PHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF EMOTION AND ATTENTION PROCESSES DURING AFFECTIVE AND ORIENTING AUDITORY STIULATION

청각자극에 의해 유발된 정서 및 주의반응의 생리적 지표

In the experiment carried out on 20 college students, recorded were frontal, temporal and occipital EEG, skin conductance response, skin conductance level, heart rate and respiration rate during listening to two music fragments with different affective valences and white noise administered immediately after negative visual stimulation. Analysis of physiological patterns observed during the experiment suggests that affective auditory stimulation with music is able to selectively modulate autonomic and cortical activity evoked by preceding aversive visual stimulation and to restore initial baseline levels. On other hand, physiological responses to white noise, which does not possess emotion-eliciting capabilities, evokes response typical for orienting reaction after the onset of a stimulus and is rapidly followed by habituation. Observed responses to white noise were similar to those specific to attention only and had no evidence for any emotion-related processes. Interpretation of the obtained data is considered in terms of the role of emotional and orienting significance of stimuli, dependence of effects on the background physiological activation level and time courses of attention and emotion processes. Physiological parameters are summarized with regard to their potential utility in differentiation of psychological processes induced by auditory stimuli.