EMG AND CARDIOVASCULAR-RESPONSES TO EMOTIONALLY PROVOCATIVE PHOTOGRAPHS AND TEXT

Previous studies on the psychophysiology of human emotion have repeate dly shown general and occassionally specific facial EMG (muv) and cove rt cardiovascular response relationships to emotionally provocative ph otographs. Less clear are the relationships between psychophysiologica l response indices measured during the silent reading of emotionally c harged versus emotionally neutral text. In this study, 12 adult subjec ts were presented two emotionally loaded color and black-and-white pho tographs and two brief newspaper articles, one emotionally charged and the other emotionally neutral in content. Each independent stimulus w as presented for 1 min., preceded by a rest according to a multiple ba seline-reversal design. Subjects evaluated each pictorial and textual stimulus condition according to adjective dimensions on 7-point rating scales. Mean values for corrugator supercilii EMG (muv), upper trapez ius EMG (muv), surface temperature (degree-F), and heart rate (bpm) me asured by finger photoplethysmography were measured during each rest a nd test period. Significant increases in the subjects' mean corrugator supercilii EMG (muv) measures were observed during all color and blac k-and-white photograph presentations for both emotional and neutral co ntent. As predicted, the subjects' mean corrugator supercilii EMG (muv ) measures increased significantly while silently reading text with an obvious unpleasant emotional tone. A significant positive relationshi p was observed between the subjects' mean ratings and mean corrugator EMG (muv) difference values for the emotionally loaded color photograp hs.