authors (Hargreaves, 1986; Meyer, 1956; Zajonc, 1968) believe that the limited dissemination of pieces is the result of poor listening habits. As such, listeners are unable to refer to past experiences, and their lack of reference points provokes a rejection of music because they fail to understand it. In this vein, Krumhansl (1990) indicates that the primary reason behind a lack of reference points (cognitive opacity) is that musical cognition inclines toward forms of tonal structuring in acoustic material. …

Higher Income Is Associated With Less Daily Sadness but not More Daily Happiness

Although extensive previous research has explored the relationship between income and happiness, no large-scale research has ever examined the relationship between income and sadness. Yet, happiness and sadness are distinct emotional states, rather than diametric opposites, and past research points to the possibility that wealth may have a greater impact on sadness than happiness. Using data from a diverse cross section of the U.S. population (N = 12,291), we show that higher income is associated with experiencing less daily sadness, but has no bearing on daily happiness. This pattern of findings could not be explained by relevant demographics, stress, and people’s daily time use. Although causality cannot be inferred from this correlational data set, the present findings point to the possibility that money may be a more effective tool for reducing sadness than enhancing happiness.

Depression diagnosis and management using EEG-based affective brain mapping in real time

Development of affective Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) via Electroencephalogram (EEG) has emerged as a cynosure of research in early diagnosis and effective management of depression. However, conventional BCIs are still lacking in terms of high computational complexity, less accuracy due to Fourier phase suppression and lack of substantial conclusion for depression diagnosis. An automated, EEG-based depression diagnostic and management tool is proposed to overcome these limitations. Channel event-related potentials, cross-coherence and power spectra plots in MATLAB are quantified and studied as an outcome to map real-time, emotion-specific multichannel EEG data set into distinct emotional states. A fast and stable fourth-order statistics-based independent component analysis is incorporated to reject temporal/spatial artefacts. Increases in frontal alpha (8-13 Hz) and delta (0.5-4 Hz) power/coherence are during depressed and normal/relaxed states, respectively. Devotional music (relaxed state) is found to facilitate depression elimination. Results are found to be statistically significant across all subjects with minimal p-values. Hence, it has been inferred that the proposed model has the potential to aid early and accurate depression diagnostic and management process.

Using the threat probability task to assess anxiety and fear during uncertain and certain threat.

Fear of certain threat and anxiety about uncertain threat are distinct emotions with unique behavioral, cognitive-attentional, and neuroanatomical components. Both anxiety and fear can be studied in the laboratory by measuring the potentiation of the startle reflex. The startle reflex is a defensive reflex that is potentiated when an organism is threatened and the need for defense is high. The startle reflex is assessed via electromyography (EMG) in the orbicularis oculi muscle elicited by brief, intense, bursts of acoustic white noise (i.e., "startle probes"). Startle potentiation is calculated as the increase in startle response magnitude during presentation of sets of visual threat cues that signal delivery of mild electric shock relative to sets of matched cues that signal the absence of shock (no-threat cues). In the Threat Probability Task, fear is measured via startle potentiation to high probability (100% cue-contingent shock; certain) threat cues whereas anxiety is measured via startle potentiation to low probability (20% cue-contingent shock; uncertain) threat cues. Measurement of startle potentiation during the Threat Probability Task provides an objective and easily implemented alternative to assessment of negative affect via self-report or other methods (e.g., neuroimaging) that may be inappropriate or impractical for some researchers. Startle potentiation has been studied rigorously in both animals (e.g., rodents, non-human primates) and humans which facilitates animal-to-human translational research. Startle potentiation during certain and uncertain threat provides an objective measure of negative affective and distinct emotional states (fear, anxiety) to use in research on psychopathology, substance use/abuse and broadly in affective science. As such, it has been used extensively by clinical scientists interested in psychopathology etiology and by affective scientists interested in individual differences in emotion.

Advancing emotion theory with multivariate pattern classification.

Characterizing how activity in the central and autonomic nervous systems corresponds to distinct emotional states is one of the central goals of affective neuroscience. Despite the ease with which individuals label their own experiences, identifying specific autonomic and neural markers of emotions remains a challenge. Here we explore how multivariate pattern classification approaches offer an advantageous framework for identifying emotion specific biomarkers and for testing predictions of theoretical models of emotion. Based on initial studies using multivariate pattern classification, we suggest that central and autonomic nervous system activity can be reliably decoded into distinct emotional states. Finally, we consider future directions in applying pattern classification to understand the nature of emotion in the nervous system.

