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BackgroundPavlovian fear paradigms involve learning to associate cues with threat or safety. Aberrances in Pavlovian fear learning correlate with psychopathology, especially anxiety disorders. This study evaluated symptom dimensions of anxiety and depression in relation to Pavlovian fear acquisition and generalization.Methods256 participants (70.31 % female) completed a Pavlovian fear acquisition and generalization paradigm at ages 18-19 and 21-22 years. Analyses focused on indices of learning (self-reported US expectancy, skin conductance). Multilevel models tested associations with orthogonal symptom dimensions (Anhedonia-Apprehension, Fears, General Distress) at each timepoint.ResultsAll dimensions were associated with weaker acquisition of US expectancies at each timepoint. Fears was associated with overgeneralization only at age 21-22. General Distress was associated with overgeneralization only at age 18-19. Anhedonia-Apprehension was associated with overgeneralization at ages 18-19 and 21-22.ConclusionsAnhedonia-Apprehension disrupts Pavlovian fear acquisition and increases overgeneralization of fear. These effects may emerge during adolescence and remain into young adulthood. General Distress and Fears also contribute to overgeneralization of fear, but these effects may vary as prefrontal mechanisms of fear inhibition continue to develop during late adolescence. Targeting specific symptom dimensions, particularly Anhedonia-Apprehension, may decrease fear generalization and augment interventions built on Pavlovian principles, such as exposure therapy.

University brings many changes and challenges in students inducing a great amount of emotion fluctuation. During these times of emotion fluctuation, students can experience a drop off in academic performance and a rise in stress levels. In these times, effective emotion regulation has demonstrated to be a valuable tool correlated with improving academic performance and lowering stress. Music and light/color have been shown to be effective aspects of a smart environment for emotion regulation. Combining this knowledge along with physiological signal analysis correlating with emotions, we set out to develop a smart environment system set to aid students with emotion regulation. Our goal is to develop a low-cost accessible tool for university students that enhances student performance, emotional self understanding, and positive emotion regulation habits.Faculty Advisor: Professor Dang

Background: Sex differences in the symptomatology of adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have often been overlooked when studying behavioral abnormalities. However, it is known that women exhibit considerably more stronger symptoms related to emotional competence than men. Since affective functions significantly influence the processing of risky decision-making and risk-engagement, we assume that risky behavior in ADHD is affected by sex differences. Therefore, we specifically investigated sex-specific effects on the interaction between emotionally induced changes in physiology and behavioral performance on a decision-making task. Methods: Skin conductance responses of twenty-nine adults with ADHD (n = 16 male; n = 13 female) and thirty-three adults in the control group (n = 14 male; n = 19 female) were recorded during the performance in a modified version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Additional questionnaires were used to reveal insights in the self-assessment of emotional competence, risk perception, and feedback sensitivity. Emotional arousal and decision-making behavior were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models. Results: Results showed different effects of sex on risk behaviors in controls and ADHD. In contrast to healthy controls, female adults with ADHD showed a significantly greater risk engagement in the BART compared to males with ADHD. This contrary sex relation was not observed in skin conductance responses and revealed a significantly different sex-dependent correlation of body response and behavioral task performance in ADHD. Comparisons with results from self-assessments furthermore indicate a reduced behavioral self-perception in women with ADHD, but not in men. Conclusion: In summary, we found an altered interaction between physiological activity and risky behavior in women with ADHD. Thus, the present study indicates a reduced sensitivity towards the own bodily responses in women with ADHD, which could consequently cause increased risky DM behavior in daily life. The current results suggest that more consideration needs to be given to sex-specific effects on physiological processes and behavior in adults with ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: While abnormal responses to threat, including overgeneralization to conditioned fear, have been postulated to play a critical role in pathological anxiety, the relevance of previous findings to social anxiety disorder (SAD) is unclear. We investigated conditioned and generalized fear responses in patients with SAD using socially relevant stimuli. Methods: A total of 26 patients with SAD and 25 healthy controls participated in a fear conditioning and generalization paradigm consisting of two neutral faces as conditioned stimuli (CS+ or CS-) and an angry face with contemptuous comments as unconditioned stimuli. Eight morphed faces of two conditioned stimuli in each continuum were given to test generalization. Behavioral data and physiological responses were acquired. Results: Successful conditioning was observed in the risk ratings for both groups, while only a marginal indication of conditioning was noted in physiological measures. During the generalization phase, patients rated the risk higher than CS-when the stimuli close to CS- contained a portion of CS+ features. Larger skin conductance responses to this stimulus were linked to higher fear of negative evaluation. In addition, patients spent a longer time evaluating safe and ambiguous stimuli than healthy controls and exhibited consistently high levels of subjective arousal. Discussion: Taken together, our findings suggest that SAD patients may exhibit a tendency towards overgeneralization of fear responses and show distinct patterns in processing generalized threat stimuli compared to healthy controls. Even though overgeneralization was not evident in physiological measures, it is necessary to consider this behavioral characteristic in the clinical management of patients with SAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Features of threatening cues and the associated context influence the perceived imminence of threat and the defensive responses evoked. To provide additional knowledge about how the directionality of a threat (i.e. directed-towards or away from the viewer) might impact defensive responses in humans, participants were shown pictures of a man carrying a gun (threat) or nonlethal object (neutral) directed-away from or towards the participant. Cardiac and electrodermal responses were collected. Compared to neutral images, threatening images depicting a gun directed-towards the participant induced sustained bradycardia and an increased electrodermal response, interpreted as immobility under attack. This defensive immobility reaction is evoked by high perceived threat and inescapable situations and indicates intense action preparation. Pictures of guns directed-away from the participant induced shorter bradycardia and no significant modulation of the electrodermal response compared to neutral pictures, which might be consistent with the perception of a less threatening situation. The results show that the directionality of threat stimuli is a key factor that prompts different patterns of defensive responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physiological measures associated with emotional expressions have been used extensively in lab- and, more recently, digital-learning settings. However, the portable and ubiquitous nature of hardware that measures these physiological features makes them particularly useful in situations where you do not want the hardware to be too obtrusive, like in contexts of informal learning. In this proof-of-concept study, we apply skin conductance methods that measure Electrodermal Activity (EDA) to a family everyday activities context, in which a parent and their children, complete several science learning activities, while being recorded by both video and EDA hardware. We analyse the resulting data in three different ways: (i) a peak analysis in software recommended by the hardware provider, (ii) a conventional, qualitative microanalysis, and (iii) a method mainly used by econometricians to discover 'structural breaks' in time series data. We conclude that all three provide a piece of the overall puzzle, revealing up- and down-sides of each method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physiologically based stress detection systems have proven to be effective in identifying different stress conditions in the body to determine the source of stress and be able to