Lateral asymmetry of emotional arousal as a biomarker of attributional style during darts competitions

Abstract

Abstract According to the Multiple Arousal Theory, electrodermal activity (EDA) is not uniform across the body. However, the psychological meaning of a left or right sided EDA dominance is not clear. We explored EDA lateral asymmetry as a psychophysiological marker of optimistic and pessimistic attributional style regarding success and failure in a darts competition. Bilateral EDA pattern of 230 throw actions of a competing pair was measured by Obimon EDA including accelerometer measurements of movements. First, we confirmed that lateral asymmetry can be measured reliably based on EDA data from both wrists. Second, we assessed attributional styles related to lateral asymmetry based on 80 individual throw actions. We recorded participants’ expectations regarding their upcoming throw performance, and their attribution of success and failure. Seligman’s definition was used to classify throw attributions as optimist (internal cause attributed to success, or external cause ascribed to failure) or pessimist. The ratio of optimist and pessimist attributions was significantly different for throw actions with right or left sided EDA dominance (p=0.001). Optimistic attribution characterized 84% of right-sided EDA throws, and pessimist attribution was present in 63% of left-sided EDA throws. We replicated these findings based on 50 throw actions from 10 more individuals (p=0.034). We conclude that wrist EDA can be reliably measured during physical movements, such as throw actions in a darts game. Lateral EDA asymmetry is a consistent psychophysiological marker of the attitude towards success and failure in a competitive setting. Results underly the psychophysiological relevance of bilateral arousal assessment.