Article

Electrical autonomic correlates of emotion

SEQUEIRA, Henrique, et al.

Abstract

This paper focussed on how electrophysiological autonomic data may contribute to better
understand neural substrates of emotional processing. The utility of autonomic
electrophysiological markers for assessing emotional and cognitive processes is presented in
the context of an important bodily arousal interface. Components of general autonomic control
are reviewed and relevant neural modulations of specific autonomic variables were discussed.
The role of autonomic feedback on central processes is emphasized and neural influences on
autonomic activities as an index of arousal dimension, the electrodermal activity (EDA), are
outlined. An overview of brain mechanisms governing generation and control of EDA is
presented, and the contribution of electrodermal parameters as indices of emotional activation
illustrated by data related to diurnal emotional reactivity and to non consciously subjective
emotionality. Conclusions highlight the role of electrical autonomic expressions as tools to
explore emotional components of mind-body-mind relationships.

Reference
SEQUEIRA, Henrique, et al. Electrical autonomic correlates of emotion. International Journal
of Psychophysiology, 2009, vol. 71, no. 1, p. 50-56

DOI : 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.07.009
PMID : 18723054

Available at:
http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:11827

Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version.
 International Journal of Psychophysiology 71 (2009) 50–56

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Psychophysiology

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / i j p s yc h o

Electrical autonomic correlates of emotion

Henrique Sequeira a,⁎, Pascal Hot b, Laetitia Silvert c, Sylvain Delplanque d
a
Université de Lille I & Laboratoire de Neurosciences Fonctionnelles et Pathologies, CNRS UMR 8160, CHRU, Hôpital Salengro, EFV, 59037 Lille cedex, France
b
LPNC-UMR CNRS 5105, Université de Savoie, UFR LLSH, Jacob-Bellecombette, BP1104, 73000 Chambéry, Cedex, France
c
LAPSCO, 34 av. Carnot, 63037 Clermont-Ferrand Cedex, France
d
Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, rue des Battoirs 7, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 23 July 2008 This paper focussed on how electrophysiological autonomic data may contribute to better understand neural
substrates of emotional processing. The utility of autonomic electrophysiological markers for assessing
Keywords: emotional and cognitive processes is presented in the context of an important bodily arousal interface.
Autonomic nervous system Components of general autonomic control are reviewed and relevant neural modulations of specific autonomic
Cardiovascular
variables were discussed. The role of autonomic feedback on central processes is emphasized and neural
Consciousness
influences on autonomic activities as an index of arousal dimension, the electrodermal activity (EDA), are
Electrodermal activity
Electrophysiology outlined. An overview of brain mechanisms governing generation and control of EDA is presented, and the
Emotion contribution of electrodermal parameters as indices of emotional activation illustrated by data related to
Mind diurnal emotional reactivity and to non consciously subjective emotionality. Conclusions highlight the role of
electrical autonomic expressions as tools to explore emotional components of mind-body-mind relationships.
© 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction mechanisms and peripheral autonomic responses, assumed that any