counteract it. However, some stress conditions have not been widely studied, including thermal stress, cognitive stress, and combined (thermal–cognitive) stress conditions, which are frequently encountered in work or school environments. In order to develop systems to detect and differentiate these conditions, it is necessary to identify the physiological indicators that characterize each of them. The present research aims to identify which physiological indicators (heart rate, respiratory rate, galvanic skin response, and local temperature) could differentiate different stress conditions (no‐stress, cognitive stress, thermal stress, and combined (thermal–cognitive) stress conditions). Thirty participants were exposed to cognitive, thermal, and combined stress sources while recording their physiological signals. The findings indicate that both mean heart rate and mean galvanic skin response identify moderate thermal and cognitive stress conditions as distinct from a no‐stress condition, yet they do not differentiate between the two stress conditions. Additionally, heart rate uniquely identifies the cognitive–thermal stress condition, effectively distinguishing this combined stress condition from the singular stress conditions and the no‐stress condition. Mean local temperature specifically signals thermal stress conditions, whereas mean respiratory rate accurately identifies cognitive stress conditions, with both indicators effectively separating these conditions from each other and from the no‐stress condition. This is the first basis for differentiating thermal and cognitive stress conditions through physiological indicators. Different sources of stress (thermal and cognitive) generate different physiological responses in the body. Mean heart rate, mean local temperature, mean respiratory rate, and mean galvanic skin response allow to differentiate between different stress conditions in the body. Physiological indicators can be used to develop signal‐based detection systems to identify different stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fear conditioning, also termed threat conditioning, is a commonly used learning model with clinical relevance. Quantification of threat conditioning in humans often relies on conditioned autonomic responses such as skin conductance responses (SCR), pupil size responses (PSR), heart period responses (HPR), or respiration amplitude responses (RAR), which are usually analyzed separately. Here, we investigate whether inter-individual variability in differential conditioned responses, averaged across acquisition, exhibits a multi-dimensional structure, and the extent to which their linear combination could enhance the precision of inference on whether threat conditioning has occurred. In a mega-analytic approach, we re-analyze nine data sets including 256 individuals, acquired by the group of the last author, using standard routines in the framework of psychophysiological modeling (PsPM). Our analysis revealed systematic differences in effect size between measures across datasets, but no evidence for a multidimensional structure across various combinations of measures. We derive the statistically optimal weights for combining the four measures and subsets thereof, and we provide out-of-sample performance metrics for these weights, accompanied by bias-corrected confidence intervals. We show that to achieve the same statistical power, combining measures allows for a relevant reduction in sample size, which in a common scenario amounts to roughly 24%. To summarize, we demonstrate a one-dimensional structure of threat conditioning measures, systematic differences in effect size between measures, and provide weights for their optimal linear combination in terms of maximal retrodictive validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual reality has emerged as a powerful tool for the design of immersive tourism experiences. Prior studies have primarily relied on externally produced 360-degree stimuli, with the potential to undermine causal inference among concepts and increase risk of flattening real-world responses. Consequently, building on design principles embedded in human–computer interaction, this paper draws on an exemplar of an iconic nature-based tourism destination to elucidate the process which underpins the development of 360-degree stimuli, with an emphasis on the manipulation of 'presence'. Emergent findings demonstrate the efficacy of a five-step procedure: (1) concept manipulation and location selection; (2) preliminary field filming; (3) expert evaluation and preliminary test; (4) re-filming and editing; and (5) confirmatory test. Physiological and self-report measures assessed the internal and external validity of the 360-degree stimuli, confirming the effectiveness of the manipulation. This research contributes to knowledge through the transfer of core principles from information technology and tourism into the design of immersive 360-degree stimuli to facilitate rigorous manipulation and multi-measurement in experimental design in tourism. Future research should focus on enhancing validity and reliability of internally produced immersive stimuli, overcoming methodological challenges with the design and manipulation of stimuli in tourism research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a Machine Learning and IoT-based intelligent medical system for the detection and monitoring of patient stress. This system is made up of a medical kit measuring the oxygen saturation, the heart rate and the galvanic skin response thanks to sensors attached at the top of the patient's hand which send the measured physiological values to the Firebase server. A voting classifier, combining five Machine Learning algorithms (Logistic Regression, K-Nearest Neighbors, Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree and Random Forest) using holdout and K-fold cross-validation, was implemented on a Raspberry board installed in the doctor's office. The proposed system can make predictions with the Soft Voting classifier with an accuracy that reaches 78%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telling a story to a disengaged recipient induces stress and threatens positive self-image. In this study, we investigated whether storytellers with overly positive and fragile self-images (e.g., individuals with grandiose and vulnerable narcissism) would show heightened behavioral, emotional, and psychophysiological reactivity to recipient disengagement.Building on Bavelas, Coates, and Johnson [1] we conducted a conversational experiment instructing the participants to tell about a "close call" experience to a previously unknown co-participant. We modified the co-participant's level of interactional engagement by asking them either to listen to the story carefully or to simultaneously carry out a counting task that distracted them from the content of the story. We found that the distraction condition was unrelated to the storytellers' narration performance, but a significant positive association was found between the story-recipients' observed lack of affiliation and the tellers' narration performance. The distraction of recipients was also associated with increased self-reported arousal in the tellers, indicating disengagement-induced stress in the tellers. Moreover, tellers higher in grandiose narcissism reacted with higher skin conductance response to disengagement, and vulnerable narcissism was associated with higher heart rate during narration in general. Our experiment thus showed that grandiose narcissists are emotionally sensitive to their co-participants' disengagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrodermal activity (EDA) is a widely used psychophysiological measurement in laboratory-based studies. In recent times, these measurements have seen a transfer from the laboratory to wearable devices due to the simplicity of EDA measurement as well as modern electronics. However, proper conditions for EDA measurement are recommended once wearable devices are used, and the ambient conditions may influence such measurements. It is not completely known how different types of ambient noise impact EDA measurement and how this translates to wearable EDA measurement. Therefore, this study explored the effects of various noise disturbances on the generation of EDA responses using a system for the simultaneous recording of all measures of EDA, i.e., skin conductance responses (SCRs), skin susceptance responses (SSRs), and skin potential responses (SPRs), at the same skin site. The SCRs, SSRs, and SPRs due to five types of noise stimuli at different sound pressure levels (70, 75, 80, 85, and 90 dB) were measured from 40 participants. The obtained results showed that EDA responses were generated at all levels and that the EDA response magnitudes were significantly (p < 0.001) influenced by the increasing noise levels. Different types of environmental noise may elicit EDA responses and influence wearable recordings outside the laboratory, where such noises are more likely than in standardized laboratory tests. Depending on the application, it is