Psychophysiological Changes Accompanying Different Types of Arousing and Relaxing Imagery

ABSTRACTIn an investigation of hypotheses proposed by Lang (1977) on psychophysiological correlates of emotional imagery, 24 subjects were assigned to two equal‐sized groups. A stimulus group was presented, on 2 occasions, 6 image scripts, 3 of an arousing kind and 3 of a relaxing kind, in which stimulus propositions were stressed. A response group was treated identically except that the scripts stressed response rather than stimulus propositions; further, in the response group each pair of arousing and relaxing scripts separately emphasized either cardiovascular activity, respiration or sudomotor activity, in order to assess the degree of specificity in response‐proposition relationships. Psychophysiological measures of heart rate, respiration and skin resistance, and self‐report measures of imagery vividness, general arousal, and compliance with imagery instructions were taken after each imagery trial.Analysis of the psychophysiological measures indicated that, in line with Lang's predictions, the response group showed significantly greater changes in heart rate and respiration to the arousing scenes than the stimulus group. No significant differences, however, were found for skin resistance. Moreover, there were no differences between the groups on any measures when the relaxing scenes were imagined. The groups did not differ reliably on any of the self‐report measures. Contrary to Lang's theory, however, little specificity in response‐proposition relationships was found. Rather, the present data suggest that certain psychophysiological propositions, in particular cardiovascular propositions, are generally more effective in eliciting fairly widespread psychophysiological changes. Further, a close coupling between heart rate and respiration rate was observed in this experiment.