organ influenced by the autonomic nervous system (ANS) could be a
The electrophysiological approach of the mind is normally carried potential index of mind activity. In line with these premises, the use of
out through central and peripheral electrical measures of the nervous the autonomic responses as markers of emotion, attention, decision-
system activity. In recent years central measures (electrical, magnetic, making, motor preparation, reward or punishment anticipation,
metabolic, hemodynamic) have acquired impressive temporal and unconscious detection, has been strongly developed since the 80s
spatial resolution and led to increasingly detailed functional maps of (e.g., Öhman et al., 2000). Current emotional research, particularly
brain activity. In spite of these technical improvements, somatic sustained by emergent disciplines as affective neuroscience (Pank-
(electromyography, eye-tracking) and autonomic (pupillometry, elec- sepp, 1998) and affective sciences (Davidson et al., 2003), seems to
trodermal activity, cardiovascular) peripheral electrical measures renew with the analysis of the ANS as a major vehicle of the activation
have been used successfully as indicators of mind expressions. Though dimension of emotion (e.g., Lang et al., 1993).
these measures are often contrasted along the dimensions of spatial The present paper focuses on how electrophysiological autonomic
and temporal resolution, early psychophysiological research proposed data may contribute to better understand the neural substrates of
that they can provide sensitive information on central activation and emotional processing. The autonomic activity was presented as a
thus can be useful as complementary probes of higher mental pro- relevant body–brain interface, and particularly how neuroelectrical
cesses (Duffy, 1951). and behaviourally expressions of arousal, indexed by electroder-
Autonomic electrical recordings, obtained for the first time at the mal activity (EDA), could be a pertinent body window on emotional
end of the nineteenth century (Féré, 1888), largely preceded the processes.
recording of cerebral signals in humans (Berger, 1929). The psy-
chometer, an instrument allowing to record autonomic measures, 2. Autonomic versus neurocognitive electrophysiology
became extremely popular as a way of revealing aspects of mental life
and constituted a surprising belief in machines for reading thoughts The autonomic activity corresponds to the physiological expres-
(Newman and Blanton, 1968). Fifty years later, the activation arousal sions, mostly electrical and hormonal, under the control of the ANS
theory (Lindsley, 1951), describing a continuity between central and represents the neural activity related to the brain and body
regulation. Historically, the use of the term autonomic implied that
such part of the nervous system was functionally independent of any
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 3 20 44 62 81; fax: +33 3 20 44 67 32. voluntary nervous or cognitive control. Phylogenetically, the ANS is a
E-mail address: henrique.sequeira@univ-lille1.fr (H. Sequeira). major and ancient component of the nervous system which controls

0167-8760/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.07.009
 H. Sequeira et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 71 (2009) 50–56 51

