Physiological responses induced by pleasant stimuli

Shigeki Watanuki, Yeon Kyu Kim

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    40 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The specific physiological responses induced by pleasant stimuli were investigated in this study. Various physiological responses of the brain (encephaloelectrogram; EEG), autonomie nervous system (ANS), immune system and endocrine system were monitored when pleasant stimuli such as odors, emotional pictures and rakugo, a typical Japanese comical story-telling, were presented to subjects. The results revealed that (i) EEG activities of the left frontal brain region were enhanced by a pleasant odor; (ii) emotional pictures related to primitive element such as nudes and erotic couples elevated vasomotor sympathetic nervous activity; and (iii) an increase in secretory immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) and a decrease in salivary cortisol (s-cortisol) were induced by rakugo-derived linguistic pleasant emotion. Pleasant emotion is complicated state. However, by considering the evolutionary history of human being, it is possible to assess and evaluate pleasant emotion from certain physiological responses by appropriately summating various physiological parameters.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)135-138
    Number of pages4
    JournalJournal of physiological anthropology and applied human science
    Volume24
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jan 2005

    All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

    • Social Sciences(all)

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