A novel multi-component model of coherence in emotion reactivity: Implications for the development of psychopathology

We examine emotion response coherence in autonomic, behavioral and self-reported emotion reactivity in adults and children and review a range of possible explanations for the limited support for emotion response coherence more broadly. We suggest that examining overall emotion response coherence overlooks the positive and negative interplay between underlying subsystems and propose a novel multi-component model of coherence in emotional reactivity. Our paper focuses on the development of internalizing and externalizing problems and is organized by two of the most common autonomic nervous system (ANS) measures in emotion research: respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and skin conductance response (SCR), and their direct referents in the brain.