Abstract
We recently reported data related to emotions collected in conjunction with a museum exhibit on emotion (Goose Bumps! - The Science of Fear).1 In this addendum, we present additional data collected as part of that study. We collected two commonly measured indices of emotional arousal, salivary cortisol and α-amylase, before and after participants had gone through a realistic fear challenge course as part of the exhibit. We found that alpha-amylase, but not cortisol, showed a highly specific increase only for those participants who endorsed both emotional arousal and negative valence. By contrast, the fear-inducing course resulted in high arousal but positive valence in some participants; in these, no increased α-amylase was measured. We conclude that salivary α-amylase is a promising biomarker for fearful experiences, and suggest that it is important to pay attention to positively valenced arousal that may be induced by fearful stimuli in a laboratory setting.
Figures and Tables
Figure 1 Emotional experience during a fear challenge determines physiological response. (A) The affect grid questionnaire color coded to indicate the four quadrants in which participants could describe their experience during the fear challenge: high arousal and low pleasantness corresponds to the negatively aroused quadrant (N = 9); high arousal and high pleasantness corresponds to the positively aroused quadrant (N = 33); low arousal and high pleasantness corresponds to the positively calm quadrant (N = 7); none of the participants rated themselves in the low arousal low pleasantness quadrant. (B) Salivary α-amylase responses (post-challenge minus pre-challenge levels) for participants in each quadrant (color-coded to match the corresponding quadrant in A, above). Negatively aroused participants showed a pronounced a-amylase response to the fear challenge (indicative of sympathetic nervous system activity).
![Figure 1 Emotional experience during a fear challenge determines physiological response. (A) The affect grid questionnaire color coded to indicate the four quadrants in which participants could describe their experience during the fear challenge: high arousal and low pleasantness corresponds to the negatively aroused quadrant (N = 9); high arousal and high pleasantness corresponds to the positively aroused quadrant (N = 33); low arousal and high pleasantness corresponds to the positively calm quadrant (N = 7); none of the participants rated themselves in the low arousal low pleasantness quadrant. (B) Salivary α-amylase responses (post-challenge minus pre-challenge levels) for participants in each quadrant (color-coded to match the corresponding quadrant in A, above). Negatively aroused participants showed a pronounced a-amylase response to the fear challenge (indicative of sympathetic nervous system activity).](/cms/asset/7a47c8c7-fef0-434e-9925-11bbc9c30a58/kcib_a_10912606_f0001.gif)
Addendum to: