Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Medicine and Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
PLoS One. 2019 Oct 18;14(10):e0223259. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223259. eCollection 2019.
As we identify with characters on screen, we simulate their emotions and thoughts. This is accompanied by physiological changes such as galvanic skin response (GSR), an indicator for emotional arousal, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), referring to vagal activity. We investigated whether the presence of a cinema audience affects these psychophysiological processes. The study was conducted in a real cinema in Berlin. Participants came twice to watch previously rated emotional film scenes eliciting amusement, anger, tenderness or fear. Once they watched the scenes alone, once in a group. We tested whether the vagal modulation in response to the mere presence of others influences explicit (reported) and implicit markers (RSA, heart rate (HR) and GSR) of emotional processes in function of solitary or collective enjoyment of movie scenes. On the physiological level, we found a mediating effect of vagal flexibility to the mere presence of others. Individuals showing a high baseline difference (alone vs. social) prior to the presentation of film, maintained higher RSA in the alone compared to the social condition. The opposite pattern emerged for low baseline difference individuals. Emotional arousal as reflected in GSR was significantly more pronounced during scenes eliciting anger independent of the social condition. On the behavioural level, we found evidence for emotion-specific effects on reported empathy, emotional intensity and Theory of Mind. Furthermore, people who decrease their RSA in response to others' company are those who felt themselves more empathically engaged with the characters. Our data speaks in favour of a specific role of vagal regulation in response to the mere presence of others in terms of explicit empathic engagement with characters during shared filmic experience.
当我们认同屏幕上的角色时，我们会模拟他们的情感和想法。这伴随着生理变化，如皮肤电反应 (GSR)，它是情感唤醒的指标，以及呼吸窦性心律失常 (RSA)，指的是迷走神经活动。我们研究了电影院观众的存在是否会影响这些心理生理过程。该研究在柏林的一家真正的电影院进行。参与者两次来观看之前被评为引起娱乐、愤怒、温柔或恐惧的情绪电影场景。一次他们独自观看，一次在小组中观看。我们测试了仅仅因为他人的存在而引起的迷走神经调节是否会影响情绪过程的显性（报告）和隐性标记（RSA、心率（HR）和 GSR），无论是独自还是集体享受电影场景。在生理水平上，我们发现了仅仅因为他人的存在而引起的迷走神经灵活性的中介作用。在电影呈现之前，与独自相比，基线差异（单独与社交）较高的个体在独自条件下保持较高的 RSA。对于基线差异较低的个体，则出现相反的模式。GSR 反映的情绪唤醒在愤怒场景中无论社交条件如何都显著更为明显。在行为水平上，我们发现了证据表明报告的同理心、情绪强度和心理理论存在情绪特异性效应。此外，那些对他人的陪伴做出反应时降低 RSA 的人，是那些对角色更有同理心的人。我们的数据表明，在共享电影体验中，对他人存在的反应的迷走神经调节在与角色进行显性共情参与方面具有特定作用。