visceral targets like cardiovascular tissues (heart, blood vessels),

smooth muscles (most visceral organs), glands (endocrine and
exocrine) and sensory systems (eyes, skin), having specific roles in
physiological and behavioural adaptation.
Considering the role of the ANS in basic organic functions, at first
glance it seems quite surprising to consider it as a relevant way to
index brain functions. In addition, the capacity of central electro-
physiology to provide real-time indices of the flow of information
processing makes it difficult to admit the relevance of autonomic
electrophysiology as a window on brain activity. The main disadvan-
tage of the use of electrical autonomic measures is that they are
indirect indices of brain activity. These measures possibly reflect many
sources of variance and only a small minority will have a significant
psychological relevance. For example, heart rate is modulated by Fig. 1. Outline of the global organization of the autonomic control. Cortical, limbic and
mechanical (venous return of blood), hemodynamic (baroreceptor hypothalamic influences are directed to premotor (PMN) and preganglionic (PGN)
neurons mainly located at bulbar and spinal levels. Autonomic efferences are
feedback), humoral (circulating catecholamines) and neural (vagal
reintegrated at ganglionic level (G) before reaching autonomic targets (at). Broken
tone and sympathetic activation) factors. Then it is necessary to arrows indicate sensory autonomic information.
embed the psychological question in a complex physiological context,
mainly related to the maintenance of vital functions (Öhman et al.,
2000). In other words, any mind-autonomic related activity interacts ganglionic neurons that are directly connected with autonomic targets
with this vital activity. On the contrary, the main advantage is that are located. All motor and sensory autonomic information is organized
variations in any autonomic measure can be easily related with and transmitted by the two main autonomic nervous divisions — the
functional consequences. Indeed, in contrast to central measurements parasympathetic (PS) and sympathetic (S) components.
that are linked to the processing, the autonomic measures are closed The parasympathetic division has anatomical and neurochemical
to the effectors and reflect the outcomes of the processing and characteristics that allow different functional adaptations, often in
adjustments of the function. That is why measuring both central and opposition to those of the sympathetic system. The parasympathetic
peripheral activities can offer a better understanding of how infor- outflow is under the control of autonomic neurons located in several
mation is processed and what are the functional consequences. Also, nuclei of brain stem and sacral spinal cord whereas the sympathetic
autonomic recordings have the ability to provide quite easily tonic outflow is under the exclusive control of spinal thoracic neurons. Both
indices of subject's ongoing activity and phasic variations of his outflows are modulated by descending tonic and transient influences
response to a specific stimulus (Venables, 1991). As underlined by from the brainstem, the hypothalamus, the limbic system and even
Cacioppo and Tassinary (1990), nearly every bodily system, especially cortical areas (Cecheto and Saper, 1990; Sequeira et al., 1995). These
the autonomic one, has been monitored by psychophysiologists with influences act on different neuronal functional subsets that control
the aim of gaining some insight into the workings of human brain. specific peripheral targets like visceral motor, muscle vasomotor, skin
Before considering possibilities afforded by combining autonomic vasomotor, pilomotor and sudomotor units. Following the traditional
and neurocognitive recordings, it seems relevant to go further on the doctrine of the autonomic balance, most autonomic targets are under
analysis of autonomic control and its bodily expressions. a dual antagonist control exerted respectively by PS and S components
(e.g., cardiac vagal inhibitory control versus cardiac sympathetic ex-
3. The autonomic activity as a body–brain interface citatory control). However, although such reciprocal model of ANS
function is largely valid, it does not explain the entire range of
The autonomic control mainly regulates the internal environment autonomic control. As an alternative, Berntson et al. (1991) proposed a
in order to maintain the body homeostasis. It facilitates by this way multidimensional model to account for autonomic regulation, based
adaptive responses of the endocrine, immune, sensori-motor and on the notion of autonomic space. According to these authors, the
cognitive systems (Porges, 1995; Sequeira et al., 2000). In this context, multiple modes of autonomic control do not lie along a single con-
ironically, the brain is perhaps the less resilient to disruptions of tinuum extending from parasympathetic to sympathetic dominance
homeostasis. In fact, the brain is one of the first organs to be damaged but rather distribute within a two dimensional space. This model,
by lack of oxygen, glucose, pH imbalance and overheating (Clarke and verified empirically, incorporates the recognized complexities of auto-
Sokoloff, 1993). The brain is, in the truest sense, embodied and the nomic control and therefore allows us to better understand subtle
autonomic control appears as a crucial interface to maintain the autonomic variations and particularly those under the influence of
brain function: the mind (Niedenthal, 2007). However, the role of higher structures.
autonomic activity cannot be reduced to maintain brain or body In general, sympathetic outflow responds to the emergency
immediate homeostasis, it provides support to complex behaviours, as situations (fight and flight reactions) and facilitates the expenditure
emotional reaction. In that sense, autonomic activity is reactive to a of energy (emotion, cold, exercise, pain) whereas parasympathetic
stimulus but also contains an anticipatory dimension. division is more active during rest and sleep and promotes restoration
and conservation of energy. For example, life-threatening situations
3.1. Components of autonomic control modulate deeply the sympathetic outflow that includes vasoconstric-
tion in the skin and splanchnic vessels, vasodilatation in skeletal
Fig. 1 illustrates that the autonomic control is exerted by neuronal muscles, piloerection, sweating and release of adrenaline from adrenal
networks located in the central and peripheral nervous systems (e.g., medulla (Folkow, 2000). Apart from that, it is known that sympathetic
Sequeira et al., 2000). The central autonomic network contains two nerve activity in the skin is mainly regulated by environmental
kinds of autonomic neurons, premotor and preganglionic neurons. temperature and central activations related to affective and cognitive
These neurons are distributed at three levels: hypothalamus, brain states (Wallin and Fagius, 1986). Therefore, autonomic electrophysiol-
stem (nuclei of cranial nerves, rostro-ventrolatral medulla, nucleus of ogy has the ability to provide information on global orientation of
the tractus solitarius), and spinal cord (intermediolateral cell column) brain dynamics as revealed by arousal levels and brings enough phasic
(Jordan, 1997). Preganglionic neurons send fibers to autonomic information to help to “extract subprocesses” (Williams et al., 2004).
ganglia, small and complex peripheral neuronal centers, where post- In brief, neuronal descending subsets could integrate influences from
52 H. Sequeira et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 71 (2009) 50–56

