Self-Reported and Physiological Evaluation of HAPA and LAPA Toward Positive Emotion Support

Abstract

Positive affect supports well-being, resilience, learning, and social functioning. However, assessment in applied settings often depends on self-reports that can be unreliable or unavailable for people who struggle to recognize or express emotions. Therefore, this study examines the practical utility of physiological indices for assessing high- and low-arousal positive affect (HAPA, LAPA) within participants. In a controlled experiment, videos induced HAPA and LAPA across multiple trials per participant. We collected selfreported HAPA and LAPA scores alongside electroencephalography (EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV) data. Standard EEG band powers and several HRV metrics, including pNN10, were caluclated over stimulus intervals, and within-participant associations with self-reports were estimated using repeatedmeasures correlation. Results were limited to pNN10: a small positive association with HAPA and a small negative association with LAPA; other HRV indices. Findings suggest pNN10 offers modest, useful information to support self-report in practice.