Heart rate variability and respiratory sinus arrhythmia assessment of affective states by bivariate autoregressive spectral analysis

The study of emotions elicited by human-computer interactions is a promising field that could lead to the identification of specific patterns of affective states. We present a heart rate variability (HRV) assessment of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) response and respiratory sinus arrhythmia during PC-mediated stimuli by means of standard and multivariate autoregressive spectral methods. 35 healthy volunteers were exposed to computer-mediated tasks during data collection. The stimuli were designed to elicit: relaxation (R), engagement (E) and stress (S); half of the subjects were exposed to E before S (RES) while the other to S before E (RSE). HRV measures clearly separate the ANS response among R, S and E. Less significant differences are found between E and S in RSE, suggesting that S stimuli may cause a lasting response affecting the E period. Results from the bivariate analysis indicate a disruption of the cardio-respiratory coupling during non-relax conditions.