Positive emotional reactions to loved names

• Published in: Psychophysiology Vol. 56; no. 7; pp. e13363 - n/a
• Main Authors: Lucas, Ignacio, Sánchez‐Adam, Alicia, Vila, Jaime, Guerra, Pedro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-07-2019
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Affect - physiology; Arousal; Arousal - physiology; Conductance; Emotions; Emotions - physiology; Female; Galvanic Skin Response - physiology; Heart rate; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; loved names; Muscle function; Names; Physiology; positive emotion; Recognition, Psychology - physiology; skin conductance; startle reflex; Startle response; Young Adult; loved names; heart rate; startle reflex; positive emotion; skin conductance
• ISSN: 0048-5772; 1469-8986; 1540-5958
• DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13363

Studies concerning personal attachment have successfully used loved familiar faces to prompt positive affective and physiological reactions. Moreover, the processing of emotional words shows similar physiological patterns to those found with affective pictures. The objective of this study was to assess whether the passive viewing of loved names would produce a pattern of subjective and physiological reactivity similar to that produced by the passive viewing of loved faces. The results showed that, compared to neutral (unknown) and famous names, loved names produced a biphasic pattern of heart rate deceleration‐acceleration, heightened skin conductance and zygomaticus muscle activity, inhibition of corrugator muscle activity, and potentiation of the startle reflex response. This pattern of physiological responses was accompanied by subjective reports of higher positive affect and arousal for loved names than for neutral and famous ones. These findings highlight not only the similarity but also the differences between the affective processing of identity recognition by loved faces and names.
This is the first study that uses the passive viewing paradigm to examine the physiological mechanisms involved in the affective processing of loved familiar names. The passive viewing of loved familiar names produced a positive emotional reaction similar to that observed previously by the passive viewing of loved familiar faces. The startle potentiation by loved familiar names (relative to neutral names) may be related to the differential processing of faces and words. The results suggested the activation of a positive emotional response that was not confounded by familiarity or undifferentiated emotional arousal.