Level Of Emotional Arousal Research Articles

Image-and-text health warning labels on alcohol and food: potential effectiveness and acceptability

BackgroundHealth warning labels (HWLs) using images and text to depict the negative health consequences of tobacco consumption are effective and acceptable for changing smoking-related outcomes. There is currently limited evidence concerning their potential use for reducing consumption of alcoholic drinks and energy-dense foods. The aim of this research was to describe the potential effectiveness and acceptability of image-and-text (also known as pictorial or graphic) HWLs applied to: i. alcoholic drinks and ii. energy-dense snack foods.MethodsTwo online studies were conducted using between-subjects designs with general population samples. Participants rated one of 21 image-and-text HWLs on alcoholic drinks (n = 5528), or one of 18 image-and-text HWLs on energy-dense snacks (n = 4618). HWLs comprised a graphic image with explanatory text, depicting, respectively, seven diseases linked to excess alcohol consumption, and six diseases linked to excess energy intake. Diseases included heart disease and various cancers. Outcomes were negative emotional arousal, desire to consume the labelled product, and acceptability of the label. Free-text comments relating to HWLs were content analysed.ResultsFor both alcoholic drinks and energy-dense snacks, HWLs depicting bowel cancer generated the highest levels of negative emotional arousal and lowest desire to consume the product, but were the least acceptable. Acceptability was generally low for HWLs applied to alcohol, with 3 of 21 rated as acceptable, and was generally high for snacks, with 13 of 18 rated as acceptable. The majority of free-text comments expressed negative reactions to HWLs on alcohol or energy-dense snacks.ConclusionsImage-and-text health warning labels depicting bowel cancer showed greatest potential for reducing selection and consumption of alcoholic drinks and energy-dense snacks, although they were the least acceptable. Laboratory and field studies are needed to assess their impact on selection and consumption.

Theoretical Model of Mindful Coping Power: Optimizing a Cognitive Behavioral Program for High-Risk Children and Their Parents by Integrating Mindfulness.

This paper describes a theoretical model of Mindful Coping Power, a preventive intervention targeting high-risk children and their parents. Mindful Coping Power integrated mindfulness into Coping Power, an evidence-based cognitive behavioral intervention. Reactive aggression is emotionally driven, impulsive, and often referred to as being "hot-blooded." It has been resistant to change, given the high level of emotional arousal and impulsive angry outbursts. Our premise is that mindfulness impacts the mechanisms of reactive aggression-attentional, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dysregulation. Also in the model are parents who exhibit emotionally charged interactions with their child. Mindful parenting focuses on parents' own emotional self-regulation and being fully present with their child. Our model sets the stage for incorporating mindfulness into existing interventions, thereby optimizing programs and maximizing effects.

Behavioural Variability in Chicks vs. the Pattern of Behaviour in Adult Hens.

Simple SummaryEnvironmental requirements ensuring behavioural welfare to laying hens may vary depending on the breed. Chickens representing various breeds and reared in the same environment were found not only to differ in the level of activity, emotional arousal, and degree of curiosity, but also to prefer different enrichments of the environment, which was reflected by different levels of stress in these birds. Hence, a question was posed whether the behavioural differences observed were innate behavioural patterns typical of the breed or whether they are an effect of the modifying impact of the environment, which varies between breeds. It has been hypothesised that differences observed already in chicks of different breeds may not be associated with the modifying effect of the environment. Instead, they may be a genetically determined breed-specific behaviour. The present investigations consisted in behavioural tests and assessment of the behaviour of chicks of three laying hen breeds. The study involved 60 green-legged partridge (Zk), 60 Polbar (Pb), and 60 Leghorn (Lg) chicks. The investigations have demonstrated that the birds from the analysed breeds exhibit behavioural differences already on the first days of life. The effect of the breed was evident in the case of such traits as strategy for acquisition of food resources, fearfulness/curiosity, and interest in elements of the environment. With age, chicks may exhibit changes in their emotions, e.g., more pronounced fearfulness, and environmental preferences. However, in the latter case, there is clear tendency towards breed-specific behaviours exhibited from the first days of life. The level of activity, which largely differentiates adult birds, does not discriminate between chicks. The aim of the study was to assess the behaviour of chicks of three different breeds of laying hens differing in the activity, emotional reactivity, and environmental preferences. Another objective was to answer the question whether the behavioural differences between adult birds would be evident already in the chick period or whether they are an effect of the further modifying impact of the environment. 60 green-legged partridge, 60 Polbar, and 60 Leghorn chicks were used in the experiments. The chicks hatched in a flock where hens were previously assessed with behavioural tests and the corticosterone levels in their feathers was determined, indicating significant differences in the temperament and stress level between the breeds. Five tests were carried out: two on competitiveness, activity, interest and fearfulness/curiosity. The experiments revealed considerable differences between the chicks. The Zk birds coped better with situations requiring swiftness and initiative. The Pb chicks were slower than Zk and Lg and did not make quick decisions. Hence, a lower number of these birds entering and leaving the test cage and staying inside was recorded. The Zk chicks exhibited a higher level of fearfulness than the other breeds. In terms of the environment enrichment elements, sand and woodchips were more attractive to the Zk chicks, whereas the Lg and Pb birds preferred pecking the string. No differences in the time of undertaking the analysed activities were found between the breeds.

