[The effects of meaning information on heart rate, respiration, frontalis EMG, and peripheral temperature during...

The present study investigated the effects of meaning information on psychophysiological responses during imagery. Eighteen undergraduates were divided into arousal and relaxation groups, which were then given arousal-meaning- and relaxation-meaning-oriented trainings, respectively. After the training, the subjects were given the imagery test, and inter-heartbeat-interval (IBI), respiration, frontalis EMG, and peripheral temperature during neutral, snake, and social imageries were analyzed. The results showed that there was a significant main effect in IBI for groups: the arousal group demonstrated greater IBI changes than the relaxation group. Regarding EMG, significant increases were present during snake and social imageries in the arousal group, whereas no significant increase was observed in the relaxation group. No significant difference between groups was found in respiration and temperature. The results suggest that there are some situations that accompany their primary meanings, and that meaning-oriented trainings can modify the structure of the response propositions.