Figure 1. Laboratory-based assessment of emotional reactivity.

(A) Participants viewed emotion-eliciting film clips after a 60-second resting baseline period in which they viewed an “X” on the computer monitor. Screenshots of the first 30 seconds of the amusement film (captured at 5-second intervals) are shown for illustrative purposes. (B) Participants were videotaped throughout the testing session. The screenshots of one participant (he and his surrogate gave informed consent to publish his image), which are time-locked with the stimuli shown in (A), are provided to illustrate the happiness/amusement behavior that he expressed while watching the film clip. Physiological activity was recorded continuously, and the raw electrocardiogram (EKG), skin conductance level (SCL), and respiration (RESP) data during the baseline and trial are shown. Subjective emotional experience was assessed via self-report questions at the end of each trial (not shown). (C) Emotional facial behavior was later coded using an objective system that quantifies facial muscle movement; the second-by-second happiness/amusement intensity codes are plotted here. After the raw physiological signals were processed, they were reduced and exported as second-by-second averages. (D) Total emotional facial behavior scores were computed by summing the intensity scores of all emotional facial expressions displayed by the participant during each trial. To measure physiological reactivity, mean activity during the baseline and trial were computed for each channel; reactivity scores were computed for each channel by subtracting the mean activity level during the 60-second baseline from the mean level during the most intense 30 seconds of the trial. The participant and his guardian gave consent to use his image in this publication.