specific central processes and contribute to explain why it is possible receiving a growing attention (Barsalou, 1999; Prinz, 2002), neurobe-
to record distinct autonomic parameters associated with different havioural effects of ascending visceral afferent information have been
emotions (Collet et al., 1997; Kreibig et al., 2007; Rainville et al., 2006). mainly considered in the domain of emotion. Indeed, even if the
However, future assessment of autonomic patterns should include original hypothesis proposed by James (1894) that emotional
multidimensional peripheral physiological measurements in order to experience was mainly regulated by somatovisceral feedback is no
increase the reliability of autonomic signatures of emotional states. In longer viable, considerable evidence has accumulated showing
addition, new research directions concern the use of appraisal models specific effects of autonomic feedback on cortical or identified mental
of emotion to scheme detailed predictions of specific physiological activities (Berntson et al., 2002; Williams and Clayton, 2001).
changes expected to occur as a consequence of specific appraisal The current idea about the impact of autonomic afferences on
results (e.g., Delplanque et al., submitted for publication; Scherer and emotion and cognition is illustrated by bottom-up visceral regulation
Ellgring, 2007). (Berntson et al., 2003), somatic markers and decision-making
(Bechara et al., 1999; Damasio, 1994), and autonomic feedback on
3.2. Autonomic responses central regulation of arousal (Nagai et al., 2004). An important finding
of the last study was that a decrease in autonomic arousal measured
“Eyes wide, heart pounding, hands clammy”: In those terms, Kutas peripherally was accompanied by an increase in cortical excitation.
and Federmeier (1998) clearly express well known daily life sensa- Hence, the cortical activation was greatest after the subject had
tions, typically linked to autonomic variations triggered by affective performed the biofeedback relaxation exercise to reduce autonomic
events. They implicitly show the relevance of autonomic electro- arousal, indexed by electrodermal responses. These findings illustrate
physiology in recording variations of pupillary responses, cardiovas- the fact that biofeedback aimed at increasing autonomic arousal may
cular activity and electrical properties of the skin as potential markers have the potential to change cortical seizure threshold and therefore
of affective or cognitive expressions. For example, pupillary responses to reduce the occurrence of epileptic seizures.
have been correlated with emotional processing, cognitive load or In sum, models of emotional processing are highly diverging about
degrees of alertness, and task-evoked changes in pupil size can be the role of physiological responses to the emergence of an emotional
observed within the first several hundred milliseconds after the experience. In the hard version of ascending control, autonomic feed-
stimulus presentation (Beatty, 1986). Electrodermal and cardiovascu- back is required to experience emotion, whereas soft version con-
lar responses are acknowledged to index respectively the activation siders this useful but not necessary. Otherwise, autonomic responses
level and the valence of emotional stimuli (Bradley and Lang, 2000; are considered as a top-down intrinsic vehicle involved in emotional
Solbakk et al., 2005). Various aspects of cardiovascular functioning expression. Autonomic responses seem coupled with changes in
(heart rate variability, blood pressure, peripheral blood flow) can also regulation of affective states by means of descending and ascending
be correlated with emotions (Lang et al., 1993), passive and active circuits that support temporal delayed top-down and bottom-up
attention (Öhman et al., 2000), or motor processes (Sequeira and Ba- driven processing. An important direction for future certainly needs to
M'Hamed, 1999). For instance, heart rate acceleration often accom- increase coupling between neurocognitive measurements and auto-
