Lecture 12 - Interpersonal Psychophysiology

Question 1

Biofeedback =

Answer 1

Providing a person with real-time information about one’s emotions and experiences

Question 2

What biosignal is most prominantly used in applications and why?

Answer 2

Heart rate
because it is the thing we have the most associations with
Also mostly visualizations of it can be easily made/used

Question 3

Experiences of biosignal sharing from senders and receivers perspective:

Answer 3

Senders:

• concerns on self-presentation
• only in close relationships and positive information

Receivers:
- influence of contextual factors; specific situation and choice of presentation

Question 4

What can be opportunities that biosignal sharing form for specific purposes and contexts

Answer 4

Support relationships

• connectedness and closeness
• conversation starter: facilitates the expression of emotions and experiences
• additional source to help understand feelings

Question 5

Psychophysiological synchronization is

Answer 5

The physiology of two persons can show substantial synchronicity
But results are very dependent on procedure to test it

Question 6

Mention the two types of synchronization and what they entail

Answer 6

Concordant: positive PS

• one signal goes up? the other one as well
• is also okay when there is a time lag or phase shift

Disconcordant: negative PS
- when one signal goes up the other one goes down

Question 7

Mention a few applications in the field of mental health care

Answer 7

1. biosensing as a treatment in itself
2. to get insights into your emotions and stress levels
3. to learn how to control your stress levels
4. to augment existing treatments
5. to facilitate empathic understanding in remote therapeutic interactions