EPA-1085 - Bipolar spectrum and temperament in alcohol-dependent patients

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a mood disorder characterized by two distinct emotional states: mania and depression. Its exact causes still remain unexplained. An important aspect is the spectrum of BD which is a wider category of psychopatology of mood disorders. The special region of interest concerns bipolar spectrum in alcohol-dependent patients. In this study another variable, temperament, was examined on how it influences bipolar traits in alcohol-dependent sample and in healthy control. The main aim of this study was to determine whether alcohol-dependent patients express bipolar traits and which profile of temperament predisposes to such an expression. Mood Disorders Questionnaire and Hypomania Checklist were used for identifying bipolar traits in both groups. Temperament and Character Inventory was utilized to establish the temperament profile. There are distinguishable differences between the groups when bipolarity is concerned. Alcohol-dependent patients present more manic behavior during their life when compared to healthy controls. Both groups demonstrate different traits of character and temperament. The results concerning the influence of temperament on bipolarity could not be established but other results encourage to further research. Alcohol-dependent patients evince many qualities characteristic for bipolar spectrum throughout their life. The results of this study prove that there are often premises for stating a dual diagnose as the comorbidity of these two illnesses is high. There is also a specific profile of temperament which predisposes to alcohol abuse. This study may contribute to a better conceptualization of bipolar spectrum and in result help to improve comfort of patients.

Disentangling Depression and Distress Networks in the Tinnitus Brain

Tinnitus is the continuous perception of an internal auditory stimulus. This permanent sound often affects a person's emotional state inducing distress and depressive feelings changes in 6–25% of the affected population. Distress and depression are two distinct emotional states. Whereas distress describes a transient aversive state, interfering with a person's ability to adequately adapt to stressors, depressive feelings should rather be considered as a more constant emotional state. Based on previous observations in chronic pain, posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, we assume that both states are related to separate neural circuits. We used the Dutch version of the Tinnitus Questionnaire to assess the global index of distress together with the Beck Depression Inventory to evaluate the depressive symptoms accompanying tinnitus. Furthermore sLORETA analysis was performed to correlate current density distribution with distress and depression scores, revealing a lateralization effect of depression versus distress. Distress is mainly correlated with alpha 2, beta 1 and beta 2 activity of the right frontopolar cortex and orbitofrontal cortex in combination with beta 2 activation of the anterior cingulate cortex. In contrast, the more permanent depressive alterations induced by tinnitus are associated with activity of alpha 2 activity in the left frontopolar and orbitofrontal cortex. These specific neural circuits are embedded in a greater neural network, with the parahippocampal region functioning as a crucial linkage between both tinnitus related pathways.

Dynamics of Defensive Reactivity in Patients with Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia: Implications for the Etiology of Panic Disorder

The learning perspective of panic disorder distinguishes between acute panic and anxious apprehension as distinct emotional states. Following animal models, these clinical entities reflect different stages of defensive reactivity depending upon the imminence of interoceptive or exteroceptive threat cues. The current study tested this model by investigating the dynamics of defensive reactivity in a large group of patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia (PD/AG). Three hundred forty-five PD/AG patients participated in a standardized behavioral avoidance test (being entrapped in a small, dark chamber for 10 minutes). Defense reactivity was assessed measuring avoidance and escape behavior, self-reports of anxiety and panic symptoms, autonomic arousal (heart rate and skin conductance), and potentiation of the startle reflex before and during exposure of the behavioral avoidance test. Panic disorder and agoraphobia patients differed substantially in their defensive reactivity. While 31.6% of the patients showed strong anxious apprehension during this task (as indexed by increased reports of anxiety, elevated physiological arousal, and startle potentiation), 20.9% of the patients escaped from the test chamber. Active escape was initiated at the peak of the autonomic surge accompanied by an inhibition of the startle response as predicted by the animal model. These physiological responses resembled the pattern observed during the 34 reported panic attacks. We found evidence that defensive reactivity in PD/AG patients is dynamically organized ranging from anxious apprehension to panic with increasing proximity of interoceptive threat. These data support the learning perspective of panic disorder.

Emotional Compatibility and the Effectiveness of Antidrinking Messages: A Defensive Processing Perspective on Shame and Guilt

Five studies examine how the two distinct emotional states of shame and guilt influence the effectiveness of messages that highlight socially undesirable consequences of alcohol consumption. Appeals that frame others as observing versus suffering the negative consequences of binge drinking differentially activate shame and guilt. Given these emotional consequences of message framing, the authors examine the interaction between incidental shame or guilt and message framing on drinking intentions and behavior. Compatible appeals (i.e., appeals that elicit the same emotion as being incidentally experienced by the consumer) are less effective in influencing behavioral intentions and beverage consumption because of a process in which consumers discount the notion that they may cause the negative consequences outlined in the message. Such defensive processing of compatible messages is driven by a desire to reduce the existing negative emotion.

