Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the availability of the vicarious experience as the preperformance information of the direct experience, by means of comparison between the HR changes during each of the experiences. As the vicarious experience, subjects observed the videotape describing the same aversive situation of the direct experience. Main findings were as follows. (1) The high HR subject in the vicarious experience showed higher HR level during the direct experience. (2) The subjects who had showed the increasing HR pattern during the vicarious experience depressed the HR increment during the direct experience. The subjects with irregular HR pattern, however, showed higher HR level. (3) The subjects who had showed similar HR patterns during the vicarious and the direct experiences depressed the HR increment during the direct experience. On the other hand, the subjects with dissimilar HR patterns showed high HR level during the direct experience. These findings indicate that, as a whole, anxiety during the direct experence is deperessed when the preperformance information is available.
