Eye color and responsiveness to arousing stimuli.
The hypothesis was advanced that dark-eyed subjects are more responsive to arousing stimuli than light-eyed subjects. 40 subjects listened to neutral and arousing auditory stimuli and viewed scenes which were neutral, violent, or sexual in nature. The dependent measure of arousal was a score derived from a combination of physiological responses recorded on a polygraph. Scores were significantly higher for dark-eyed than light-eyed subjects. Significant sex differences were also found, females having higher scores than males. Implications for future research and application were discussed.
D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005127:Eye Color; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008543:Melanins / Q000502:physiology; D011603:Psychophysiology; D011674:Pulse; D012119:Respiration; D012168:Retinal Pigments / Q000502:physiology; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012723:Sex; D012737:Sex Factors; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D014754:Violence; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
D008543:Melanins; D012168:Retinal Pigments