Summary
Predictions derived from an information seeking, attribution model of false autonomic feedback were tested in an experiment using a 3 × 3 design. Male students (n = 61) viewed aversive slides accompanied by either increasing, constant, or no heart sounds. They were instructed either to attend to slides and sounds labelled extraneous, or to slides and sounds labelled as their own heart beats, or to try to explain their fictitious heart beats through slide features (attribution condition). Increase and constant feedback instigated equally intense information search (measured through self-determined viewing time and heart-rate deceleration) but increased feedback did not direct the search (measured through viewing time distribution and recall) more towards negative or less towards neutral features than did constant feedback. Increased feedback enhanced rated slide unpleasantness in the attention and attribution conditions whereas constant feedback decreased unpleasantness in the attribution condition only. Correlations were consistent with the hypothesis that attributions of fictitious autonomic reactions, but not information search and actual heart rate, mediate feedback effects on stimulus valences.
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The author would like to thank Paul Wagemann, who ran part of the subjects, Alfred Holl, who helped to cope with equipment problems, and Günter Eisenhut, who assisted in data reduction and analysis.
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Liebhart, E.H. Effects of false heart rate feedback and task instructions on information search, attributions, and stimulus ratings. Psychol. Res 39, 185–202 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00309286
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00309286