Physiological responses to a haunted house threat experience: Distinct tonic and phasic effects

Threats elicit physiological responses, the frequency and intensity of which have implications for survival. Ethical and practical limitations on human laboratory manipulations present barriers to studying immersive threat. Furthermore, few investigations examine group effects and concordance with subjective emotional experiences to threat. The current preregistered study measured electrodermal activity in 156 humans while they participated in small groups in a 30 minute haunted house experience involving various threats. Results revealed positive associations between (i) friends and tonic arousal, (ii) unexpected attacks and phasic activity (frequency and amplitude), (iii) subjective fear and phasic frequency, and (iv) dissociable sensitization effects linked to orienting response. Findings demonstrate relevance of social dynamics (friends versus strangers) for tonic arousal, and subjective fear and threat predictability for phasic arousal.