Emotional cue effects on accessing and elaborating upon autobiographical memories

If remembering the past requires a cue to stimulate mental reactivation of an experience (i.e., a memory), then the nature of the retrieval cue should bias how that experience is recalled. Based on the established link between emotion and memory, we tested how two emotional properties of a cue - valence (positive and negative) and arousal (high and low) - influence different phases of autobiographical memory retrieval: searching/accessing an autobiographical episode, and then elaborating on the associated memory representation. Young, healthy participants completed two experimental sessions that were separated by 24 to 48 h. In session one, participants used musical retrieval cues that varied in emotional valence and arousal to access autobiographical memories. Cue-evoked physiological arousal and valence responses were measured via skin conductance and facial electromyography, respectively, as were the reaction times to access each memory. In session two, participants reactivated and then described (elaborated) the details of the memories that were accessed in session one. The resultant descriptions were scored for the number of specific episodic (internal) and non-episodic (external) details. While arousal and valence levels of the retrieval cues, as well as the evoked physiological responses, significantly predicted the reaction time to access a memory, only cue arousal predicted how detailed the representations were constructed. Memories that were initially accessed to high-arousing cues were later described with more episodic details than memories accessed to low-arousing cues. These data provide new insights into how emotional valence and arousal levels of retrieval cues distinctly bias the accessibility and detailed elaboration of autobiographical memories.

Examining the effects of emotional valence and arousal on takeover performance in conditionally automated driving

In conditionally automated driving, drivers have difficulty in takeover transitions as they become increasingly decoupled from the operational level of driving. Factors influencing takeover performance, such as takeover lead time and the engagement of non-driving-related tasks, have been studied in the past. However, despite the important role emotions play in human-machine interaction and in manual driving, little is known about how emotions influence drivers’ takeover performance. This study, therefore, examined the effects of emotional valence and arousal on drivers’ takeover timeliness and quality in conditionally automated driving. We conducted a driving simulation experiment with 32 participants. Movie clips were played for emotion induction. Participants with different levels of emotional valence and arousal were required to take over control from automated driving, and their takeover time and quality were analyzed. Results indicate that positive valence led to better takeover quality in the form of a smaller maximum resulting acceleration and a smaller maximum resulting jerk. However, high arousal did not yield an advantage in takeover time. This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating how emotional valence and arousal affect takeover performance. The benefits of positive emotions carry over from manual driving to conditionally automated driving while the benefits of arousal do not.

Examining the Effects of Emotional Valence and Arousal on Takeover Performance in Conditionally Automated Driving

In conditionally automated driving, drivers have difficulty in takeover transitions as they become increasingly decoupled from the operational level of driving. Factors influencing takeover performance, such as takeover lead time and the engagement of non-driving related tasks, have been studied in the past. However, despite the important role emotions play in human-machine interaction and in manual driving, little is known about how emotions influence drivers’ takeover performance. This study, therefore, examined the effects of emotional valence and arousal on drivers’ takeover timeliness and quality in conditionally automated driving. We conducted a driving simulation experiment with 32 participants. Movie clips were played for emotion induction. Participants with different levels of emotional valence and arousal were required to take over control from automated driving, and their takeover time and quality were analyzed. Results indicate that positive valence led to better takeover quality in the form of a smaller maximum resulting acceleration and a smaller maximum resulting jerk. However, high arousal did not yield an advantage in takeover time. This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating how emotional valence and arousal affect takeover performance. The benefits of positive emotions carry over from manual driving to conditionally automated driving while the benefits of arousal do not.

