Comparison of the effects of vibratory stimuli between fingers and thoraco-abdominal in fear

Abstract

Mechanical vibratory stimuli to the thoraco-abdominal during watching movies magnifies emotional experiences. We hypothesized that the vibration to thoraco abdominal stimulates the vagus nerves, which is distributed to the organs of the upper body, and that magnifies the emotional experience. To investigate this hypothesis, we compared the effects of vibratory stimuli on fear between the thoraco abdominal and the fingers which have the highest tactile sensitivity in the body during watching horror movies. The effects of the vibratory stimuli to the thoraco abdominal on subjective evaluation and skin conductance response amplitudes were greater than those to the finger. These results suggest that mechanical vibratory stimuli to the vagus nerves are the primary factor in the magnification of the emotional experience.