panies perception of unpleasant compared with pleasant pictures nomic indices enable to express refined levels of bodily arousal, as
(Palomba et al., 1997; Solbakk et al., 2005) and heart rate deceleration indexed by electrodermal activity.
can be observed during detection tasks (Lacey and Lacey, 1978).
Furthermore, Jennings (1992) showed interesting cognitive–auto- 4. Electrodermal activity: a window on the arousal dimension
nomic interactions associated to a simple motor preparation task. In of emotion
particular, inhibition of the motor response during the warning period
was accompanied by heart rate decelerations. Thus, changes in EDA variations depend on the quantity of sweat secreted by eccrine
electrical properties of the skin have been used successfully to study sweat glands. These glands are mainly located in the hypodermis of
several dimensions of mind and from a long time ago (Boucsein, 1992). palmar and plantar regions and generate sweat excreted through
Current work carried on electrodermal properties related to im- sweating ducts (Groscurth, 2002). Such secretion is under the control
plicit or explicit arousal aspects of affective and cognitive processing of sympathetic innervation which transmits influences from the
(Critchley, 2002; Tranel and Damasio, 1985; Williams et al., 2004), central nervous system to the eccrine glands. Sweating variations are
largely explains why this autonomic marker has been used recently as sensitive markers of events having a particular signification for
a choice index of most emotional and cognitive activations in a large individuals, usually related to emotional, novelty or attentional fields.
panel of psychophysiological studies. In spite of interesting use of For this reason, the eccrine sweating activity is also known as palmar,
autonomic responses to index psychological processes, the multi- mental or emotional sweating (Ashina et al., 2003) in opposition to the
determination of physiological variables makes difficult to provide thermoregulatory sweating. Consequently, the EDA recording has
sufficient information for strong inference about mental activity been extensively used for more than a century in rats, cats, monkeys
(Cacioppo and Tassinary, 1990). Therefore, as discussed by Berntson and humans (see Sequeira and Roy, 1997 for a review). Following the
et al. (2007), multivariate and multilevel approaches, which include publication of guidelines on EDA research by the Society for
physiological and behavioural components, may facilitate the identi- Psychophysiological Research (Fowles et al., 1981), the skin conduc-
fication and development of autonomic markers of affective and tance method became the international standard technique to record
cognitive processes. and analyse the EDA.
The EDA is constituted of two main components: electrodermal
3.3. Autonomic responses feedback on central processes level and electrodermal responses. Electrodermal level corresponds to
slow spontaneous electrical fluctuations of sweat gland activity which
Spontaneous or induced activity of autonomic targets continuously result from the interaction between tonic discharges of sympathetic
provides sensory feedback to the brain and thus contributes to innervation and local factors (skin temperature and hydratation)
regulate lower nervous outflow, brainstem vital circuits and higher (Macefield and Wallin, 1996). Electrodermal responses are correlated
forebrain networks (see Berntson et al., 2003 for a review). Autonomic with phasic sympathetic nervous discharges (Lidberg and Wallin,
influences on higher neurobehavioural processes seem be transmitted 1981) and are characterized by their amplitude and three main tem-
by specific neural ascending pathways implicating brainstem circuits, poral measures: their latency, their duration (rise time and recovery
the amygdala and the basal forebrain areas. Although the idea of an time), and their surface. In addition to the important analysis of
autonomic feedback on human cognition as a whole has been recently amplitude, electrodermal temporal parameters had been interpreted
 H. Sequeira et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 71 (2009) 50–56 53

