Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Sensation seeking and startle modulation by physically threatening images.

Shmuel Lissek1, Alice Schade Powers

  • 1National Institute of Mental Health, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, 15K North Drive, Bldg 15k, MSC 2670, Bethesda, MD 20892-2670, USA. lisseks@intra.nimh.nih.gov

Biological Psychology
|May 10, 2003
PubMed
Summary

High sensation seekers exhibit lower anxious reactivity to threatening stimuli. This study found sensation seeking moderates responses to negative images, unlike positive ones.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Advancing clinical psychology with improved doctoral training in science.

Training and education in professional psychology·2026
Same author

Anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty track distinct neurobehavioral dimensions of avoidance in anxiety-related disorders.

Molecular psychiatry·2026
Same author

Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Amygdala and Hippocampus in PTSD: Results From the PGC-ENIGMA PTSD Working Group.

The American journal of psychiatry·2026
Same author

Disrupted intrathalamic and thalamocortical structural covariance networks in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)·2026
Same author

Lower Gyrification of the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: An ENIGMA-PTSD Study.

Biological psychiatry global open science·2026
Same author

Disrupted thalamocortical functional connectivity and canonical resting-state network integration in posttraumatic stress disorder.

NeuroImage. Clinical·2025

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Behavior

Background:

  • Sensation seeking influences how individuals respond to various stimuli.
  • Understanding anxious reactivity is crucial for mental health research.
  • The affective modulation of startle-blink paradigm measures emotional responses.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the moderating role of sensation seeking on anxious reactivity.
  • To assess differences in startle-blink responses to threatening stimuli based on sensation seeking levels.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the affective modulation of startle-blink paradigm.
  • Measured electromyographic (EMG) activity during auditory startle stimuli.
  • Presented positive, neutral, and threatening visual images to participants.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Participants low in sensation seeking showed increased startle responses to threatening images compared to neutral ones.
  • Participants high in sensation seeking displayed similar startle magnitudes for neutral and threatening images.
  • Positive images did not significantly alter startle magnitudes in either group.

Conclusions:

  • Individuals high in sensation seeking demonstrate reduced anxious reactivity to threatening visual stimuli.
  • Sensation seeking appears to buffer against heightened anxiety responses to perceived threats.
  • The study's positive images were insufficient to engage the appetitive arousal system.