On the physiology of interruption after unexpectedness

Marret K. Noordewier; Daan T. Scheepers; John F. Stins; Muriel A. Hagenaars

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108174

On the physiology of interruption after unexpectedness

Marret K. Noordewier^*, Daan T. Scheepers, John F. Stins, Muriel A. Hagenaars

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

We tested whether surprise elicits similar physiological changes as those associated with orienting and freezing after threat, as surprise also involves a state of interruption and attention for effective action. Moreover, because surprise is primarily driven by the unexpectedness of an event, initial physiological responses were predicted to be similar for positive, neutral, and negative surprises. Results of repetition-change studies (4 + 1 in Supplemental Materials) showed that surprise lowers heart rate (Experiments 1-4) and increases blood pressure (Experiment 4). No effects on body movement (Experiment 2) or finger temperature (Experiment 4) were found. When unexpected stimuli were presented more often (making them less surprising) heart rate returned to baseline, while blood pressure remained high (Experiment 4). These effects were not influenced by stimulus valence. However, second-to-second analyses within the first (surprising) block showed a tendency for a stronger increase in systolic blood pressure after negative vs. positive surprise.

Original language	English
Article number	108174
Pages (from-to)	1-16
Number of pages	16
Journal	Biological Psychology
Volume	165
Early online date	25 Aug 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108174
Publication status	Published - Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Thanks to Louise Leitsch and Carlijn Clemens for the data collection and input for the study set-up of Experiment 2. Thanks to Kelly Boogerts and Sebastian Simon for their help in developing stimulus materials for Experiment 4 and data collection of Experiments 2b/4. Thanks to Lennart Reddmann and Joyce Snijdewint for their assistance in processing the physiological data. Thanks to Luuk Snijder and Tom Heyman for the assistance with data analyses.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

Blood pressure
Body sway
Freezing
Heart rate
Orienting
Physiology
Surprise
Temperature
Unexpectedness

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108174

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title = "On the physiology of interruption after unexpectedness",

abstract = "We tested whether surprise elicits similar physiological changes as those associated with orienting and freezing after threat, as surprise also involves a state of interruption and attention for effective action. Moreover, because surprise is primarily driven by the unexpectedness of an event, initial physiological responses were predicted to be similar for positive, neutral, and negative surprises. Results of repetition-change studies (4 + 1 in Supplemental Materials) showed that surprise lowers heart rate (Experiments 1-4) and increases blood pressure (Experiment 4). No effects on body movement (Experiment 2) or finger temperature (Experiment 4) were found. When unexpected stimuli were presented more often (making them less surprising) heart rate returned to baseline, while blood pressure remained high (Experiment 4). These effects were not influenced by stimulus valence. However, second-to-second analyses within the first (surprising) block showed a tendency for a stronger increase in systolic blood pressure after negative vs. positive surprise.",

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note = "Funding Information: Thanks to Louise Leitsch and Carlijn Clemens for the data collection and input for the study set-up of Experiment 2. Thanks to Kelly Boogerts and Sebastian Simon for their help in developing stimulus materials for Experiment 4 and data collection of Experiments 2b/4. Thanks to Lennart Reddmann and Joyce Snijdewint for their assistance in processing the physiological data. Thanks to Luuk Snijder and Tom Heyman for the assistance with data analyses. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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N2 - We tested whether surprise elicits similar physiological changes as those associated with orienting and freezing after threat, as surprise also involves a state of interruption and attention for effective action. Moreover, because surprise is primarily driven by the unexpectedness of an event, initial physiological responses were predicted to be similar for positive, neutral, and negative surprises. Results of repetition-change studies (4 + 1 in Supplemental Materials) showed that surprise lowers heart rate (Experiments 1-4) and increases blood pressure (Experiment 4). No effects on body movement (Experiment 2) or finger temperature (Experiment 4) were found. When unexpected stimuli were presented more often (making them less surprising) heart rate returned to baseline, while blood pressure remained high (Experiment 4). These effects were not influenced by stimulus valence. However, second-to-second analyses within the first (surprising) block showed a tendency for a stronger increase in systolic blood pressure after negative vs. positive surprise.

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On the physiology of interruption after unexpectedness

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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