Conscious and preconscious selective attention to social threat: different neuroendocrine response patterns

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between selective attention to social threat and neuroendocrine activity. Selective attention to social threat was measured using a supraliminal (unmasked) and a subliminal (masked) version of a pictorial emotional Stroop task, comparing color-naming latencies of neutral and angry faces. Neuroendocrine activity was assessed as (pre-task to post-task) increases in salivary cortisol and testosterone. Forty subjects were randomly assigned to the unmasked or masked version of the task. Analyses for the unmasked task revealed that post-task cortisol levels were significantly increased in subjects showing selective attention to angry faces. Results for the masked task indicated that post-task cortisol and testosterone levels were significantly increased in subjects showing preconscious selective attention to angry faces. The difference in neuroendocrine activity between tasks is suggested to depend on cortical (i.e. prefrontal) control in the unmasked task. Thus, psychological affective regulatory processes were involved in the unmasked task, whereas the neuroendocrine response patterns in the masked task indicates a biologically prepared mechanism.