tract or reticulo-spinal pathways (Sequeira et al., 1995). Thus, neural

studies clearly support the implication of the EDA as a bodily win-
dow of reticular, limbic and cortical areas related to major mind
components such as emotion, preparation to action and vigilance
processes.

4.2. Electrodermal activity as an index of emotional activation

EDA is a good indicator of reticular activation and therefore seems

to reflect the energetic dimension of behaviour and particularly of
emotion. Indeed, the amplitude of electrodermal responses increased
linearly as ratings of arousal increased, regardless of emotional va-
lence (Bradley and Lang, 2000). This effect is observed when emo-
tional pictures (Winton et al., 1984) or emotional words (Manning and
Melchiori, 1974) are used. Lang et al. (1993) further showed a positive
correlation between arousal reports and conductance response ampli-
tudes in more than 80% of subjects. The EDA amplitude as a good
indicator of emotional arousal is illustrated below by some of our
Fig. 2. Global representation of the central control of electrodermal activity resulting experimental data obtained to different emotional demands.
from animal and human data. Excitatory (+) and inhibitory (−) descending influences
are integrated by preganglionic neurons (PGN) located at the spinal cord. These neurons
send final impulses to sympathetic ganglia (G) and to sweat glands (SG). The spinal cord
4.2.1. EDA as a marker of diurnal emotional reactivity
is under the strong control of reticular activating (RAS) and inhibiting (RIS) systems Classical data have shown that changes in autonomic activation
which are mainly influenced by frontal (Fro), parietal (Par), cingular (Cin) and preceding the onset of a stimulus, could modulate emotional
amygdaloid (Amy) brain regions. Note that these regions can activate or inhibit brain responses in normal (Lazarus, 1985) and in brain injured subjects
stem reticular structures whereas corticospinal fibers (CT) can activate both reticular
(Damasio, 1994). Furthermore, focusing on physiological components
and spinal levels. Other abbreviations: Hip, hippocampus; Occ, occipital; Tem, temporal.
of emotional reactivity, several authors reported spontaneous diurnal
fluctuations of autonomic variables like tonic and phasic EDA
(Venables and Christie, 1973; Hot et al., 1999). These data on diurnal
tentatively as indicators of particular emotional or cognitive function variations of EDA raise the question about temporal organization of
(e.g., see discussion, Bundy and Fitzgerald, 1975). Consequently, the psychophysiological states sustaining the emotional activation. There-
facility of the EDA measurement allows the use of electrodermal fore, the research of temporal patterning between components of
recordings as choice tools to explore a large panel of mind expressions: emotional reactivity is particularly relevant because affective dis-
emotions, vigilance states (Ba-M'Hamed et al., 1993), hemispheric orders, like mood ones, have been considered as the consequence of
specializations, decision-making (Amiez et al., 2003), reasoning bias temporal dysregulations of physiological systems allowing the tonic
(Carbonnell et al., 2006), and several behavioural adaptations such expression of emotions (Wirz-Justice and Van den Hoofdakker, 1999).
as grasping, ambulation and tactual exploration (Edelberg, 1973). Toward this end, Hot et al. (2005) investigated diurnal variations of
However, some clarification is needed concerning the contribution of autonomic activation and their relationships with emotional reactiv-
brain mechanisms implicated in emotion and cognition to peripheral ity components in healthy subjects. EDA, affective evaluation, and
electrodermal responses. emotional experience were recorded before or during the presenta-
tion of emotional pictures through several sessions in the daytime.
4.1. Central control of EDA Stimuli were selected from the International Affective Picture System
(Lang et al., 1988) and healthy undergraduate participants were
Fig. 2 illustrates central mechanisms of EDA, largely known from included in the study. Each participant performed seven experimental
data acquired in animal and in human experiments. Human data were sessions and sets of neutral and unpleasant pictures were presented in
obtained in association with the cognitive electrophysiology and counterbalanced orders between participants. Tonic (skin conduc-
neuroimaging techniques, in normal, psychopathological and brain- tance level, SCL) and phasic (skin conductance responses, SCR) EDA
damaged subjects. Skin regions allowing easy electrodermal record- was concomitantly recorded. After each picture presentation, par-
ings are directly innervated by postganglionic sudomotor neurones, ticipants indicated their affective evaluation by estimating the va-
located in ganglia of the lateral sympathetic chains (Jänig and Kümmel, lence and the arousal of pictures with the SAM rating system (Self-
1981). These neurons are under the direct influence of spinal Assessment Manikin; Bradley and Lang, 1994). At the end of the
sudomotor neurons, located in the intermediolateral nucleus of the session, participants reported the emotional experience induced by
spinal cord (Cabot, 1990) which are under permanent excitatory and the experimental session by means of a visual analogue scale.
inhibitory impulses from supraspinal centers, corresponding mainly to Fig. 3 partially illustrates the major results: (1) pre-stimulus SCL
the classical reticular formation of the brain stem (Roy et al., 1974). values increased during the daytime; (2) SCRs to unpleasant pictures
Reticular structures have excitatory (reticular activating system, RAS) but not to neutral ones presented a significant amplitude increase
or inhibitory (reticular inhibiting system, RIS) effects on EDA through during the daytime; (3) the self-reported emotional impact of sessions
descending neural circuits. also increased during the daytime; and (4) the analysis of temporal
Several studies based on neurophysiological brain imaging and relationships between variables revealed that the SCL and SCRs values
neuropsychological methods have demonstrated strong influences of to unpleasant pictures were positively correlated with the emo-
hypothalamus, limbic system (amygdala and hippocampus, cingulated tional experience. Taken together, this study showed a close temporal
gyrus) and cortical frontal areas on EDA elicitation (Lee et al., 1988; relation between EDA and emotional experience and thus contributes
Mangina and Beuzeron-Mangina, 1996). Zahn et al. (1999) suggested to emphasize the role of temporal autonomic patterns as a basic
that reduced EDA following cerebral damages and in particular in indicator of emotionality. These findings illustrate the relevance of
frontal regions mirrors impairment in mental processing associated to autonomic electrophysiology as a means to assess subjective emo-
EDA rather than a direct control of frontal regions on EDA. It also tional experience that can subserve emotional reactivity in healthy
was found that cortical influences could be mediated by the pyramidal participants and probably in psychiatric patients.
54 H. Sequeira et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 71 (2009) 50–56

