Physiological correlates of aesthetic perception of artworks in a museum

Arts experts are commonly skeptical of applying scientific methods to aesthetic experiencing, which remains a field of study predominantly for the humanities. Laboratory research has however indicated that artworks may elicit emotional and physiological responses. Yet, this line of aesthetics research has previously suffered from insufficient external validity. We therefore conducted a study in which aesthetic perception was monitored in a fine-art museum, unrestricting to the viewers’ freedom of aesthetic choice. Visitors were invited to wear electronic gloves through which their locomotion, heart rate and skin conductance were continuously recorded. Emotional and aesthetic responses to selected works of an exhibition were assessed using a customized questionnaire. In a sample of 373 adult participants, we found that physiological responses during perception of an artwork were significantly related to aesthetic-emotional experiencing. The dimensions ‘Aesthetic Quality’, ‘Surprise/Humor’, ‘Dominance’ and ‘Curatorial Quality’ were associated with cardiac measures (heart rate variability, heart rate level) and skin conductance variability. This is first evidence that aesthetics can be statistically grounded in viewers’ physiology in an ecologically valid environment, the art gallery, enhancing our understanding of the effects of artworks and their curatorial staging.

The Struggle of Giving Up Personal Goals – Affective, Physiological, and Cognitive Consequences of an Action Crisis.

A critical phase in goal striving occurs when setbacks accumulate and goal disengagement becomes an issue. This critical phase is conceptualized as an action crisis and assumed to be characterized by an intrapsychic conflict in which the individual becomes torn between further goal pursuit and goal disengagement. Our theorizing converges with Klinger’s conceptualization of goal disengagement as a process, rather than a discrete event. Two longitudinal field studies tested and found support for the hypothesis that an action crisis not only compromises an individual’s psychological and physiological well-being, but also dampens the cognitive evaluation of the respective goal. In Study 3, marathon runners experiencing an action crisis in their goal of running marathons showed a stronger cortisol secretion and a lower performance in the race 2 weeks later. Results are interpreted in terms of action-phase–specific mindsets with a focus on self-regulatory processes in goal disengagement.

Cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of an acute physical activity intervention that included cognitive engagement on executive functions and on cortisol level in young elementary school children. Half of the 104 participating children (6–8 years old) attended a 20-min sport sequence, which included cognitively engaging and playful forms of physical activity. The other half was assigned to a resting control condition. Individual differences in children's updating, inhibition, and shifting performance as well as salivary cortisol were assessed before (pre-test), immediately after (post-test), and 40 min after (follow-up) the intervention or control condition, respectively. Results revealed a significantly stronger improvement in inhibition in the experimental group compared to the control group, while it appeared that acute physical activity had no specific effect on updating and shifting. The intervention effect on inhibition leveled out 40 min after physical activity. Salivary cortisol increased significantly more in the experimental compared to the control group between post-test and follow-up and results support partly the assumed inverted U-shaped relationship between cortisol level and cognitive performance. In conclusion, results indicate that acute physical activity that includes cognitive engagement may have immediate positive effects on inhibition, but not necessarily on updating and shifting in elementary school children. This positive effect may partly be explained through cortisol elevation after acute physical activity.

Teamwork reduces physiological stress in junior surgeons

Objective: The quality of teamwork depends not only on communication skills but also on team familiarity and hierarchical structures. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the physiological impact of close teamwork between senior and junior surgeons performing elective open abdominal surgery for six months in stable teams. Methods: Physiological measurements of the main and junior surgeons were taken in a total of 40 procedures. Cumulative stress was assessed by the mea- surements of urine catecholamines (Adrenaline, Noradrenaline, Dopamine, Metanephrine, Normetanephrine). Heart rate variability was measured to assess temporal aspects of stress. The procedures were observed by a trained team of work psychologists. Direct observations of distractors, team inter- actions and communication were performed. Specific questionnaires were filled by members of the surgical team that include surgeons, nurses and anesthetists. Results: In junior surgeons, physiological stress is reduced over a period of close collaboration. Case-related communication is not stressful. However, tension within the surgical team is associated with increased levels of cat- echolamine in the urine of the senior surgeon. The difficulty of the oper- ation impacts on heart-rate variability of the junior but not of the senior surgeon. Conclusion: Junior surgeons may require months of teamwork within one stable team in order to reduce levels of physiological stress. Senior surgeons are more resistant to stressful clinical situations compared to junior surgeons but are vulnerable to tension within the surgical team.

The Sensitivity of Physiological Measures to Phobic and Nonphobic Fear Intensity

We investigated whether amygdala activation, autonomic responses, respiratory responses, and facial muscle activity (measured over the brow and cheek [fear grin] regions) are all sensitive to phobic versus nonphobic fear and, more importantly, whether effects in these variables vary as a function of both phobic and nonphobic fear intensity. Spider-phobic and comparably low spider-fearful control participants imagined encountering different animals and rated their subjective fear while their central and peripheral nervous system activity was measured. All measures included in our study were sensitive to variations in subjective fear, but were related to different ranges and positions on the subjective fear level continuum. Left amygdala activation, heart rate, and facial muscle activity over the cheek region captured fear intensity variations even within narrowly described regions on the fear level continuum (here within extremely low levels of fear and within considerable phobic fear). Skin conductance and facial muscle activity over the brow region did not capture fear intensity variations within low levels of fear: skin conductance mirrored only extreme levels of fear, and activity over the brow region distinguished phobic from nonphobic fear but also low-to-moderate and high phobic fear. Finally, respiratory measures distinguished phobic from nonphobic fear with no further differentiation within phobic and nonphobic fear. We conclude that a careful consideration of the measures to be used in an investigation and the population to be examined can be critical in order to obtain significant results.