Autonomic reactions to mutilation pictures: positive affect facilitates safety signal processing.
For survival, humans are continuously vigilant for signs of danger. Equally important, but less studied, is our ability to detect and respond to safety cues. The trait of positive affect may be a key component determining human variability in safety detection. Here we investigate autonomic and self-report reactivity to pictures of mutilated bodies, after reading a text about the art of mimicking injuries in the movies. Participants that scored high in positive affect trait showed attenuated autonomic reactions to the mutilation pictures. Thus, high positive affect facilitated engagement in safety cues and modulated reflexive reactions of the brain's defense system.
Oliveira
Laura A S
LA
Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Oliveira
Leticia
L
Joffily
Mateus
M
Pereira-Junior
Pedro P
PP
Lang
Peter J
PJ
Pereira
Mirtes G
MG
Figueira
Ivan
I
Volchan
Eliane
E
D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012449:Safety; D055815:Young Adult