Recognition of Emotions in Gait Patterns by Means of Artificial Neural Nets

This paper describes an application of emotion recognition in human gait by means of kinetic and kinematic data using artificial neural nets. Two experiments were undertaken, one attempting to identify participants’ emotional states from gait patterns, and the second analyzing effects on gait patterns of listening to music while walking. In the first experiment gait was analyzed as participants attempted to simulate four distinct emotional states (normal, happy, sad, angry). In the second experiment, participants were asked to listen to different types of music (excitatory, calming, no music) before and during gait analysis. Derived data were fed into different types of artificial neural nets. Results showed not only a clear distinction between individuals, but also revealed clear indications of emotion recognition in nets.

The debt of gratitude: Dissociating gratitude and indebtedness

We investigated the relationship between the emotional states of gratitude and indebtedness in two studies. Although many have suggested that these affects are essentially equivalent, we submit that they are distinct emotional states. Following Heider (1958), we propose that with increasing expectations of return communicated with a gift by a benefactor, indebtedness should increase but gratitude should decrease. The results of two vignette studies supported this hypothesis, and patterns of thought/action tendencies showed these states to be distinct. In addition, we found that with increasing expectations communicated by a benefactor, beneficiaries reported that they would be less likely to help the benefactor in the future. Taken together, we argue that the debt of gratitude is internally generated, and is not analogous to an economic form of indebtedness.

SELF-DISCREPANCIES AND NEGATIVE AFFECT: THE MODERATING ROLES OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

Although distinct self-discrepancies are theoretically associated with distinct emotional states, empirical support has been inconsistent. This study explored the moderating impact of selfconsciousness on the relationship between self-discrepancies and emotion. Discrepancies must not only exist, but must also be accessed to have their presumed consequences. Thus, individuals dispositionally prone to focus attention upon the self should evidence a stronger relationship between specific self-discrepancies and theorized emotions. Participants were assessed on self-discrepancies, on private and public self-consciousness, and on levels of negative affect. Correlations between specific self-discrepancies and theorized emotions were significantly stronger among individuals scoring higher on private self-consciousness. However, the degree to which discrepancies evoke distinct emotions was called into question. Finally, public self-consciousness was not found to play a moderating role.

Breeding for 50-kHz Positive Affective Vocalization in Rats

Adolescent and adult rats exhibit at least two distinct ultrasonic vocalizations that reflect distinct emotional states. Rats exhibit 22-kHz calls during social defeat, drug withdrawal, as well as in anticipation of aversive events. In contrast, 50-kHz calls are exhibited in high rates during play behavior, mating, as well as in anticipation of rewarding events. The neurochemistry of 22-kHz and 50-kHz calls closely matches that of negative and positive emotional systems in humans, respectively. The aim of this study was to replicate and further evaluate selective breeding for 50-kHz vocalization, in preparation for the analysis of the genetic underpinnings of the 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalization (USV). Isolate housed adolescent rats (23-26 days old) received experimenter administered tactile stimulation (dubbed "tickling"), which mimicked the rat rough-and-tumble play behavior. This stimulation has previously been shown to elicit high levels of 50-kHz USVs and to be highly rewarding in isolate-housed animals. Each tickling session consisted of 4 cycles of 15 seconds stimulation followed by 15 seconds no stimulation for a total of 2 min, and was repeated once per day across 4 successive days. Rats were then selected for either High or Low levels of sonographically verified 50-kHz USVs in response to the stimulation, and a randomly selected line served as a control (Random group). Animals emitted both 22-kHz and 50-kHz types of calls. After 5 generations, animals in the High Line exhibited significantly more 50-kHz and fewer 22-kHz USVs than animals in the Low Line. Animals selected for low levels of 50-kHz calls showed marginally more 22-kHz USVs then randomly selected animals but did not differ in the rate of 50-kHz calls. These results extend our previous findings that laboratory rats could be bred for differential rates of sonographically verified 50-kHz USVs.

Do panic patients process unconditioned fear vs. conditioned anxiety differently than normal subjects?

