Some Effects of Lesion Level, and Emotional Cues on Affective Expression in Spinal Cord Patients

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Abstract
The effect of peripheral change on emotional expression was examined in 24 males with functionally complete transections of the spinal cord. The higher the level of lesion, the greater was the assumed restriction of afferent return from manipulated peripheral change. Consistent with expectations based on Schachter and Singer's (1962) theory of emotion, less intense feelings of arousal were expressed by subjects with higher (cervical) lesions than by subjects with lower (thoracic and lumbar) lesions. Also, expressed arousal to high and low emotion-relevant situations was similar among subjects with cervical lesions but differentiated those with lower lesions. Possible artifactual effects of several individual differences on expressed emotion were examined. None were significantly related to either lesion level or rated arousal.