JSU Research: Confederate Symbols Could Disrupt Heart Rates, Physiology

By Arielle Dreher
Friday, September 16, 2016 1:07 p.m. CDT

... new pilot research from Dr. D'Andra Orey and his team at Jackson State University could prove that Confederate imagery can have an adverse affect on a person's physiology ...

Participants in his study are hooked up to machines that measure skin conductance levels (how much a participant sweats) and EKG/ECG (heart-rate activity and levels). Researchers show them a series of images that contain Confederate imagery, like the Confederate flag or a t-shirt with the word Mississippi and the state flag, followed by a blank slide and then "happy images," like a family of penguins, followed by a blank slide.

Orey can measure how people respond to seeing these images. The pilot research shows that Confederate imagery can lead to physiological responses, at least for the African American staff, faculty and students participating in the pilot program.

"When you see the flag, and you start sweating, that fits with the sympathetic nervous system," Orey said. "When people have a negative response to these particular images, that means that it impacts them negatively, which is physiologically" ...

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2016/sep/16/jsu-research-confederate-symbols-could-disrupt-hea/