Panic patients were evaluated with two models of experimental anxiety that are believed to generate distinct emotional states: (1) a stimulated public speaking test (SPS), a presumed indicator of unconditioned fear, and (2) conditioning of skin conductance responses (CSCR) to a tone associated with an aversive white noise, an index of conditioned anxiety. Subjective states were evaluated through the visual analogue mood scale (VAMS) and a bodily symptoms scale (BSS). In the SPS test, panic patients showed higher baseline levels of VAMS-measured anxiety than controls. Unlike controls, panic patients failed to show increased anxiety before and during speech. Although baseline levels of arousal were similar in both groups, VAMS mental sedation decreased in controls, but not in panic patients during the SPS. Panic patients showed more discontent than controls throughout the whole experimental session. They also scored higher than controls on several items of the BSS. In the CSCR test, panic patients showed more spontaneous fluctuations of skin conductance than controls. Nevertheless, conditioning of skin conductance responses to the tone was similar in both groups. Therefore, panic patients seemed to process unconditioned fear abnormally.

Lewis/Fischer rat strain differences in endocrine and behavioural responses to environmental challenge

The Lewis (LEW) and Fischer (F344) rat strains provide a comparative model of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) function in which LEW is relatively hypoactive at homeostasis and hyporeactive to environmental challenge. The present study describes a comparison of LEW and F344 rats, males and females, in terms of their corticosterone (CORT) or behavioural responses to a range of behavioural tasks, where each of the tasks used contains a stressor component and has been demonstrated to be sensitive to corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) and/or CORT manipulation: acoustic startle response (ASR), elevated plus maze, schedule-induced polydipsia, and fear-conditioned suppression of drinking. Our aim was to determine to what extent the LEW trait of HPA axis hyporesponsiveness is associated with strain differences in behavioural responsiveness to environmental challenge. As expected, young (2–3 months)–mature (5–10 months) LEW males and females exhibited a lesser CORT response to restraint and novel confinement than did F344 males and females, although in old adulthood (18 months) the CORT stress response was equable in LEW/F344 males and actually higher in LEW than in F344 females. In young–mature adults, the ASR was greater in LEW males than in the other groups; all groups spent a low proportion of time on the open arms of the elevated plus maze; polydipsia was greater in F344 females than in the other groups; and fear-conditioned suppression of drinking was greater in F344 males and females than in LEW males and females. Therefore, relative hyporeactivity of the HPA axis in LEW rats is clearly not associated with uniform behavioural hyporeactivity, including CRF-dependent behaviours. Rather, this study suggests further evidence that environmental reactivity reflects a number of distinct emotional states and underlying neural circuits.

Unique influences of ten drugs upon post-shock biting attack and pre-shock manual responding

Delivery of a fixed-time, response-independent electric tail shock to the squirrel monkey generated bites on a rubber hose immediately following shock and manual responses on a lever immediately preceding shock; two temporally and topographically different responses in a single organism in a single experimental session. d-Amphetamine, cocaine, and caffeine each had the effect of elevating both bite and lever press responses; nicotine, chlorpromazine, chlordiazepoxide, and diazepam each elevated lever press responding while depressing bite responding across a portion of the dosage range; phenobarbital, alcohol, and morphine had the effect of depressing both bite and lever press responses but lever pressing was selectively more depressed than biting. The results parallel previous research with these drugs on other measures of aggression and on other behavioral paradigms. The responses are contigency free so that the effect of a drug does not interact with response produced environmental consequences. The recording of two separate responses related to distinct emotional states from one organism in a single experimental session allows for the objective measurement of selective and differential drug effects.

A multifactor-system dynamics theory of emotion

In multifactor individuality theory, emotion is treated as the product of the interaction of the cognitive and affective systems, where the cognitive system is defined as a multidimensional, hierarchical system that transforms information in order to detect environmental invariants, and the affective system is defined as a multidimensional hierarchical system that transforms information into arousal states. The highest order dimensions of the cognitive system are conceptual, perceptual, and symbolizing; the highest order dimensions of the affective system are emotional independence, introversion — extroversion, and emotional stability. The concept of arousal provides a key to understanding the complex interactions between cognition and affect. It is hypothesized that specifiable subsets of cognitive and affective dimensions conform to either the facilitative or decremental effects of arousal, and that the Yerkes-Dodson inverted-U function is a composite of both effects. An explanation for the differentiation of distinct emotional states is also presented. Essentially, emotions are differentiated by different weightings of the affective and cognitive dimensions. A theoretical framework for studying the temporal sequencing of phases of emotional behavior is presented as well.