Physiological Responses to Isolated Auditory and Visual Stimulus versus the Combination of Auditory and Visual Stimulus

An article that appeared in JASS, issue 2018A variety and multitude of stimuli elicit a fear response in humans, including horror films. Fear responses include various physiological alterations such as an increase in heart rate, changes in electrodermal activity (EDA), and an increased respiration rate. The type and intensity of sensory intake from a fear inducing stimulus determines the extent of physiological alterations. In order to understand the effects of auditory and visual stimuli on the fear response, a five minute horror film clip was played for 24 participants. Participants were randomly selected to participate in one of three groups: Group 1 watched the clip with audiovisual stimulus, Group 2 watched the clip with visual-only stimulus, and Group 3 watched the clip with audio-only stimulus. Since the combination of both an auditory and visual stimulus is the most intense form of sensation, it was hypothesized that participants in Group 1 would demonstrate the greatest fear response and show the largest rate of physiological change in EDA, respiration rate, and heart rate. Paired two sample t-tests and one-way ANOVA tests showed there was some statistical significance in the resulting data. Overall, this study supported the hypothesis that bimodal audiovisual fear inducing stimulus would lead to a larger physiological response