title: Sex differences in orienting to pictures with and without humans: evidence from the cardiac evoked response (ECR) and the cortical long latency parietal positivity (LPP).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated the effect of social relevance in affective pictures on two orienting responses, i.e. the evoked cardiac response (ECR), and a long latency cortical evoked potential (LPP) and whether this effect would differ between males and females. Assuming that orienting to affective social information is fundamental to experiencing affective empathy, associations between self-report measures of empathy and the two orienting responses were investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  ECRs were obtained from 34 female and 30 male students, and LPPs from 25 female and 27 male students viewing 414 pictures from the International Affective Picture System. Pictures portrayed pleasant, unpleasant and neutral scenes with and without humans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both the ECR and LPP showed the largest response to pictures with humans in unpleasant situations. For both measures, the responses to pictures with humans correlated with self-report measures of empathy. While we found a greater male than female responsiveness to the pictures without humans in the ECR, a greater female than male responsiveness was observed in the LPP response to pictures with humans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The sensitivity of these orienting responses to social relevance and their differential contribution to the prediction of individual differences underline the validity of their combined use in clinical studies investigating individuals with social disabilities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Althaus
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Groen
authors.affiliation: Department of Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lutske
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van der Schaft
authors.affiliation: Department of Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ruud B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Minderaa
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tucha
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lambertus J M
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Mulder
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Albertus A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Wijers
mesh_terms: D054849:Cardiac Electrophysiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult