TY - JOUR
T1 - Skin conductance and subjective arousal in anxiety, depression, and comorbidity
T2 - Implications for affective reactivity
AU - Rosebrock, Laina E.
AU - Hoxha, Denada
AU - Norris, Catherine
AU - Cacioppo, John T.
AU - Gollan, Jackie K.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health (P50 MH 72850)(P01), Peter Lang, NIMH Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville FL). We thank our Florida colleagues for their support with this project. The author would like to thank the research team: Sarah Getch, Sarah Polis, Bjorn Hanson, Kallio Hunnicott-Ferguson, Jennifer Caldwell, Kelly Neville, Caroline Cozza, Holly Hunley, Sara Michelson, Becca Shor, Shandra Brown, Justin Birnholz, and Noah Yulish.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Hogrefe Publishing.
PY - 2017/10
Y1 - 2017/10
N2 - Skin conductance (SC), an autonomic arousal measure of the sympathetic nervous system, is a sensitive and useful index of physiological arousal. However, SC data does not always align with self-reports of arousal. SC, self-reported arousal, and their association, known as emotion coherence, may be altered with the presence of major psychiatric illness. This study investigated group differences on SC reactivity and self-reported arousal while viewing positive, negative, neutral, and threat images between participants diagnosed with major depression with and without anxiety disorders relative to a healthy comparison group. Additionally, the strength and direction of association between SC reactivity and arousal ratings (emotion coherence) was examined within groups. Unmedicated participants were recruited via online and paper advertisements around Chicago and categorized into one of four groups (Depressed: n = 35, Anxious: n = 44, Comorbid: n = 38, Healthy: n = 29). SC and affect ratings were collected during and after a standardized emotional picture viewing task. SC reactivity was significantly higher during threat images, regardless of group. During threat image presentation, increased SC reactivity occurred during the last few seconds before picture offset; for all other stimulus types, SC reactivity decreased significantly after picture offset. Anxious and comorbid participants rated emotional images as more arousing than healthy participants; there were no observed differences in arousal ratings between depressed and healthy participants. Heightened reactivity in anxiety may manifest in arousal ratings without corresponding increased SC reactivity to emotional images. Results do not suggest underlying altered psychophysiology in this sample of depressed or anxious participants.
AB - Skin conductance (SC), an autonomic arousal measure of the sympathetic nervous system, is a sensitive and useful index of physiological arousal. However, SC data does not always align with self-reports of arousal. SC, self-reported arousal, and their association, known as emotion coherence, may be altered with the presence of major psychiatric illness. This study investigated group differences on SC reactivity and self-reported arousal while viewing positive, negative, neutral, and threat images between participants diagnosed with major depression with and without anxiety disorders relative to a healthy comparison group. Additionally, the strength and direction of association between SC reactivity and arousal ratings (emotion coherence) was examined within groups. Unmedicated participants were recruited via online and paper advertisements around Chicago and categorized into one of four groups (Depressed: n = 35, Anxious: n = 44, Comorbid: n = 38, Healthy: n = 29). SC and affect ratings were collected during and after a standardized emotional picture viewing task. SC reactivity was significantly higher during threat images, regardless of group. During threat image presentation, increased SC reactivity occurred during the last few seconds before picture offset; for all other stimulus types, SC reactivity decreased significantly after picture offset. Anxious and comorbid participants rated emotional images as more arousing than healthy participants; there were no observed differences in arousal ratings between depressed and healthy participants. Heightened reactivity in anxiety may manifest in arousal ratings without corresponding increased SC reactivity to emotional images. Results do not suggest underlying altered psychophysiology in this sample of depressed or anxious participants.
KW - Affective reactivity
KW - Anxiety
KW - Comorbidity
KW - Depression
KW - Skin conductance
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U2 - 10.1027/0269-8803/a000176
DO - 10.1027/0269-8803/a000176
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85032742404
VL - 31
SP - 145
EP - 157
JO - Journal of Psychophysiology
JF - Journal of Psychophysiology
SN - 0269-8803
IS - 4
ER -