Abstract
Nostalgia is a kind of sentimental longing for the past, which has been widely concerned by researchers in recent years. As a common emotional experience of the elderly, Nostalgia is believed closely related to their physical and mental health. The aim of the present investigation was to examine the impact of nostalgia experiences on subjective feeling and automatic physiological responses (including HR, finger temperature, GSR, finger pulse rate, SpO2, and respiration rate). This was investigated by a psycho-physiological methodology which used the autobiographical narratives. The study randomly assigned 40 Chinese older adults to a nostalgia or ordinary event condition. In the nostalgia condition, we provided participants with the definition of nostalgia and instructed them to recollect a positive nostalgic autobiographical event. In the ordinary condition, participants were instructed to think about an ordinary event taking place in the last week. The results showed that: 1) autobiographical narratives can be effectively induced nostalgia experiences; 2) nostalgia experiences induced in a controlled laboratory environment can be maintained at least for 4 minutes, 3) in the nostalgia condition, the SCRs and SpO2 were significantly higher than the ordinary condition. LF and HF within the nostalgia group were much lower than those in the control group. Heart rates did not show significant differences between the groups. The autonomic nervous response patterns of positive nostalgia experiences showed a common pattern of inhibition.