title: Gender differences in salivary alpha-amylase and attentional bias towards negative facial expressions following acute stress induction.
abstract: This study investigated gender differences in two key processes involved in anxiety, arousal and attentional bias towards threat. Arousal was assessed using salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), a biomarker of noradrenergic arousal and attention bias using a dot-probe task. Twenty-nine women and 27 men completed the dot-probe task and provided saliva samples before and after a stress induction [cold pressor stress (CPS) test]. Women displayed a significant increase in arousal (sAA) following the stressor compared to men, who displayed a significant reduction in arousal. Reaction time data revealed a significant avoidance of threat in women at baseline, but a significant change to an attention bias towards threat following the stressor. Men did not significantly respond to the stressor in terms of attentional bias. These findings suggest that women are more reactive to a stressor than men, and display an initial avoidance response to threat, but an attentional bias towards threat following stress.
authors: a School of Medicine , University of Tasmania , Hobart , TAS , Australia.
authors: Andrea Rose
authors: AR
authors: Carr
authors: b School of Psychology , University of New South Wales , Sydney , NSW , Australia.
authors: Alana
authors: A
authors: Scully
authors: b School of Psychology , University of New South Wales , Sydney , NSW , Australia.
authors: Miriam
authors: M
authors: Webb
authors: b School of Psychology , University of New South Wales , Sydney , NSW , Australia.|c School of Psychology , University of Tasmania , Hobart , TAS , Australia.
authors: Kim Louise
authors: KL
authors: Felmingham
mesh_terms: D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055291:Salivary alpha-Amylases / Q000378:metabolism*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D055291:Salivary alpha-Amylases
keywords: Arousal; Attention bias; Dot probe; Gender differences; Noradrenaline; Salivary alpha-amylase