Emotions are experienced differently by individuals, and thus, it is important to account for individuals’ experienced emotions to understand their physiological responses to emotional stimuli. The present study investigated the physiological responses to a fear-inducing stimulus and examined whether these responses can predict experienced fear. A total of 230 participants were presented with neutral and fear-inducing film clips, after which they self-rated their experienced emotions. Physiological measures (skin conductance level and response: SCL, SCR, heart rate: HR, pulse transit time: PTT, fingertip temperature: FT, and respiratory rate: RR) were recorded during the stimuli presentation. We examined the correlations between the physiological measures and the participants’ experienced emotional intensity, and performed a multiple linear regression to predict fear intensity based on the physiological responses. Of the participants, 92.5% experienced the fear emotion, and the average intensity was 5.95 on a 7-point Likert scale. Compared to the neutral condition, the SCL, SCR, HR, and RR increased significantly during the fear-inducing stimulus presentation whereas FT and PTT decreased significantly. Fear intensity correlated positively with SCR and HR and negatively with SCL, FT, PTT, and RR. The multiple linear regression demonstrated that fear intensity was predicted by a combination of SCL, SCR, HR, FT, and RR. Our findings indicate that the physiological responses to experiencing fear are associated with cholinergic, sympathetic, and α-adrenergic vascular activation as well as myocardial β-sympathetic excitation, and support the use of multimodal physiological signals for quantifying emotions.

中文翻译：

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从对恐惧诱发刺激的多模态生理反应预测个体的恐惧经历

个人对情绪的体验不同，因此，重要的是要考虑个人的情绪体验，以了解他们对情绪刺激的生理反应。本研究调查了对引起恐惧的刺激的生理反应，并检查这些反应是否可以预测经历的恐惧。共有 230 名参与者观看了中性和引起恐惧的电影片段，然后他们对自己的体验情绪进行了自我评价。在刺激呈现期间记录生理测量值（皮肤电导水平和反应：SCL、SCR、心率：HR、脉搏传导时间：PTT、指尖温度：FT 和呼吸频率：RR）。我们检查了生理测量与参与者经历的情绪强度之间的相关性，并根据生理反应进行多元线性回归来预测恐惧强度。在参与者中，92.5% 的人经历了恐惧情绪，在李克特 7 点量表上的平均强度为 5.95。与中性条件相比，SCL、SCR、HR 和 RR 在引起恐惧的刺激呈现过程中显着增加，而 FT 和 PTT 显着下降。恐惧强度与 SCR 和 HR 呈正相关，与 SCL、FT、PTT 和 RR 呈负相关。多元线性回归表明，恐惧强度是由 SCL、SCR、HR、FT 和 RR 的组合预测的。我们的研究结果表明，对经历恐惧的生理反应与胆碱能、交感神经和α-肾上腺素能血管激活以及心肌β-交感神经兴奋有关，