recommended to prevent these types of unwanted variation, presenting a challenge for the quality of wearable EDA measurement in real-world conditions. Future developments to shorten the quality gap between standardized laboratory-based and wearable EDA measurements may include adding microphone sensors and algorithms to detect, classify, and process the noise-related EDA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessments of stress can be performed using physiological signals, such as electroencephalograms (EEGs) and galvanic skin response (GSR). Commercialized systems that are used to detect stress with EEGs require a controlled environment with many channels, which prohibits their daily use. Fortunately, there is a rise in the utilization of wearable devices for stress monitoring, offering more flexibility. In this paper, we developed a wearable monitoring system that integrates both EEGs and GSR. The novelty of our proposed device is that it only requires one channel to acquire both physiological signals. Through sensor fusion, we achieved an improved accuracy, lower cost, and improved ease of use. We tested the proposed system experimentally on twenty human subjects. We estimated the power spectrum of the EEG signals and utilized five machine learning classifiers to differentiate between two levels of mental stress. Furthermore, we investigated the optimum electrode location on the scalp when using only one channel. Our results demonstrate the system's capability to classify two levels of mental stress with a maximum accuracy of 70.3% when using EEGs alone and 84.6% when using fused EEG and GSR data. This paper shows that stress detection is reliable using only one channel on the prefrontal and ventrolateral prefrontal regions of the brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using lower limb exoskeletons provides potential advantages in terms of productivity and safety associated with reduced stress. However, complex issues in human–robot interactions are still open, such as the physiological effects of exoskeletons and the impact on the user's subjective experience. In this work, an innovative exoskeleton, the Wearable Walker, is assessed using the EXPERIENCE benchmarking protocol from the EUROBENCH project. The Wearable Walker is a lower-limb exoskeleton that enhances human abilities, such as carrying loads. The device uses a unique control approach called Blend Control that provides smooth assistance torques. It operates two models simultaneously, one in the case in which the left foot is grounded and another for the grounded right foot. These models generate assistive torques combined to provide continuous and smooth overall assistance, preventing any abrupt changes in torque due to model switching. The EXPERIENCE protocol consists of walking on flat ground while gathering physiological signals, such as heart rate, its variability, respiration rate, and galvanic skin response, and completing a questionnaire. The test was performed with five healthy subjects. The scope of the present study is twofold: to evaluate the specific exoskeleton and its current control system to gain insight into possible improvements and to present a case study for a formal and replicable benchmarking of wearable robots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring the learning process during task solving through different channels will facilitate a better understanding of the learning process. This understanding, in turn, will provide teachers with information that will help them to offer individualised education. In the present study, monitoring was carried out during the execution of a task applied in a self-regulated virtual environment. The data were also analysed using data fusion techniques. The objectives were as follows: (1) to examine whether there were significant differences between students in cognitive load (biomarkers: fixations, saccades, pupil diameter, galvanic skin response—GSR), learning outcomes and perceived student satisfaction with respect to the type of degree (health sciences vs. engineering; and (2) to determine whether there were significant differences in cognitive load metrics, learning outcomes and perceived student satisfaction with respect to task presentation (visual and auditory vs. visual). We worked with a sample of 31 university students (21 health sciences and 10 biomedical engineering). No significant differences were found in the biomarkers (fixations, saccades, pupil diameter and GSR) or in the learning outcomes with respect to the type of degree. Differences were only detected in perceived anxiety regarding the use of virtual laboratories, being higher in biomedical engineering students. Significant differences were detected in the biomarkers of the duration of use of the virtual laboratory and in some learning outcomes related to the execution and presentation of projects with respect to the variable form of the visualisation of the laboratory (visual and auditory vs. visual). Also, in general, the use of tasks presented in self-regulated virtual spaces increased learning outcomes and perceived student satisfaction. Further studies will delve into the detection of different forms of information processing depending on the form of presentation of learning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic emotion recognition using portable sensors is gaining attention due to its potential use in real-life scenarios. Existing studies have not explored Galvanic Skin Response and Photoplethysmography sensors exclusively for emotion recognition using nonlinear features with machine learning (ML) classifiers such as Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, Gradient Boosting Machine, K-Nearest Neighbor, and Decision Tree. In this study, we proposed a genuine window sensitivity analysis on a continuous annotation dataset to determine the window duration and percentage of overlap that optimize the classification performance using ML algorithms and nonlinear features, namely, Lyapunov Exponent, Approximate Entropy, and Poincaré indices. We found an optimum window duration of 3 s with 50 % overlap and achieved accuracies of 0.75 and 0.74 for both arousal and valence, respectively. In addition, we proposed a Strong Labeling Scheme that kept only the extreme values of the labels, which raised the accuracy score to 0.94 for arousal. Under certain conditions mentioned, traditional ML models offer a good compromise between performance and low computational cost. Our results suggest that well-known ML algorithms can still contribute to the field of emotion recognition, provided that window duration, overlap percentage, and nonlinear features are carefully selected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with dyslexia, a neurodevelopmental disorder of reading, are highly attuned to the emotional world. Compared with their typically developing peers, children with dyslexia exhibit greater autonomic nervous system reactivity and facial behaviour to emotion‐ and empathy‐inducing film clips. Affective symptoms, such as anxiety, are also more common in children with dyslexia than in those without. Here, we investigated whether the startle response, an automatic reaction that lies at the interface of emotion and reflex, is elevated in dyslexia. We measured facial behaviour, electrodermal reactivity (a sympathetic nervous system measure) and emotional experience in response to a 100 ms, 105 dB unanticipated acoustic startle task in 30 children with dyslexia and 20 comparison children without dyslexia (aged 7–13) who were matched on age, sex and nonverbal reasoning. Our results indicated that the children with dyslexia had greater total facial behaviour and electrodermal reactivity to the acoustic startle task than the children without dyslexia. Across the sample, greater electrodermal reactivity during the startle predicted greater parent‐reported anxiety symptoms. These findings contribute to an emerging picture of heightened emotional reactivity in dyslexia and suggest accentuated sympathetic nervous system reactivity may contribute to the elevated anxiety that is often seen in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The orienting reaction (OR) towards a new stimulus is subject to habituation, i.e., progressively attenuates with stimulus repetition. The skin conductance responses (SCRs) are known to represent a reliable measure of OR at the peripheral level. Yet, it is still a matter of debate which of the P3 subcomponents is the most likely to represent the central counterpart of the OR. The aim of the present work was to study habituation, recovery, and dishabituation phenomena intrinsic to a two-stimulus auditory oddball paradigm, one of the most-used paradigms both in research and clinic, by simultaneously recording SCRs and P3 in twenty healthy volunteers. Our findings show that the target stimulus was capable of triggering a more marked OR, as indexed by both SCRs and P3, compared to the standard stimulus, that could be due to its affective saliency and relevance for task completion; the application of temporal principal components