Shocking secret you won’t believe! Emotional arousal in clickbait headlines

Purpose Clickbait has become a popular strategy for attracting online users by enticing them to follow the link to a particular website to read further. The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature by providing empirical evidence of how clickbait headlines affect online users’ emotional and behavioral responses, specifically emotional arousal and intention to read news. In addition, it is an early attempt to examine pupillary dilation response as an indicator of emotional arousal in the online news context. Design/methodology/approach An experiment was conducted primarily to examine the levels of emotional arousal evoked by two treatment groups of online news headlines, news and clickbait, compared to a neutral control group. Emotional arousal was assessed using two approaches – pupillary dilation response recorded by an eye-tracking device and the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) – and the results were compared. The influence of emotional arousal on intention to read news was hypothesized and tested. Findings The level of emotional arousal evoked by the headlines varies. In general, clickbait headlines generate a higher level of emotional arousal than do the neutral headlines but a lower level than the news headlines. The results also indicate that the level of emotional arousal measured by pupillary dilation response and by SAM are somewhat consistent. Emotional arousal appears to be a significant predictor of intention to read news. Originality/value This study is an initial attempt to investigate how clickbait headlines influence online users’ perceptions and responses, which will be of interest to researchers and news media publishers. The current study also provides evidence for adopting pupillary dilation response, an unobtrusive measure of emotional response, as an alternative methodology for future studies that investigate emotional arousal related to textual information in the online news context.

К вопросу изучения психологического статуса и особенностей личности в спортивной деятельности

In recent years, progress has been observed in the field of psychological support for both the training and education of the younger generation and sports training. Directly psychological training of athletes plays a big role in achieving sports results. Athletes with high psychological preparation should participate in the competition. This condition is determined by the real assessment of their capabilities, the optimal level of emotional arousal, the lack of fear and the struggle for the best result with a rival. The organization of optimal psychological support and also psychological preparation of athletes leads to a deliberately effective psychological selection of athletes. At the same time, in our republic, attention was paid to psychological training, psychological selection and individual typological properties of athletes, that today occupy an important place in physical education and training of athletes. A psychologically prepared athlete can control his actions, exercise maximum thinking in difficult situations in the sports arena. And, as you know, an insufficient level of psychological readiness often leads to poor results and defeats at competitions.The article reveals some of the main aspects and problems of studying the psychological properties and characteristics of the personality of athletes, presents the psychomotor factors that determine the process of developing of special sports abilities and the effectiveness of activities in any sport.

You Shall (Not) Fear

Purpose In the age of transparency, nonprofit organizations have attempted to raise awareness of unethical business practices through diverse social media platforms, putting firms under great pressure to incorporate sustainability in their operations. Focusing on the issue of animal cruelty which is a relatively under-investigated topic in the fashion industry, the purpose of this paper is to examine how different levels of animal cruelty depicted in nonprofit organizations’ ethical consumption campaigns influence viewers’ negative emotions and lead to their supportive behavior and ethical consumption intention. Design/methodology/approach In the main study, undergraduate students (n=82) from a big public University in the USA were recruited in exchange for extra credit and randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions of animal cruelty in a single-factor, three-level, between-subjects experimental design: non-threatening condition (n=26), low-threatening condition (n=27) and high-threatening condition (n=29). Findings The results indicated that the levels of negative emotional arousal are positively related to levels of perceived animal cruelty in social media campaigns. In addition, negative emotional arousal mediates the effect of perceived animal cruelty on the intention of supportive behavior, but no mediation effect on ethical consumption intention was found. Additionally, the findings of this study revealed that the indirect effect of perceived animal cruelty on supportive behavior intention is moderated by participants’ moral justification such as the reality of economic development and government dependency. Originality/value The findings of this study contribute to the literature by advancing the current understanding of the role of negative emotional images in ethical consumption campaigns in the context of animal cruelty in the fashion industry.

Quieting the mind: aspects of neuroscience in reconciliation

The reconciliation of conflicting parties by the mediator has to deal with high levels of emotional arousal. She or he has to lower these levels for reconciliation to succeed. In this paper two approaches to accomplish this and to quiet the mind are presented, a Buddhist one (anapanasati) and a Western one (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, commonly known as MBSR). In order for the mediator to comprehend emotional arousal and the practices of quieting the mind, some underlying aspects of neuroscience are discussed, specifically, the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system. In contrast to mindfulness-based stress reduction, anapanasati, in its definition of mindfulness as well as in its practice, seems compatible with neuroscience. Recommendations are made to the mediator to facilitate the process of reconciliation.

A multi-sensory code for emotional arousal.

