Autonomic reactions to social and neutral stimuli in subjects high and low in public speaking fear.
People with specific animal phobias react with increased autonomic activity when exposed to fear-relevant stimuli. The present study examined whether individuals having a less circumscribed fear (public speaking fear) also react with increased autonomic responses when exposed to fear-relevant i.e. social stimuli. A High-fear and a Low-fear group, as indicated by the PRCS questionnaire, were exposed to pictures of faces (social stimuli) and mushrooms (neutral stimuli) while heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCRs) were measured. It was found that: Social stimuli evoked larger SCRs as compared to neutral stimuli only in the High-fear group; SCR magnitude to social stimuli was positively correlated with self-reported fear in the High-fear group; the High-fear group showed larger overall SCRs compared with the Low-fear group; the High-fear group showed slower SCR habituation to social stimuli as compared to the Low-fear group; the High-fear group displayed more nonspecific electrodermal fluctuations than did the Low-fear group. Both the High-fear and the Low-fear group displayed HR deceleration to social but not to neutral stimuli. Thus, subjects high in public speaking fear reacted with increased skin conductance activity when exposed to social stimuli compared to low-fear subjects. The two groups did not differ in heart rate responses. These results are discussed in terms of orienting, defense and species-specific response patterns.
D000328:Adult; D000378:Agonistic Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D012919:Social Behavior; D014705:Verbal Behavior