Psychophysiological correlates of science communicators

Figures

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  Fig 1. Experimental Setup and live ECG recording during an on-air primetime TV interview: On the left side, the science communicator was interviewed by Marco Dedola, director of the “Scientists” TV show. During the live Interview, communicators wore polar chests for HRV recording. Data was sent to the BrainHeart Platform running on a tablet (right side) located in the TV room. Reprinted from Marco Dedola and Andrea Dini under a CC BY license, with permission from PlosOne, original copyright 2025.

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  Fig 2. Heart rate dynamics during an interview assessment.: The figure shows the raw heart rate (HR) interval (blue line), the cleaned HR interval after artifact removal (gray line), and the trend obtained from the smooth priors method (orange line). Artifacts, indicated by red crosses, were identified and interpolated using the automatic method proposed by Lipponen and Tarvainen (2019). The vertical dashed lines mark the start and end times of the interview, while the different phases of the interview process (pre-interview, during the interview, and post-interview) are indicated by the colored background areas.

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  Fig 3. Kubios output showing HR data segmented by interview phases.

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  Fig 4. Judgments loading on the two rotated Content and Performance components.

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  Fig 5. Bidimensional High-Low Frequency (HF, LF) plane representation of the interaction among Phase and High-Low Authoritativeness Groups.: In the Low Authority (LA) group there was a significant effect among all the three phases, moving from accumulated stress to acute stress and finally beginning recovery. Otherwise, in the High Authority (HA) group, all the three phases were characterized by a balanced and “flow” condition of moderate activation. Shaded areas are for representational purposes only. Pre: baseline activity pre-interview; Int: Interview; Post: baseline activity post-interview.

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  Fig 6. Bidimensional Low-High Frequency Normalized Difference and High-Low Frequency Power (LHFND, LHFP) plane representation of the interaction among Phase and High-Low Authoritativeness Groups: In the Low Authority (LA) group there was a higher variability in power (LHFP) with a strong decrease during the interview and a lower overall balance than in the High Authority (HA) group. Shaded areas are for representational purposes only. Pre: baseline activity pre-interview; Int: Interview; Post: baseline activity post-interview.

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  Fig 7. Average Time Between Successive R-wave Peaks (RR Intervals) across pre-interview, interview and post-interview phases for High and Low Clarity and Authority groups: RR decreases from the pre-interview to the interview phase and increases again in the post-interview. In the High Authority (HA) and High Clarity (HC) groups, RR pre-interview was lower than in the Low Authority (LA) and Low Clarity (LC) groups, respectively. During the interview, the LC group has a slightly higher RR than the HC group. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001. The diamond is the value for the whole group.

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  Fig 8. Average Heart Rate across pre-interview, interview and post-interview phases for High and Low Clarity and Authority groups: Heart Rate (HR) increases from pre-interview to interview phase and decreases again in post-interview. In the High Clarity group (HC), HR was higher than in the Low Clarity group (LC). LA: Low Authority group, HA, High Authority Group. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001. The diamond is the value for the whole group.

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  Fig 9. Bidimensional High-Low Frequency (HF, LF) plane representation of the interaction among Phase and High-Low Clarity Groups: In the Low Clarity (LC) group there was a large variability in the low frequencies (LF). Otherwise, in the High Clarity (HC) group, low-frequency variability was lower and stable throughout the phases while there was lower power in the high frequencies (HF) with similar pre-interview and interview values, pointing to an increased parasympathetic inhibition. Shaded areas are for representational purposes only. Pre: baseline activity pre-interview; Int: Interview; Post: baseline activity post-interview.

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  Fig 10. Bidimensional Low-High Frequency Normalized Difference and High-Low Frequency Power (LHFND, LHFP) plane representation of the interaction among Phase and High-Low Clarity Groups: In the Low Clarity (LC) there was a high variability in both low-high frequency power and in the balance between high frequencies (HF) and low frequencies (LF). Otherwise, in the High Clarity (HC) group, both features remain more stable across the different phases. Shaded areas are for representational purposes only.