Cognitive effects of false heart-rate feedback

Bibliographic Data

ID6201641
AuthorsStuart Valin, Stuart Valins (Universidad Del Este, corresponding author)
Year1966
Volume4
Issue4
Pages400-408
Publication date1966-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/h0023791
PMID5969996
OpenAlexW2137975230
LanguageEN
Citations received131
References cited7

This experiment was concerned with some of the cognitive effects of internal events. The objective was to ascertain whether the labeling of emotional stimuli would be affected by information concerning internal reactions. Ss viewed 10 slides of seminude females while hearing sounds that were allegedly their beats. 1 group of Ss heard their heart rates increase markedly to 5 of the slides and not change to the other 5; a 2nd group of Ss heard a marked decrease in the bogus rate to S of the slides and no change to the other S. In comparison with the slides to which Ss did not hear a change in the bogus rate, the slides to which they heard a marked change, whether increased or decreased, were (a) rated significantly more attractive during the experiment proper and during a disguised interview conducted 4-5 wk. later, and (b) chosen significantly more as remuneration for experimental participation. Although there is considerable evidence that emotional states are accompanied by physiological changes (Duffy, 1962; Woodworth & Schlosberg, 1962), until recently there was little indication that these internal events facilitate the development of emotional behavior. Several experiments have now shown that emotional behavior is affected by the experimental manipulation of sympathetic activity. Emotional behavior is more readily learned when the sympathetic nervous system is intact than when it is surgically enervated (Wynne & Solomon, 1955), and more readily manifested during epinephrine-induced states of sympathetic activation than during states of relative inactivation (Latane & Schachter, 1962; Schachter & Singer, 1962; Schachter & Wheeler, 1962; Singer, 1963). In an attempt to account for the influence of autonomic arousal on emotional behavior, Schachter (1964) has emphasized the importance of the cognitive effects of internal events. Within his cognitive-physiological theory of emotion, physiological changes are considered to function as stimuli or cues and are represented cognitively as feelings or sensations. These feelings, in turn, arouse further cognitive activity in the form of attempts to identify the situation that precipi1 This research was conducted at Duke University while the author was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow in the Research Training Program in Sciences Related to the Central Nervous System

Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Heart rate · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Medicine · Mental Health Research Topics · Psychology · Social Psychology