title: Neuroticism modifies psychophysiological responses to fearful films.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neuroticism is a personality component frequently found in anxious and depressive psychiatric disorders. The influence of neuroticism on negative emotions could be due to its action on stimuli related to fear and sadness, but this remains debated. Our goal was thus to better understand the impact of neuroticism through verbal and physiological assessment in response to stimuli inducing fear and sadness as compared to another negative emotion (disgust).
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen low neurotic and 18 high neurotic subjects were assessed on an emotional attending task by using film excerpts inducing fear, disgust, and sadness. We recorded skin conductance response (SCR) and corrugator muscle activity (frowning) as indices of emotional expression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SCR was larger in high neurotic subjects than in low neurotics for fear relative to sadness and disgust. Moreover, corrugator activity and SCR were larger in high than in low neurotic subjects when fear was induced.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After decades of evidence that individuals higher in neuroticism experience more intense emotional reactions to even minor stressors, our results indicate that they show greater SCR and expressive reactivity specifically to stimuli evoking fear rather than to those inducing sadness or disgust. Fear processing seems mainly under the influence of neuroticism. This modulation of autonomic activity by neurotics in response to threat/fear may explain their increased vulnerability to anxious psychopathologies such as PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
authors.affiliation: National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Timone Neuroscience Institute (INT, UMR 7289), Marseille, France. manreynaud@yahoo.fr
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reynaud
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El Khoury-Malhame
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rossier
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Blin
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khalfa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009040:Motion Pictures; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011603:Psychophysiology / Q000379:methods; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult