Effect of stimulus context and repeated aversive visual stimulation on the cardiac correlate of attention

The experiment investigated cardiac deceleration responses to repeated presentations of an aversive visual stimulus (a slide of a mutilated homicide victim) as a function of interspersing presentations of different types of other provocative visual stimuli amidst the aversive stimulus. 30 male volunteers were divided into three groups of 10 subjects each. One group viewed the aversive stimulus randomly interspersed with presentations of female nudes (positive context); a second group viewed the aversive stimulus amidst presentations of slides of skin-disease patients (negative context); and the third group viewed the aversive slide surrounded by presentations of other male undergraduates (neutral context). After repeatedly viewing the single homocide-victim slide, subjects viewed five different homicide scenes without contextual slides. These identical procedures were repeated during a second experimental session. A significant context-by-sessions interaction (p less than .05) reflected a decrement in cardiac deceleration over sessions for the positive context and an increase in deceleration from the first to the second session for the negative context. The neutral context did not affect cardiac deceleration over sessions. The series of different homicide scenes elicited greater cardiac deceleration than repeated exposures to the same slide. These results were discussed in terms of the possible role of stimulus context in affecting attention and vigilant-avoidant coping orientations.