analysis (PCA) to the P3 complex allowed us to identify several subcomponents including both early and late P3a (eP3a; lP3a), P3b, novelty P3 (nP3), and both a positive and a negative Slow Wave (+SW; −SW). Particularly, lP3a and P3b subcomponents showed a similar behavior to that observed for SCRs , suggesting them as central counterparts of OR. Finally, the P3 evoked by the first standard stimulus after the target showed a significant dishabituation phenomenon which could represent a sign of the local stimulus change. However, it did not reach a sufficient level to trigger an SCR/OR since it did not represent a salient event in the context of the task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controllability beliefs and goodness beliefs about emotion are two fundamental emotion beliefs. The present study considered both controllability beliefs and goodness beliefs to examine whether and how the emotion beliefs of adolescents influence their test anxiety. Besides self‐reported test anxiety (sr‐TA), the present study measured heart rate (HR) and galvanic skin response (GSR) using custom‐designed wristbands during an exam as indicators of state test anxiety. The GSR was further decomposed into the tonic skin conductance level and the transient skin conductance response. The results revealed that, after controlling the goodness beliefs about anxiety, the controllability beliefs about emotion were negatively related to sr‐TA. This relationship was mediated by suppression. The controllability beliefs about emotion were directly related to the integration of transient skin conductance responses of 5 min before the exam. They were also indirectly related to the integration of transient skin conductance responses of the exam period, whether including the 5 min before the exam or not, and HR during certain periods through suppression. Therefore, adolescents' controllability beliefs about emotion may have important implications for their test anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fear over-generalization as a core symptom of anxiety disorders is manifested by fear responses even to safe stimuli that are very dissimilar to the original dangerous stimulus. The present study investigated the effects of two separate conditioned stimuli–unconditioned stimuli (CS–US) pairing procedures on fear acquisition and generalization using a perceptual discrimination fear-conditioning paradigm, with US expectancy ratings and skin conductance response (SCR) as indicators. One group accepted continuous followed by partial CS–US pairings (C–P group); the other group accepted partial followed by continuous CS–US pairings (P–C group). It was found that compared to the P–C group, the C–P group showed stronger perceptual discrimination of CS+ and CS− in the fear acquisition and showed weaker SCRs and stronger extinction of US expectancy in the generalization. These findings emphasize that CS–US pairings significantly influence fear acquisition and generalization and suggest that continuous-following partial CS–US pairings promote individual discrimination of threat and safety signals and inhibit the generalization of conditioned fear. The results of this study have implications for clinical interventions for patients experiencing negative events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decisions with spatial visualizations are often made under uncertainty and high time pressure. However, missing or improper representation of uncertainty can hamper the decision-making process. This paper investigates the impact of uncertainty visualization on cognitive load in the context of a safety-critical, time-sensitive decision-making task with a transportation system map. In a controlled experiment (n = 40) with a dual-task paradigm, we compared three different uncertainty visualization techniques and a baseline for different levels of time pressure. Cognitive load was measured using psycho-physiological metrics based on eye tracking and galvanic skin response, as well as self-reported. The results reveal significant differences in cognitive load among different visualization types, with line uncertainty representation techniques leading to lower cognitive load under both low and high-time pressure scenarios ( α < 0.05 ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social, anthropomorphic robots are increasingly used in professional work environments to collaborate with humans. However, little is known about how these robots affect human workers in performance-critical aspects, such as feedback. The present study investigates differences between the effects of a robot and a human feedback giver on self-esteem, intrinsic motivation, and psychophysiological reactions. Using a mixed model design for subjective data and a between-subject design for psychophysiological data, we tested 72 participants who performed a cognitive task on working memory, namely the 3-back task. The results indicate that people are more motivated to perform the task when receiving feedback from a robot, but their electrodermal activity and heart rate are higher after receiving positive feedback from a human. There is no difference in electrodermal activity following negative feedback from a human or a robot. Additional analyses show that individuals report feeling less comfortable and perceiving less social warmth when receiving feedback from a robot compared to a human. Furthermore, individuals exhibit higher skin conductance responses when perceiving greater social warmth in their interactions, regardless of whether their interaction partner is a human or a robot. The results suggest that social robots may serve as surrogates for social interaction. However, they seem to have less social presence, which leads to reduced psychophysiological reactions. This knowledge may be used to calibrate arousal in feedback situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the dynamics of teacher-student relationships is crucial, and emotional exchange plays a pivotal role in this process. This study aims to investigate the predictive mechanisms underlying affective and physiological responses synchrony, specifically focusing on positive emotional convergence and its impact on emotional cohesion during teacher-student interactions. To achieve this, we implemented a novel reading-following paradigm to induce teacher-student interaction within an actual classroom setting. Galvanic skin response (GSR) signals were collected using wrist-worn wearable devices from both teachers and students during class. Following each session, teachers and students individually completed questionnaires to evaluate the quality of their interaction and the cohesion between them. Results indicate that the reading-following paradigm facilitated creative emotional convergence between teachers and students. Moreover, a positive association was observed between teacher-student interaction and teacher-student cohesion, mediated by affective responses synchrony and physiological coupling between teachers and students. Additionally, the influence of teacher-student interaction on affective responses synchrony was moderated by physiological predictability. The implications of these findings for future research and their potential application in the classroom setting are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrodermal Activity (EDA), which primarily indicates arousal through sympathetic nervous system activity, serves as a tool to measure constructs like engagement, cognitive load, performance, and stress. Despite its potential, empirical studies have often yielded mixed results and found it of limited use. To better understand EDA, we conducted a mixed-methods study in which quantitative EDA profiles and survey data were investigated using qualitative interviews. This study furnishes an EDA dataset measuring the engagement levels of seven participants who watched three videos for 4–10 min. The subsequent interviews revealed five EDA morphologies with varying short-term signatures and long-term trends. We used this dataset to demonstrate the moving average crossover, a novel metric for EDA analysis, in predicting engagement–disengagement dynamics in such data. Our contributions include the creation of the detailed dataset, comprising EDA profiles annotated with qualitative data, the identification of five distinct EDA morphologies, and the proposition of the moving average crossover as an indicator of the beginning of engagement or disengagement in an individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined whether people higher in psychopathy experienced less self-reported and psychophysiological nociceptive pressure than people lower in psychopathy. We also examined whether psychopathy affects empathy for others' pain via self-reported and psychophysiological measures. Three hundred and sixty-nine students (18–78 years; M = 26, SD = 9.34) were screened for psychopathic traits using the Youth Psychopathy Inventory (YPI). Stratified sampling was used to recruit 49 adults residing in the highest (n = 23) and lowest (n = 26) 20% of the psychopathy spectrum. Using