Emotion fingerprints or emotion populations? A meta-analytic investigation of autonomic features of emotion categories
Open accessAbstract
The classical view of emotion hypothesizes that certain emotion categories have a specific autonomic nervous system (ANS) "fingerprint" that is distinct from other categories. Substantial ANS variation within a category is presumed to be epiphenomenal. The theory of constructed emotion hypothesizes that an emotion category is a population of context-specific, highly variable instances that need not share an ANS fingerprint. Instead, ANS variation within a category is a meaningful part of the nature of emotion. We present a meta-analysis of 202 studies measuring ANS reactivity during lab-based inductions of emotion in nonclinical samples of adults, using a random effects, multilevel meta-analysis and multivariate pattern classification analysis to test our hypotheses. We found increases in mean effect size for 59.4% of ANS variables across emotion categories, but the pattern of effect sizes did not clearly distinguish 1 emotion category from another. We also observed significant variation within emotion categories; heterogeneity accounted for a moderate to substantial percentage (i.e., I2 ≥ 30%) of variability in 54% of these effect sizes. Experimental moderators epiphenomenal to emotion, such as induction type (e.g., films vs. imagery), did not explain a large portion of the variability. Correction for publication bias reduced estimated effect sizes even further, increasing heterogeneity of effect sizes for certain emotion categories. These findings, when considered in the broader empirical literature, are more consistent with population thinking and other principles from evolutionary biology found within the theory of constructed emotion, and offer insights for developing new hypotheses to understand the nature of emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Supposed prototypic brain biomarkers for a given emotion category vary substantially across studies and across subjects within a given study.
“Even the supposed prototypic brain 'biomarkers' for a given emotion category vary substantially across studies, 65,[72][73][74][75][76] and across subjects within a given study.34,55,63,65,69,[77][78][79][80][81][82][83]”
From A new science of emotion: implications for functional neurological disorder (2022) · cites this paper as [34]
The Discussion (page not provided) says that proposed neural fingerprints for emotion categories do not replicate across studies, supporting the across-studies part. It discusses variation within individuals in behavior and autonomic responses, but does not establish that brain biomarkers vary across subjects within a single study. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe same changes in peripheral physiology are observed across a wide variety of emotional states.
“The same changes in peripheral physiology are observed across a wide variety of emotional states [4].”
From What is an emotion? (2019) · cites this paper as [4]
The notion that discrete emotion categories can be reliably identified by specific behavioural patterns and/or physiological features has been seriously called into doubt by marked variability within instances of the same category as well as similarities across categories.
“The notion that discrete emotion categories can be reliably identified by specific behavioural patterns and/or physiological features has been seriously called into doubt by the marked variability within instances of the same category as well as similarities across categories.”
From A new science of emotion: implications for functional neurological disorder (2022) · cites this paper as [34]
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References 190 · Cited by 515
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- Authors
- Siegel, E. H., Sands, M. K., Van den Noortgate, W., Condon, P., Chang, Y., Dy, J., Quigley, K. S., & Barrett, L. F.
- Affiliations
- Northeastern University (US)
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2018-04
- Volume
- 144
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 343-393
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- PMC
- PMC5876074
- OpenAlex
- W2791393728
- Cited by
- 515
- References
- 190
- Citations by year
- 2026: 72 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 78 · 2021: 64 · 2020: 77 · 2019: 49 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 4 · 2015: 1 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 38.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Lirias (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (DP1OD003312)
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG030311)
- National Science Foundation (BCS-1052790)
- Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (W5J9CQ-12-C-0049, W5J9CQ-11-C-0046)
- Army Research Institute (W911NF-16-1-0191)
- National Cancer Institute (U01 CA193632)
- National Institute for Mental Health (T32 MH019391)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Emotion and Mood Recognition
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Keywords
- emotion categories, autonomic reactivity, theory of constructed emotion, emotion induction, effect size heterogeneity, publication bias
- MeSH terms
- Autonomic Nervous System, Dermatoglyphics, Emotions, Humans, Thinking
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