Biology subjects

Galvez-Pol, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Galvez-Pol, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Actors' Facial Movement Magnitude and Cardiac Dynamics Predict Observers' Emotion Believability Ratings

In non-verbal communication, observers infer emotions from visible facial movements, yet emotional experiences are described in internal bodily terms (e.g., "my heart skipped a beat")1-3. This contrast highlights a tension between external sensory cues and internal signals. In this context, we examined an overlooked gap in affective science: what makes an emotional portrayal believable, and do believability judgments reflect only what observers can see or also the portraying persons internal cardiac dynamics? To test this, we created 311 scenario-driven acting clips designed to avoid prototypical posed displays4-6. For each clip, we quantified facial movement magnitude from the video, recorded ECG during preparation and enactment, and collected actors self-reports. Online participants (N = 371) viewed these clips and provided emotion recognition responses and continuous ratings of believability, valence, or arousal. The results show that believability decreased as movement magnitude increased, with a non-linear relationship indicating a stronger penalty as motion increased. Valence further shaped this pattern, with increasing movement reducing believability more strongly for portrayals with negative valence. This effect persisted after accounting for intended emotion, perceived arousal, and emotion recognizability. Cardiac dynamics varied during performance, and actors higher heart rate variability was associated with higher believability for positively valenced portrayals. Together, these findings show that believability is driven by visible movement cues interpreted in relation to valence, with actors cardiac dynamics showing selective alignment with believability. These results identify core components of believable emotional expressions and provide a basis for studying such judgments in everyday social interaction. HighlightsO_LILarger facial movements were associated with lower believability, non-linearly C_LIO_LINegative valence portrayals were penalized more strongly for large movements C_LIO_LIEmotion recognizability did not explain believability, even after adjustment C_LIO_LIActor heart-rate variability was associated with higher believability in positive portrayals C_LI

physiology↗

bioRxiv2022

Active tactile discrimination is coupled with and modulated by the cardiac cycle

Perception and cognition are modulated by the phase of the cardiac signal in which the stimuli are presented. This has been shown by locking the presentation of stimuli to distinct cardiac phases. However, in everyday life sensory information is not presented in this phase-locked and passive manner, instead we actively sample the world. Whether active sensing is coupled and modulated with the cardiac cycle remains largely unknown. Here we recorded the ECGs of human participants while they actively performed a tactile grating orientation task. Here we show that the duration of subjects touch varied as a function of the cardiac phase in which they initiated it. Touches initiated in the systolic phase of the cardiac cycle were held for longer periods of time than touches initiated in the diastolic phase. This effect was driven by the elongation of their holds to sample the most difficult gratings. Conversely, while touches in the control condition were coupled to the cardiac cycle, their length was not modulated as a function of when in the cycle these were initiated. In line with interoceptive inference accounts, these results are consistent with the hypotheses that we actively adjust our sensory sampling so that we spend more time in the diastole period of the cardiac cycle in which perceptual sensory sensitivity is greatest.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Voluntary visual search is modulated by the cardiac cycle

Recent research has demonstrated that perception and reasoning vary according to the phase of internal bodily signals such as heartbeat. This has been shown by locking the presentation of sensory events to distinct phases of the cardiac cycle. However, task-relevant information is not usually encountered in such a phase-locked manner nor passively accessed, but rather actively sampled at ones own pace. Moreover, if the phase of the cardiac cycle is an important modulator of perception and cognition, as previously proposed, then the way in which we actively sample the world should be similarly modulated by the phase of the cardiac cycle. Here we tested this by coregistration of eye movements and heartbeat signals while participants freely compared differences between two visual arrays. Across three different analyses, we found a significant coupling of saccades, subsequent fixations, and blinks with the cardiac cycle. More eye movements were generated during the systolic phase of the cardiac cycle, which has been reported as the period of maximal effect of the baroreceptors activity upon cognition. Conversely, more fixations were found during the diastole phase (quiescent baroreceptors). Lastly, more blinks were generated in the later period of the cardiac cycle. These results suggest that interoceptive and exteroceptive processing do adjust to each other; in our case, by sampling the outer environment during quiescent periods of the inner organism.

neuroscience↗