skin conductance response (SCR) and self-report responses, participants responded to individually adjusted intensities of pneumatic pressure and others' pain images and completed self-reported psychopathy and empathy measures (Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, TriPm; Interpersonal Reactivity Index, IRI). People higher in psychopathy self-reported feeling less nociceptive pressure compared to people lower in psychopathy, yet we did not find any differences in SCR to nociceptive pressure. However, when viewing other people in pain, the high psychopathy group displayed lower SCR and lower self-reported empathy compared to those lower in psychopathy. Our results suggest psychopathic traits relate to problems empathising with others' pain, as well as the perception of nociceptive pressure. We also show support for the theory of dual harm which has been receiving increasing attention. Consequently, psychopathy interventions should focus both on recognising and empathising with the pain of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated the effectiveness of social robots in facilitating stress management interventions for university students by evaluating their physiological responses. We collected electroencephalogram (EEG) brain activity and Galvanic Skin Responses (GSRs) together with self-reported questionnaires from two groups of students who practiced a deep breathing exercise either with a social robot or a laptop. From GSR signals, we obtained the change in participants' arousal level throughout the intervention, and from the EEG signals, we extracted the change in their emotional valence using the neurometric of Frontal Alpha Asymmetry (FAA). While subjective perceptions of stress and user experience did not differ significantly between the two groups, the physiological signals revealed differences in their emotional responses as evaluated by the arousal–valence model. The Laptop group tended to show a decrease in arousal level which, in some cases, was accompanied by negative valence indicative of boredom or lack of interest. On the other hand, the Robot group displayed two patterns; some demonstrated a decrease in arousal with positive valence indicative of calmness and relaxation, and others showed an increase in arousal together with positive valence interpreted as excitement. These findings provide interesting insights into the impact of social robots as mental well-being coaches on students' emotions particularly in the presence of the novelty effect. Additionally, they provide evidence for the efficacy of physiological signals as an objective and reliable measure of user experience in HRI settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As human–machine teams are being considered for a variety of mixed‐initiative tasks, detecting and being responsive to human cognitive states, in particular systematic cognitive states, is among the most critical capabilities for artificial systems to ensure smooth interactions with humans and high overall team performance. Various human physiological parameters, such as heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, and skin conductance, as well as brain activity inferred from functional near‐infrared spectroscopy or electroencephalogram, have been linked to different systemic cognitive states, such as workload, distraction, or mind–wandering among others. Whether these multimodal signals are indeed sufficient to isolate such cognitive states across individuals performing tasks or whether additional contextual information (e.g., about the task state or the task environment) is required for making appropriate inferences remains an important open problem. In this paper, we introduce an experimental and machine learning framework for investigating these questions and focus specifically on using physiological and neurophysiological measurements to learn classifiers associated with systemic cognitive states like cognitive load, distraction, sense of urgency, mind wandering, and interference. Specifically, we describe a multitasking interactive experimental setting used to obtain a comprehensive multimodal data set which provided the foundation for a first evaluation of various standard state‐of‐the‐art machine learning techniques with respect to their effectiveness in inferring systemic cognitive states. While the classification success of these standard methods based on just the physiological and neurophysiological signals across subjects was modest, which is to be expected given the complexity of the classification problem and the possibility that higher accuracy rates might not in general be achievable, the results nevertheless can serve as a baseline for evaluating future efforts to improve classification, especially methods that take contextual aspects such as task and environmental states into account. As human‐machine teams are being considered for a variety of mixed‐initiative tasks, detecting and being responsive to human systematic cognitive states is among the most critical capabilities for artificial systems to ensure smooth interactions with humans and high overall team performance. We introduce an experimental and machine learning framework for investigating whether physiological and neurophysiological measurements are sufficient for learning classifiers associated with systemic cognitive states like cognitive load, distraction, sense of urgency, mind wandering, and interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to establish a practical stress detection framework by integrating physiological indicators and deep learning techniques. Utilizing a virtual reality (VR) interview paradigm mirroring real-world scenarios, our focus is on classifying stress states through accessible single-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) and galvanic skin response (GSR) data. Thirty participants underwent stress-inducing VR interviews, with biosignals recorded for deep learning models. Five convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures and one Vision Transformer model, including a multiple-column structure combining EEG and GSR features, showed heightened predictive capabilities and an enhanced area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) in stress prediction compared to single-column models. Our experimental protocol effectively elicited stress responses, observed through fluctuations in stress visual analogue scale (VAS), EEG, and GSR metrics. In the single-column architecture, ResNet-152 excelled with a GSR AUROC of 0.944 (±0.027), while the Vision Transformer performed well in EEG, achieving peak AUROC values of 0.886 (±0.069) respectively. Notably, the multiple-column structure, based on ResNet-50, achieved the highest AUROC value of 0.954 (±0.018) in stress classification. Through VR-based simulated interviews, our study induced social stress responses, leading to significant modifications in GSR and EEG measurements. Deep learning models precisely classified stress levels, with the multiple-column strategy demonstrating superiority. Additionally, discreetly placing single-channel EEG measurements behind the ear enhances the convenience and accuracy of stress detection in everyday situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion regulation (ER) is a multifaceted construct, involving behavioral, cognitive, and physiological processes. Although autonomic coordination is theorized to play a crucial role in adaptive functioning, few studies have examined how different individual and contextual factors together may contribute to such coordination. This study examined the joint influences of narrative processing and emotional negativity/lability (N/L) traits on the coordination of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in a sample of 112 children, ages 8–12 years (Mage = 10.15 years, SD = 1.33). Children completed a stress‐induction task followed by an interview about the task. Children's trait‐level N/L was assessed via parent‐report on the Emotion Regulation Checklist. Narrative processing was assessed and coded based on children's narrative accounts of the event (i.e., causal coherence, overall emotional tone). Indexes of sympathetic (skin conductance response, SCR) and parasympathetic (respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA) functioning were derived from physiological data obtained during the interview. Results revealed that children's trait‐level N/L and narrative processing of the stressful event interacted to predict the RSA–SCR correlation. Specifically, children who were high on either N/L or narrative causal coherence, but not both, demonstrated significant RSA–SCR correlation. Similarly, children with high N/L and negative‐to‐neutral narratives, as well as those with low N/L and neutral‐to‐positive narratives, exhibited significant RSA–SCR correlation. This work provides empirical evidence that narrative processing and trait N/L, together with RSA–SCR correlation, work in tandem to regulate emotional arousal. This study examined the interactive roles of individual and contextual factors in association with autonomic coordination in ER. Children's trait‐level negativity/lability and narrative processing (i.e., causal coherence, the overall emotional tone) interacted to predict sympathetic and parasympathetic coordination. Findings empirically support that narrative processing and trait N/L, together with RSA–SCR correlation, work in tandem to regulate emotional arousals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study investigates how the succession of real‐time emotions during a virtual reality tourism experience can shape the retrospective assessment of such experience. A total of 363 participants were exposed to a virtual reality tourism experience while their self‐report and skin conductance data were collected. Results reveal that average pleasure dominates peak and end moments in driving consumers' post‐viewing evaluation of virtual reality tourism experience. Meanwhile, the time to emotional arousal peak was found to be a significant predictor of consumers' visit intention in the virtual reality tourism setting. The findings advance our understanding of how individuals assess virtual reality destination experience on the basis of moment‐to‐moment affective data and extend the literature on emotional dynamics and virtual reality tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The value of music lies in its ability to evoke emotions. People can gain emotional experiences in music and can also regulate their own emotions through music. Music has its own structural rules, and exploring the relationship between musical structure and emotions is an important approach to understanding the mechanism of music-induced emotions. Musical mode refers to the arrangement of intervals around the tonic, presenting different musical modes based on the central tone and the arrangement of intervals, including Chinese pentatonic modes and Western major and minor modes. Musical morphology indicates significant differences in the construction intensity of traditional Chinese pentatonic modes and major and minor modes, affecting their mode forms and thus determining their adaptability to external influences. Aims: Exploring the modalities of music and the effects of individual music training experiences on emotion induction; validating whether musical modes exhibit cross-cultural universality in the process of emotion induction. Method: This study recruited 65 university students as participants (34 with music training experience, 31 without music training experience). Through a passive listening paradigm using the GEMS and combined with a biofeedback equipment, it explored the differences in behavioral and physiological indicators (skin conductance, temperature, heart rate) of emotional experiences (basic and aesthetic emotions) influenced by the modal forms of Chinese traditional pentatonic modes and Western major and minor modes. Results: Firstly, the arousal level of music emotion is a primary factor influencing individuals' aesthetic emotional experiences in music, which is related to the intensity of modal construction in music; Secondly, the emotional pleasure and skin temperature change induced by pentatonic music are greater than those induced by major and minor modes; Thirdly, the arousal level, electrodermal change, and heart rate variability of major and minor modes are greater than those of pentatonic music; Finally, music training experience enhances college students' familiarity and preference for pentatonic music, thereby strengthening the electrodermal physiological indicators of emotional experiences. Conclusion: The different modal forms of music express different levels of emotional arousal, leading to differences in individuals' emotional dimensions and physiological indicators in music. Additionally, individuals' music training experiences and cultural backgrounds also influence their experience of music emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the increasing popularity of ambulatory assessment, the reliability and validity of psychophysiological signals from wearable devices is unproven in daily life settings. We evaluated the reliability and validity of physiological signals (electrocardiogram, ECG; photoplethysmography, PPG; electrodermal activity, EDA) collected from two wearable devices (Movisens EcgMove4 and Empatica E4) in the lab (N = 67) and daily life (N = 20) among adults aged 18–64 with Mindware as the laboratory gold standard. Results revealed that both wearable devices' valid data rates in daily life were lower than in the laboratory (Movisens ECG 82.94 vs. 93.10%, Empatica PPG 8.79 vs. 26.14%, and Empatica EDA 41.16 vs. 42.67%, respectively). The poor valid data rates of Empatica PPG signals in the laboratory could be partially attributed to participants' hand movements (r = –.27, p =.03). In laboratory settings, heart rate (HR) derived from both wearable devices exhibited higher concurrent validity than heart rate variability (HRV) metrics (ICCs 0.98–1.00 vs. 0.75–0.97). The number of skin conductance responses (SCRs) derived from Empatica showed higher concurrent validity than skin conductance level (SCL, ICCs 0.38 vs. 0.09). Movisens EcgMove4 provided more reliable and valid HRV measurements than Empatica E4 in both laboratory (split-half reliability: 0.95–0.99 vs. 0.85–0.98; concurrent validity: 0.95–1.00 vs. 0.75–0.98; valid data rate: 93.10 vs. 26.14%) and ambulatory settings (split-half reliability: 0.99–1.00 vs. 0.89–0.98; valid data rate: 82.94 vs. 8.79%). Although the reliability and validity of wearable devices are improving, findings suggest researchers should select devices that yield consistently robust and valid data for their measures of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Bilateral stimulation is a core element of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, a psychotherapeutic intervention for the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Promising previous findings showed measurable physiological effects of bilateral stimulation in healthy individuals, but studies that replicated these findings in PTSD patients are sparse. Methods: 23 patients with PTSD and 30 healthy controls were confronted with affective standard scripts (pleasant, neutral, unpleasant) while bilateral tactile stimulation was applied. Monolateral and no stimulation served as control conditions. Noise-induced startle reflex response (valence measure) and galvanic skin response (arousal measure) were used for physiological responses and the valence and arousal scale of the Self-Assessment-Manikin for subjective responses. Results: Both groups showed a subjective distress reduction for unpleasant scripts and a subjective attention increase for positive scripts under bilateral stimulation. In healthy individuals, this was also for physiological measures, and a general startle-reducing effect of bilateral stimulation in the absence of affective stimuli was found. In PTSD patients, however, the effects were restricted on the subjective level, and no concomitant physiological effects were observed. Conclusions and significance: The findings indicate, that generalizing the effects of BLS in healthy individuals to PTSD patients may be problematic. The hereinreported group differences can be explained by PTSD-specific peculiarities in emotion processing and cognitive processing style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction represent learning mechanisms underlying exposure‐based interventions. While increasing evidence indicates a pivotal role of disgust in the development of contamination‐based obsessive‐compulsive disorder (C‐OCD), dysregulations in conditioned disgust acquisition and maintenance, in particular driven by higher‐order conceptual processes, have not been examined. Here, we address this gap by exposing individuals with high (HCC, n = 41) or low (LCC, n = 41) contamination concern to a conceptual‐level disgust conditioning and extinction paradigm. Conditioned stimuli (CS+) were images from one conceptual category partially reinforced by unconditioned disgust‐eliciting stimuli (US), while images from another category served as non‐reinforced conditioned stimuli (CS−). Skin conductance responses (SCRs), US expectancy and CS valence ratings served as primary outcomes to quantify conditioned disgust responses. Relative to LCC, HCC individuals exhibited increased US expectancy and CS+ disgust experience, but comparable SCR levels following disgust acquisition. Despite a decrease in conditioned responses from the acquisition phase to the extinction phase, both groups did not fully extinguish the learned disgust. Importantly, the extinction resilience of acquired disgust was more pronounced in HCC individuals. Together, our findings suggest that individuals with high self‐reported contamination concern exhibit increased disgust acquisition and resistance to extinction. The findings provide preliminary evidence on how dysregulated disgust learning mechanism across semantically related concepts may contribute to C‐OCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fear overgeneralization constitutes a susceptibility factor contributing