People express emotion using their voice, face and movement, as well as through abstract forms as in art, architecture and music. The structure of these expressions often seems intuitively linked to its meaning: romantic poetry is written in flowery curlicues, while the logos of death metal bands use spiky script. Here, we show that these associations are universally understood because they are signalled using a multi-sensory code for emotional arousal. Specifically, variation in the central tendency of the frequency spectrum of a stimulus-its spectral centroid-is used by signal senders to express emotional arousal, and by signal receivers to make emotional arousal judgements. We show that this code is used across sounds, shapes, speech and human body movements, providing a strong multi-sensory signal that can be used to efficiently estimate an agent's level of emotional arousal.

Physiological and self-report methods to the measurement of emotion in tourism

ABSTRACTThere is strong growth in research on tourist emotion, with a substantial scholarly debate emerging, surrounding approaches to measurement. Recently objective physiological methods for measurement of emotion have been applied in the tourism field. However, there are few studies which explore the benefits and limitations of applying physiological and self-report methods to measure emotions. This research aims to compare and contrast physiological and self-report methods to assess emotional responses to tourism marketing stimuli where music was manipulated. This research assessed emotional responses from 37 participants to three tourism advertisements of Iran using four key methods; specifically, FaceReader™, skin conductance, self-report surveys and post hoc interviews. This research found that the light rhythmic music tends to evoke positive emotions and a higher level of emotional arousal in participants than does the traditional Iranian music or a video without music. Physiological and self-report measures of emotional arousal were inconsistent, but both techniques found similar results for assessing the valence of emotions. Thus, results highlight the importance of applying physiological techniques in combination with self-report surveys and post hoc interviews to provide a better and more accurate understanding of emotional experiences.

Self-Reported Emotions in Simulation-Based Learning: Active Participants vs. Observers.

Experiential learning through active participation is thought to be a key benefit of simulation-based education. Recent research has challenged this assumption, suggesting that active participants learn just as well as observers. Studies report that active participants experience stress and anxiety during simulation, which may hamper learning by active participants. We undertook the current study to examine whether active participation results in different emotional arousal than observing during simulation. We hypothesized that participants in active roles experience higher levels of negative emotions than those observing and looked for evidence that this may impact learning. Pediatric residents participate in simulations, rotating through active and observer roles, as part of their standard curriculum. We assessed both positive and negative emotional arousal with the Positive and Negative Affect Scale immediately after each simulation and assessed learning through multiple-choice questions. We used repeated measures analysis of variance to examine potential interactions between Positive and Negative Affect Scale scores and role in simulation. To explore differences in learning, we examined whether knowledge retention differed between the groups. Residents had higher levels of both positive and negative emotional arousal in active roles compared with observing roles. We could not detect a difference in learning between the roles. The increase in both positive and negative emotions among active participants compared with observers may have important implications for simulation design and participant learning. Future studies should be powered to detect differences in learning and examine the impact of contributing factors such as learner level and context.

Exploring users' motivations to participate in viral communication on social media

Despite the popularity of viral marketing, its influencing factors have not been thoroughly investigated, especially in the context of social media. Successful viral communication depends on the sender's ability to turn receivers into active marketers, which requires the sender to consider both the perspective of the user/recipient and the message content. As the best means of engaging with social-media users and leading them to make a communication viral remains debated, this study seeks to determine the factors that influence users' willingness to share viral content. In this investigation, partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed to analyze data gathered from an online survey of Facebook users, focusing on a case study of a Facebook event. The results showed that meaningful content affects users' attitudes regarding sharing communications, and revealed significant differences between user groups regarding the effect the emotional tone and arousal level of content has on sharing behaviors.

Emotional Arousal Predicts Voting on the U.S. Supreme Court

Do judges telegraph their preferences during oral arguments? Using the U.S. Supreme Court as our example, we demonstrate that Justices implicitly reveal their leanings during oral arguments, even before arguments and deliberations have concluded. Specifically, we extract the emotional content of over 3,000 hours of audio recordings spanning 30 years of oral arguments before the Court. We then use the level of emotional arousal, as measured by vocal pitch, in each of the Justices’ voices during these arguments to accurately predict many of their eventual votes on these cases. Our approach yields predictions that are statistically and practically significant and robust to including a range of controls; in turn, this suggests that subconscious vocal inflections carry information that legal, political, and textual information do not.

The Hazard Perception for the Surrounding Shape of Warning Signs: Evidence From an Event-Related Potentials Study.