Fig. 3. Diurnal variations of mean amplitude of skin conductance responses (SCR) to unpleasant and neutral pictures (A) and mean values of emotional experience obtained by z-
transformation of individual data (B). Error bars represent the standard error to the mean. Adapted from Hot et al. (2005).

4.2.2. EDA, emotional words and consciousness place on two different days of the same week. The aim of the pre-
The contribution of the EDA recordings is not limited to the experimental phase was to determine, for each participant, the pre-
investigation of consciously reported subjective emotionality and can sentation duration of the masked words for the experimental phase
be interestingly extended to the investigation of non conscious
processing. In that sense, EDA constitutes a particularly pertinent
window on the mind when subjectively reported experience is not
possible. Indeed, a growing body of evidence suggests that judgment
of the affective relevance of a stimulus for the individual, especially
the fear relevance, can be made without the identification of the
precipitating stimulus. In this frame, a good deal of research has been
devoted to evaluate how individual reacts to aversive stimuli even if
these are not consciously identified. To this end, some studies have
measured electrodermal reactivity, as an index of emotional arousal,
to non-identified fearful pictures (Öhman and Soares, 1994). Results
have been interpreted in terms of biologically prepared fear reactions
and thus more likely to occur to pictorial stimuli. In these conditions,
one can wonder whether non-biologically prepared aversive visual
stimuli, like words, may elicit autonomic activation when they are not
consciously perceived. In spite of a study regarding the emotional
verbal material in phobic participants (Van den Hout et al., 2000), it
appeared important to demonstrate that any autonomic activation
related to affective value of words may be independent from any kind
of access of this value to consciousness. A study was conducted to
assess whether a non conscious physiological activity, like skin con-
ductance responses, could reflect the discrimination of the emotional
value (unpleasant versus neutral) of non consciously perceived words
(Silvert et al., 2004).
Fig. 4 illustrates the primary results. French emotional words with
a negative value (e.g., war, cancer, murder, etc.) and neutral words
(e.g., table, door, notebook, etc.) were presented on a computer
monitor to undergraduate female participants. The experiment was Fig. 4. Mean √SCR to neutral and emotional (unpleasant) words in the masked and
constituted of two phases, pre-experimental and experimental, taking unmasked modes of presentation. Adapted from Silvert et al. (2004).
 H. Sequeira et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 71 (2009) 50–56 55

in which EDA was recorded. The experimental phase included a Acknowledgements

masked presentation session followed by an unmasked presentation
session. During the masked presentation session, the words were This paper was essentially written during an invited stay of H.S.
projected for the duration determined for each participant in the pre- at the Ashikaga Sleep Research Center (ASRC, Ashikaga Institute of
experimental phase. At this duration, participants were unable to Technology, Japon). We are especially grateful to Prs T. Kobayashi,
identify the words and discriminate their emotional valence above Y. Saito and O. Mandai for all stay facilities.
chance level. During the unmasked presentation session, the words
lasted 150 ms and were easily readable, as reported by all participants. References
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