Rodrigo Arriola, Eros Quintero & Ramsés D’León
Centro de Investigación de la Sintergia y la Consciencia (CISC), Mexico City, Mexico
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Introduction: Anticipatory Physiological Activity, the ability of the autonomic nervous system to predict future events through physiological responses, has garnered research interest due to its implications for understanding human intuition and preconscious processing. Numerous studies have explored a variety of physiological markers, including measurements of brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging and slow cortical potentials through electroencephalography. Additional physiological indicators, such as pupillary dilation, eye movements, and spontaneous blinking, have been assessed using electrooculography. Other studies have measured skin conductance levels with an electrodermograph, as well as heart rate and its variability through electrocardiography, and blood volume pulse with photoplethysmography.
Method: Despite advancements in APA research, challenges remain in replicating the phenomena and confirming findings across different stimuli and physiological responses. This study aims to build upon previous research to develop software that generates random inputs for the stimuli and intervals using a Psyleron to explore the physiological activity associated with APA. We will measure the skin conductance level using a Neulog’s GSR logger sensor NUL-217, heart rate variability using Neulog’s Heart Rate & Pulse logger sensor and electrical activity in the frontal and frontotemporal regions of the brain using OpenBCI’s Ganglion Board and electroencephalography (EEG) headset. Previous studies have shown that activity in these brain regions relates to specific cognitive processes, such as thinking and anticipation. The new experiment we are designing will test the fear associated with earthquakes among a cohort from Mexico City, a location notably prone to seismic activities. We will incorporate both auditory and visual stimuli to evoke responses. Auditory stimuli will consist of the national “seismic alert” sound to simulate an earthquake warning, contrasted with natural sounds serving as control stimuli. Visual stimuli will include mundane images (e.g., walls, glass, a book) as controls, alongside a collection of excitatory images depicting earthquake-related scenarios. To assemble this visual dataset, an online survey will solicit ratings from Mexican citizens on these images based on their visual correlation to earthquake-induced fear, selecting the most impactful images for the experimental dataset. We decided to create a new visual dataset instead of using the International Affective Picture System or the Open Affective Standardized Image Set as it fell short of images that could elicit more arousal analyzing a particular segment of personality traits or set of fears. Sessions will consist of an initial ten-second delay to decrease the expectancy effect, followed by a finite number of free-running trials. Each trial will begin with a thre-second blank screen and no sound: then the computer will randomly select a pair of visual and auditory stimuli and present them for three seconds. Finally, the screen will go blank again, and there will be no sound for nine seconds, plus a random interval of zero to five seconds. In summary, each trial will consist of a period of 15-20 seconds. This design will be double-blind, in the sense that neither the participant nor the experimenters will know in advance which stimuli will be displayed in each session, in what sequential order, or in what timeframe due to the random intervals. For the physiological responses the developed software used statistical analysis based on changes in normalized physiological responses and randomized permutation analysis found in previous experiments. Normalized PR is used rather than absolute PR because, in an analysis that combines data across subjects, a few participants with high magnitude or high variance PR could otherwise strongly skew most data from other, less labile participants.
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Rodrigo is a Clinical Psychologist from the Universidad La Salle, where he also completed a specialization in clinical/teaching intervention and a Master’s in Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy from the Instituto de Terapia Cognitivo-Conductual, Albert Ellis Institute. He has training as a Psychophysiologist endorsed by the International Society for Neuroregulation & Research.
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Published on April 21, 2026
