Justus Alicia N, Finn Peter R
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States.
Pers Individ Dif. 2007 Dec;43(8):2057-2071. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2007.06.020.
Past research has demonstrated that individuals with psychopathic characteristics are under-responsive to aversive stimuli, however, much of this work has failed to include non-incarcerated samples, or to examine gender differences in this relationship. Additionally, few studies have examined the role of specific personality characteristics, as they relate to both psychopathic behavior and emotional responsiveness. The current study assessed emotional modulation of the startle response in a community sample of 108 men and women (99 with usable startle data) during perception of emotion-laden photographs. Consistent with previous work, men reporting high levels of psychopathy failed to show the typical increase in the startle response when exposed to aversive photographs, but only when responses were elicited relatively early in picture viewing (i.e., 2.0 s as compared to 4.5 s post-photograph onset). Additionally, both genders showed a significant effect of harm avoidance and anxiety on modulation of the startle response, such that individuals reporting low levels of each trait failed to show significant responses to aversive photographs. These results suggest that while deficits in emotional processing extend to non-incarcerated samples, the relationship may be influenced by additional factors including gender, personality, and attributes related to incarceration.
过去的研究表明，具有精神病态特征的个体对厌恶刺激反应不足，然而，这项工作大多没有纳入未被监禁的样本，也没有考察这种关系中的性别差异。此外，很少有研究考察特定人格特征的作用，因为它们与精神病态行为和情绪反应都有关。本研究评估了108名男性和女性（99名有可用惊吓数据）的社区样本在观看充满情感的照片时惊吓反应的情绪调节。与之前的研究一致，报告精神病态程度高的男性在观看厌恶照片时，并没有表现出惊吓反应的典型增加，但只有在照片观看相对较早阶段（即照片出现后2.0秒与4.5秒相比）引发反应时才会如此。此外，男性和女性在回避伤害和焦虑对惊吓反应调节方面都显示出显著影响，即报告每种特质水平低的个体对厌恶照片没有表现出显著反应。这些结果表明，虽然情绪加工缺陷在未被监禁的样本中也存在，但这种关系可能受到包括性别、人格以及与监禁相关的属性等其他因素的影响。