to the development and maintenance of anxiety spectrum disorders. Extant research has demonstrated that exposure to positive and supportive social relationships attenuates fear acquisition and promotes the extinction of conditioned fear responses. However, the literature lacks investigation into the effect of secure attachment priming on inhibiting the generalization of conditioned fear. Methods: In this study, college students were recruited via online platforms to voluntarily engage in the experimental procedures, resulting in 57 subjects whose data were deemed suitable for analysis. The experimental protocol consisted of four consecutive phases: pre-acquisition, acquisition, priming, and generalization. The priming phase consisted of two experimental conditions: secure attachment priming (experimental group) and positive emotion priming (control group). This study adopted the perceptual discrimination fear conditioning paradigm, employing subjective expectancy of shock ratings and skin conductance responses as primary assessment indices. Individual difference variables were measured using corresponding psychological measurement scales. Results: In terms of generalization degree, a notable divergence surfaced in the skin conductance responses across various generalization materials between the secure attachment priming group and the control group. Similarly, during generalization extinction, a significant disparity emerged in the skin conductance responses across different generalization phases between the secure attachment priming group and the control group. In addition, individual differences analyses revealed that the inhibitory effect of secure attachment priming on fear generalization was not affected by intolerance of uncertainty and attachment orientations. Conversely, slope analyses confirmed that as intolerance of uncertainty increased, the inhibitory effect of positive emotion priming on fear generalization was attenuated. Conclusion: The findings suggest that activating participants' representations of secure attachment via imagination effectively attenuates the generalization of perceptual fear at the physiological level. The inhibitory effect of secure attachment priming appears to be distinct from positive emotional modulation and remains unaffected by individual trait attachment styles. These results offer novel insights and avenues for the prevention and clinical intervention of anxiety spectrum disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Touch offers important non-verbal possibilities for socioaffective communication. Yet most digital communications lack capabilities regarding exchanging affective tactile messages (tactile emoticons). Additionally, previous studies on tactile emoticons have not capitalised on knowledge about the affective effects of certain mechanoreceptors in the human skin, e.g., the C-Tactile (CT) system. Here, we examined whether gentle manual stroking delivered in velocities known to optimally activate the CT system (defined as 'tactile emoticons'), during lab-simulated social media communications could convey increased feelings of social support and other prosocial intentions compared to (1) either stroking touch at CT sub-optimal velocities, or (2) standard visual emoticons. Participants (N = 36) felt more social intent with CT-optimal compared to sub-optimal velocities, or visual emoticons. In a second, preregistered study (N = 52), we investigated whether combining visual emoticons with tactile emoticons, this time delivered at CT-optimal velocities by a soft robotic device, could enhance the perception of prosocial intentions and affect participants' physiological measures (e.g., skin conductance rate) in comparison to visual emoticons alone. Visuotactile emoticons conveyed more social intent overall and in anxious participants affected physiological measures more than visual emoticons. The results suggest that emotional social media communications can be meaningfully enhanced by tactile emoticons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is one of the primary global public health issues, and there has been a dramatic increase in depression levels among young people over the past decade. The neuroplasticity theory of depression postulates that a malfunction in neural plasticity, which is responsible for learning, memory, and adaptive behavior, is the primary source of the disorder's clinical manifestations. Nevertheless, the impact of depression symptoms on associative learning remains underexplored. Methods: We used the differential fear conditioning paradigm to investigate the effects of depressive symptoms on fear acquisition and extinction learning. Skin conductance response (SCR) is an objective evaluation indicator, and ratings of nervousness, likeability, and unconditioned stimuli (US) expectancy are subjective evaluation indicators. In addition, we used associability generated by a computational reinforcement learning model to characterize the skin conductance response. Results: The findings indicate that individuals with depressive symptoms exhibited significant impairment in fear acquisition learning compared to those without depressive symptoms based on the results of the skin conductance response. Moreover, in the discrimination fear learning task, the skin conductance response was positively correlated with associability, as estimated by the hybrid model in the group without depressive symptoms. Additionally, the likeability rating scores improved post-extinction learning in the group without depressive symptoms, and no such increase was observed in the group with depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The study highlights that individuals with pronounced depressive symptoms exhibit impaired fear acquisition and extinction learning, suggesting a possible deficit in associative learning. Employing the hybridmodel to analyze the learning process offers a deeper insight into the associative learning processes of humans, thus allowing for improved comprehension and treatment of these mental health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music provides a reward that can enhance learning and motivation in humans. While music is often combined with exercise to improve performance and upregulate mood, the relationship between music-induced reward and motor output is poorly understood. Here, we study music reward and motor output at the same time by capitalizing on music playing. Specifically, we investigate the effects of music improvisation and live accompaniment on motor, autonomic, and affective responses. Thirty adults performed a drumming task while (i) improvising or maintaining the beat and (ii) with live or recorded accompaniment. Motor response was characterized by acceleration of hand movements (accelerometry), wrist flexor and extensor muscle activation (electromyography), and the drum strike count (i.e., the number of drum strikes played). Autonomic arousal was measured by tonic response of electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate (HR). Affective responses were measured by a 12-item Likert scale. The combination of improvisation and live accompaniment, as compared to all other conditions, significantly increased acceleration of hand movements and muscle activation, as well as participant reports of reward during music playing. Improvisation, regardless of type of accompaniment, increased the drum strike count and autonomic arousal (including tonic EDA responses and several measures of HR), as well as participant reports of challenge. Importantly, increased motor response was associated with increased reward ratings during music improvisation, but not while participants were maintaining the beat. The increased motor responses achieved with improvisation and live accompaniment have important implications for enhancing dose of movement during exercise and physical rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive emotions inhibit pain, whereas negative emotions facilitate pain. Thus, many psychosocial interventions capitalize on this emotion-pain relationship to improve patients' abilities to regulate emotion (ie, reduce negative emotion, increase positive emotion), influence nociception, and manage pain. This study extended the existing literature to examine whether emotion regulation procedures could influence emotional modulation of the nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR), a marker of spinal nociception. To elicit emotion, 2 blocks of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures were presented. In block 1, participants were asked to passively view pictures during which painful electric stimulations were delivered to evoke pain and the NFR. Valence, arousal, corrugator electromyogram, and skin conductance response were used to measure emotional responses to pictures. To manipulate emotion regulation, participants were randomized to either suppress (downregulate) or enhance (upregulate) their emotion during block 2 (other procedures same as block 1). Instructions to suppress decreased subjective and physiological responding to emotional