title: Diminished P300 to physical risk in sensation seeking.
abstract: Zuckerman's theory proposes individual differences in optimal arousal and arousability level as the root of the sensation-seeking trait. The current study addressed how sensation seeking influences responses to emotional arousal at the electrophysiological level during a passive viewing task and at the psychometrical level during a self-assessment task. Electrophysiologically, high sensation seekers (HSSs) compared to low sensation seekers (LSSs) exhibited a reduced P300 for high-arousing stimuli (adventure and surreal pictures), but not for low-arousing stimuli (leisure and neutral pictures). Psychometrically, HSSs displayed a higher preference for adventure and surreal pictures whereas LSSs showed a higher preference for leisure pictures. Instead of supporting the optimal arousal hypothesis, these findings suggest that sensation seeking is associated with diminished P300 to physical risk, which may be driven by a hypoactive avoidance system in sensation seeking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China.
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116011, China. Electronic address: xujing_doc@aliyun.com.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116011, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China.
authors.forename: Huijuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D012309:Risk-Taking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Emotional arousal; Event-related potentials; P300; Sensation seeking