Artigo Revisado por pares

Modulación emocional de los reflejos defensivos mediante visualización de imágenes afectivas

2002; Cologio Oficial de Psicólogos del Principado; Volume: 14; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

ISSN

0214-9915

Autores

María Pilar Jiménez Sánchez, Elisabeth Ruiz‐Padial, Nieves Pér, M. Carmen Fernández‐Santaella, Pilar Cobos, Jaime Vila,

Tópico(s)

Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Resumo

Emotional modulation of defensive reflexes by viewing affective pictures. We present the results of a study aimed to e xamine the modulation of the car diac defense response and the startle reflex (e yeblink), elicited b y acoustic stimuli, by simultaneous visualization of affective pictures selected from the Spanish adapta tion of the International Affective Picture System. 60 volunteer student women participated in the study. The psychophysiolog ical test consisted of 9 tr ials in whic h 3 pleasant, 3 unpleasant and 3 neutral pictur es were presented, in counterbalanced or der, during 6 seconds, with an inter trial interval between 95 and 120 seconds. Each visualization trial was accompanied by the presentation, through headphones, of a w hite noise of 105 dB intensity, 500 ms duration and instantaneous ri setime. The noise was initiated 3.5 s after initia tion of the picture. Dependent variables were secondby-second heart r ate and integrated electr omyography of the orbicularis oculi muscle. Results sho w a potentiation of both the cardiac defense response and the startle r eflex by visualization of unpleasant pictures. Visualization of pleasant pictur es showed inhibition, as compared to neutral pictur es, only of the startle reflex. These results g ive support to the motivational priming theory of defensive reflexes proposed by Lang and confirm the dynamic and sequential character of the car diac defense response.

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