Grillon Christian
Mood and Anxiety Disorder Program, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, MD, USA.
Emotion. 2008 Jun;8(3):410-3. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.8.3.410.
Startle reflex studies in rodents indicate that female are more reactive than rats in experimental models of sustained anxiety but not in models of phasic fear (Toufexis, 2007). This study examined evidence for a similar effect in humans. Participants were exposed to three conditions, (1) predictable aversive shocks signaled by a cue, (2) unpredictable shocks, and (3) no shocks. Acoustic startle stimuli were delivered regularly across conditions. Phasic startle potential to the threat cue in the predictable condition was not affected by sex. In contrast, and consistent with basic research, the sustained increase in startle in the predictable and unpredictable conditions was greater in women compared to men. Animal studies suggest that such an effect may be mediated by the effects of sexual dimorphism in limbic structures, including the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. However, psychosocial factors may also contribute to this effect.
对啮齿动物的惊吓反射研究表明，在持续性焦虑的实验模型中，雌性比雄性更具反应性，但在阶段性恐惧模型中并非如此（图费克斯，2007年）。本研究检验了人类中类似效应的证据。参与者暴露于三种条件下：（1）由提示信号表明的可预测厌恶性电击；（2）不可预测的电击；（3）无电击。在各种条件下定期给予听觉惊吓刺激。在可预测条件下，对威胁提示的阶段性惊吓电位不受性别影响。相比之下，与基础研究一致，在可预测和不可预测条件下，女性惊吓的持续增加幅度大于男性。动物研究表明，这种效应可能由边缘结构（包括终纹床核）中的性二态性效应介导。然而，社会心理因素也可能导致这种效应。
