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Emotional Granularity: Definition, Measurement, and Relationship to Cardiovascular Physiological Activity Emotional Granularity: Definition, Measurement, and Relationship to Cardiovascular Physiological Activity by Katie Hoemann B.A. in Anthropology and Spanish, Northwestern University M.A. in Cognitive Linguistics, Bangor University, Wales A dissertation submitted to The Faculty of the College of Science of Northeastern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 15th, 2020 Dissertation directed by Lisa Feldman Barrett University Distinguished Professor of Psychology 1 Dedication My deepest gratitude goes to the dear friends and colleagues in and around Boston who provided much-needed personal (as well as academic) support over the years, among them: Jeff Dyer, Emil Moldovan, Dylan Rose, Sarah Sohm, Nicole Betz, Isha Vicaria, Rob Rutherford, James Stanfill, Erienne Weine, Sam Simmers, Jordan Theriault, Amelia Brown, and Erik Nook. Ludger: Of the seven years we have known each other, I have been working toward this for six. In that time you have fed me with love, patience, and countless dinners. I am looking forward to our next adventures, and to doing more of the cooking. Ben: The human mind and the human heart are profoundly complex. I have spent these years thinking about many incredible things. We have so much to talk about. And Mom and Dad. I have previously stated that the curiosity you have instilled in me is the greatest gift of all. For present purposes, I might have to redact that in favor of my ability to defy sleep, which I presumably inherited from Mom. The love of words is pretty good, too, Dad. 2 Acknowledgements This work would not have been possible without the intellectual stimulation and collaboration of a diverse range of researchers throughout psychology, linguistics, and affective science at large. To Lisa Feldman Barrett: Your intellectual tenacity and dedication to the scientific enterprise are nothing short of awe-inspiring. Your strength of vision has transformed my work, my mind, and how I know myself. I am honored and humbled. Thank you. To Karen Quigley: Your insight and guidance helped me steer this ship. I never expected to learn psychophysiology. It has been my great privilege to learn it with you. To Maria Gendron: It is difficult to comprehend just how much I have learned from you. I have been extraordinarily fortunate to have you as a mentor, a collaborator, and a friend. To everyone in the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory: You have been my sounding board, my inspiration, my rock, and so much more. I am proud to be a part of our science family. In particular, I am indebted to my teammates on the study that provided the data for chapters 2 and 3: Mallory Feldman, Maddy Devlin, Catie Nielson, and the inimitable Jolie Wormwood. To my colleagues in engineering: Jennifer Dy, Joe Chou, Melody Fan, Sarah Ostadabbas, Misha Pavel, and most especially Zulqarnain Khan. You have opened my eyes to new ways of looking at data. I also owe a special thanks to the members of my dissertation committee – Ajay Satpute, John Coley, Lisa Feldman Barrett, Karen Quigley, and Sarah Ostadabbas – who helped bring this to life. Finally, I would like to recognize the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, P.E.O. International, and Northeastern University, whose fellowships have supported me and this work. 3 Abstract of Dissertation Emotional granularity describes an individual’s ability to create instances of emotion that are diverse and context-specific. Considerable evidence suggests that higher granularity is a protective factor for mental and physical well-being. Despite this evidence, however, research on granularity is lacking in three critical respects. First, a fuller definition of emotional granularity is needed that situates it with regard to neighboring individual difference constructs in affective science. A more nuanced understanding of the features that describe granularity is necessary for future research to be able to make tailored predictions about granularity’s relationship with health and well-being. In Chapter 1, I offer a unifying framework for understanding and studying the mental representation of one’s own emotional experience. To create this framework, I used domain-general accounts of expertise to deductively generate a list of core features. I then used this framework to structure the findings from a systematic review of constructs for the mental representation of emotional experience, including emotional granularity. This approach, I argue, has the capacity to not only organize scientific knowledge, but reveal potential underlying mechanisms and motivate future programs of research and intervention. Second, measures of emotional granularity are needed that capture various dimensions of granularity and intra-individual fluctuations therein. Multi-dimensional and time-varying estimates of granularity are necessary to represent the complex dynamics of emotional experience. In Chapter 2, I study granularity using measures provided by network analyses. I used experience sampling data to generate person-specific (i.e., idiographic) networks, and characterized these networks using a variety of network measures, estimated based on the average network structure as well as the change in network structure over time. I found that network measures of granularity predicted self-reported anxiety and depression, even when controlling for other variables known to be associated with mood symptoms, such as self-reported alexithymia and emotional reactivity. These findings serve as a proof-of-concept demonstration of the efficacy of network analysis for describing the dynamic structure of emotional experience. Third, the relationship between emotional granularity and mechanisms underlying physical health is under-investigated. Investigations that incorporate peripheral physiology into the study of granularity can be used to test specific hypotheses about the biological underpinnings of emotional experience and their implications for health. In Chapter 3, I investigated the relationship between granularity and cardiovascular physiological activity using data collected using experience sampling with ambulatory peripheral physiological monitoring. I compared granularity with three variables: respiratory sinus arrhythmia during seated rest, the number of patterns of physiological activity discovered during seated rest, and the performance of classifiers trained on event-related changes in physiological activity. Individuals with higher granularity exhibited more, and more specific, patterns of physiological activity during seated rest as well as during emotional events. These findings are consistent with constructionist accounts of emotion, which propose concepts as a key mechanism underlying individual differences in emotional experience and physical health. 4 Table of Contents Dedication ..................................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract of Dissertation ................................................................................................................................ 4 Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... 6 List of Tables .............................................................................................................................................. 10 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 11 Chapter 1: Expertise as a Unifying Framework for Individual Differences in the Mental Representation of Emotional Experience ................................................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 1 Supplemental Materials .............................................................................................................. 46 Chapter 2: A Multidimensional, Time-Varying Approach to Measuring Emotional Granularity .............. 66 Chapter 2 Supplemental Materials .............................................................................................................. 88 Chapter 3: Investigating the Relationship between Emotional Granularity and Cardiovascular Physiological Activity in Daily Life ......................................................................................................... 113 Chapter 3 Supplemental Materials ............................................................................................................ 129 References ................................................................................................................................................. 141 5 List of Figures Figure 1-1. PRISMA flow chart describing identification, screening, and full review of publications ...... 22 Figure 1-2. Data extraction template completed for each fully-reviewed publication ................................ 23 Figure 1-3. Network based on theoretical interrelationships documented between constructs and their facets. .........................................................................................................................................................
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