Surrounding shape is a very important component of warning signs. Unlike colors, signal words, and pictorials that can directly convey the surface meaning, the surrounding shapes of warning signs convey warning information somewhat obscurely. Most of the researchers who studied this topic investigated the individuals' hazard perception of the surrounding shapes of warning signs by using questionnaires. In addition, the scholars' points about the role of the surrounding shapes are inconsistent. This study, therefore, decided to use Event-Related Potentials (ERP) technology to explore the impact of the shapes on the perception of warning signs to find the evidences of the hazard perception of the shapes from the electrophysiological perspective. Using the Oddball paradigm, we found four components caused by different shapes of warning signs. Specifically, P200 amplitude characterizes the attraction to attention of surrounding shapes in the early automatic perception stage, the N300 components represented the emotional valance and arousal level, the P300 and the LPP connoted uneasy/unsafe information and reflected the inhibition strength on the uneasy/unsafe information. Experimental data indicated that the shape of UPRIGHT TRIANGLE had larger arousal strength and more negative valence than the shape of CIRCLE. People get stronger negative information from the UPRIGHT TRIANGLE shapes than from the CIRCLE. This finding might be helpful for designing the surrounding shapes of warning signs.

Emotional processing and arousal level following a daytime sleep opportunity among youths with anxiety disorder(s)

Emotional processing and arousal level following a daytime sleep opportunity among youths with anxiety disorder(s)

Estimation of emotional arousal from speech with phase-based features

The most commonly adopted approaches in speech emotion recognition (SER) utilize magnitude spectrum and nonlinear Teager energy operator (TEO) based features while information about phase spectrum is often omitted. The information about phase has been frequently overlooked in approaches applied by speech processing researchers due to the signal processing difficulties. We present study of two phase-based features: The relative phase shift (RPS) based features and modified group delay features (MODGDF) that represents phase structure of speech in the task of emotional arousal recognition. The evaluation is performed on the CRISIS acted speech database which allows us to recognize five levels of emotional arousal from speech. To exploit these features, we employ concept of deep neural network. The efficiency of the approaches based on features mentioned earlier is compared to baseline platform using Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) and all pole group delay features (APGD). The combination of another phase-based types of features with our baseline platform led to the overall improvement of performance of the system for different levels of emotional arousal. These results confirm that combination of phase information and magnitude information leads to the overall improvement of performance of such system and also that combination of different types of features representing phase information brings additional increment of the performance.

Emotional arousal may increase susceptibility to fraud in older and younger adults.

Financial fraud is a societal problem for adults of all ages, but financial losses are especially damaging to older adults who typically live on fixed incomes and have less time to recoup losses. Persuasion tactics used by fraud perpetrators often elicit high levels of emotional arousal; thus, studying emotional arousal may help to identify the conditions under which individuals are particularly susceptible to fraud. We examined whether inducing high-arousal positive (HAP) and high-arousal negative (HAN) emotions increased susceptibility to fraud. Older (ages 65 to 85) and younger (ages 30 to 40) adults were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 emotional arousal conditions in a laboratory task: HAP, HAN, or low arousal (LA). Fraud susceptibility was assessed through participants' responses to misleading advertisements. Both HAP and HAN emotions were successfully induced in older and younger participants. For participants who exhibited the intended induced emotional arousal, both the HAP and HAN conditions, relative to the LA condition, significantly increased participants' reported intention to purchase falsely advertised items. These effects did not differ significantly between older and younger adults and were mitigated in participants who did not exhibit the intended emotional arousal. However, irrespective of the emotional arousal condition to which older adults were assigned (HAP, HAN, or LA), they reported greater purchase intention than did younger adults. These results inform the literature on fraud susceptibility and aging. Educating consumers to postpone financial decisions until they are in calm emotional states may protect against this common persuasion tactic. (PsycINFO Database Record

Parental modelling of mathematical affect: self-efficacy and emotional arousal

This study explored the relationship between parents’ mathematics self-efficacy and emotional arousal to mathematics and their 12- and 13-year-old children’s mathematics self-efficacy and emotional arousal to mathematics. Parental modelling of affective relationships during homework was a focus. Eighty-four parent and child pairings from seven schools in New Zealand were examined using embedded design methodology. No significant correlations were found when the parents’ mathematics self-efficacy and emotional arousal to mathematics were compared with the children’s mathematics self-efficacy and emotional arousal to mathematics. However, the parents’ level of emotional arousal to mathematics was found to have affected their willingness to assist with mathematics homework. For those parents who assisted, a significant positive correlation was found between their mathematics self-efficacy and their children’s emotional arousal to mathematics. Parents who did assist were generally reported as being calm, and used techniques associated with positive engagement. Fathers were calmer and more likely to express readiness to assist with mathematics homework than mothers. A further significant positive correlation was found between fathers’ emotional arousal to mathematics and children’s mathematics self-efficacy. Implications from the study suggest directions for future research.