pictures, reduced emotional modulation of pain, and generally decreased NFR magnitude (regardless of picture content). Instructions to enhance emotion increased subjective responding to emotional pictures but did not alter physiological responding to pictures or emotional modulation of pain/NFR in predictable ways. Results imply that downregulation/suppression of negative emotions may work best to reduce pain facilitation. Furthermore, this study contributes to the existing literature that shows that pain and pain signaling is tightly coupled with emotional states and that emotion regulation can impact pain perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appetitive conditioning plays an important role in the development and maintenance of pornography‐use and gaming disorders. It is assumed that primary and secondary reinforcers are involved in these processes. Despite the common use of pornography and gaming in the general population appetitive conditioning processes in this context are still not well studied. This study aims to compare appetitive conditioning processes using primary (pornographic) and secondary (monetary and gaming‐related) rewards as unconditioned stimuli (UCS) in the general population. Additionally, it investigates the conditioning processes with gaming‐related stimuli as this type of UCS was not used in previous studies. Thirty‐one subjects participated in a differential conditioning procedure in which four geometric symbols were paired with either pornographic, monetary, or gaming‐related rewards or with nothing to become conditioned stimuli (CS + porn, CS + game, CS + money, and CS−) in an functional magnetic resonance imaging study. We observed elevated arousal and valence ratings as well as skin conductance responses for each CS+ condition compared to the CS−. On the neural level, we found activations during the presentation of the CS + porn in the bilateral nucleus accumbens, right medial orbitofrontal cortex, and the right ventral anterior cingulate cortex compared to the CS−, but no significant activations during CS + money and CS + game compared to the CS−. These results indicate that different processes emerge depending on whether primary and secondary rewards are presented separately or together in the same experimental paradigm. Additionally, monetary and gaming‐related stimuli seem to have a lower appetitive value than pornographic rewards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The retrieval–extinction paradigm based on memory reconsolidation can prevent fear memory recurrence more effectively than the extinction paradigm. High-intensity fear memories tend to resist reconsolidation. Novelty–retrieval–extinction can promote the reconsolidation of fear memory lacking neuroplasticity in rodents; however, whether it could effectively promote high-intensity fear memory reconsolidation in humans remains unclear. Using 120 human participants, we implemented the use of the environment (novel vs. familiar) with the help of virtual reality technology. Novelty environment exploration was combined with retrieval–extinction in fear memory of two intensity levels (normal vs. high) to examine whether novelty facilitates the reconsolidation of high-intensity fear memory and prevents recurrence. Skin conductance responses were used to clarify novelty–retrieval–extinction effects at the behavioral level across three experiments. Retrieval–extinction could prevent the reinstatement of normal-intensity fear memory; however, for high-intensity fear memory, only the novelty–retrieval–extinction could prevent recurrence; we further validated that novelty–retrieval–extinction may be effective only when the environment is novel. Although the high-intensity fear memory is higher than normal-intensity in this study, it may be insufficient relative to fear experienced in real-world contexts or by individuals with mental disorders. To some extent, these findings indicate that the novelty–retrieval–extinction paradigm could prevent the recurrence of high-intensity fear memory, and we infer that novelty of environment may play an important role in novelty–retrieval–extinction paradigm. The results of this study have positive implications for the existing retrieval extinction paradigm and the clinical treatment of phobia. • Retrieval-extinction could prevent reinstatement of normal-intensity fear. • Novelty-retrieval-extinction could prevent recurrence of high-intensity fear. • Novelty of environment may play an important role in novelty–retrieval–extinction paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and electrocardiogram (ECG) are among the techniques developed for collecting psychophysiological data from humans. This study presents a feature extraction technique for identifying emotions in EEG-based data from the human brain. Independent component analysis (ICA) was employed to eliminate artifacts from the raw brain signals before applying signal extraction to a convolutional neural network (CNN) for emotion identification. These features were then learned by the proposed CNN-LSTM (long short-term memory) algorithm, which includes a ResNet-152 classifier. The CNN-LSTM with ResNet-152 algorithm was used for the accurate detection and analysis of human emotional data. The SEED V dataset was employed for data collection in this study, and the implementation was carried out using an Altera DE2 FPGA development board, demonstrating improved performance in terms of FPGA speed and area optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experience of empathy for pain is underpinned by sensorimotor and affective dimensions which, although interconnected, are at least in part behaviorally and neurally distinct. Spinal cord injuries (SCI) induce a massive, below‐lesion level, sensorimotor body–brain disconnection. This condition may make it possible to test whether sensorimotor deprivation alters specific dimensions of empathic reactivity to observed pain. To explore this issue, we asked SCI people with paraplegia and healthy controls to observe videos of painful or neutral stimuli administered to a hand (intact) or a foot (deafferented). The stimuli were displayed by means of a virtual reality set‐up and seen from a first person (1PP) or third person (3PP) visual perspective. A number of measures were recorded ranging from explicit behaviors like explicit verbal reports on the videos, to implicit measures of muscular activity (like EMG from the corrugator and zygomatic muscles that may represent a proxy of sensorimotor empathy) and of autonomic reactivity (like the electrodermal response and Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia that may represent a general proxy of affective empathy). While no across group differences in explicit verbal reports about the pain stimuli were found, SCI people exhibited reduced facial muscle reactivity to the stimuli applied to the foot (but not the hand) seen from the 1PP. Tellingly, the corrugator activity correlated with SCI participants' neuropathic pain. There were no across group differences in autonomic reactivity suggesting that SCI lesions may affect sensorimotor dimensions connected to empathy for pain. To explore how sensorimotor deprivation affects empathic reactivity we recorded facial muscle (FM) and autonomic reactivity (AR) in controls and people with spinal cord injury (SCI) watching painful stimuli applied to a virtual, intact (hand) or deprived (foot) body part. SCI participants displayed reduced FM when viewing foot stimuli. AR was not differentially affected by group, stimulus or body part indicating that SCI affects sensorimotor rather than affective pain empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional involvement is known to be necessary but not sufficient for good decision making in the face of uncertainty. It has been conjectured that emotional engagement in anticipation of risky outcomes constitutes "good" emotions. We introduce a new methodology to determine whether anticipatory emotional engagement is beneficial in the context of trading in financial markets. We focus on heart rate changes because they occur at a sufficiently high frequency to discern timing relative to events in the marketplace. After conservatively adjusting for multiple hypothesis testing, we find that participants whose heart rate changes anticipate their order submissions at inflated prices earn significantly more, whereas participants whose heart rate responds to their trades earn significantly less. By investigating cointegration between skin conductance response and the dynamics of individual portfolio values, we confirm the importance of emotional involvement in determining who makes or loses money. This paper was accepted by Bruno Biais, finance. Funding: This work was supported by the Australian Research Council [Grants DP180102284 and LE130100112]. The authors also thank the Monash Business School for funds associated with the Monash Business Behavioural Laboratory facility and equipment used in this study. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4883. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]