Brosig, Juri (2023) Figuring out Freeze: A Review of Physiological Measures of a Fragmented Concept. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
The present literature review investigates the concept of human freezing and how it can be measured physiologically. Freezing can be categorized as a response to threat that occurs in the context of the human defense cascade, like the responses of fight or flight. Although a unified definition and collection of sub-categories of freezing does not exist in contemporary literature, it is generally associated with reduced mobility and heart rate changes. Studies included in this review deal with physiological measures (heart rate and posturography) of sub-types of freezing (freezing, tonic immobility). Physiological measures of freezing and tonic immobility consistently linked those to reduced mobility and altered heart rate in response to threat. Responses were found to be altered for people who had experienced trauma or aversive life events, with usually a stronger heart rate acceleration compared to a deceleration in healthy individuals, and different mobility responses. Experimental settings in past research were exclusively of a passive nature, and superior ecologically valid alternatives of potential studies are discussed. Different research teams dealing with freezing responses used different conceptualizations of freezing. Those differences in the conceptualizations are contrasted. Potentially more generalizable physiological measures of freezing are proposed to provide an outlook on how future studies could present reliable, ecologically valid evidence on freezing responses. Keywords: Freeze, tonic immobility, collapsed immobility, quiescent immobility, physiological measures, post-traumatic stress disorder, heart rate, posturography
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Cuijpers, L.S. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Mar 2023 12:22 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Mar 2023 08:09 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1778 |
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