Sensation seeking and startle modulation by physically threatening images

Electrophysiological correlates of cognitive control and performance monitoring in risk propensity: An event-related potential study

Investigating the cognitive control processes and error detection mechanisms involved in risk-taking behaviors is essential for understanding risk propensity. This study investigated the relationship between risk propensity and cognitive control processes using an event-related potentials (ERP) approach. The study employed a Cued Go/Nogo paradigm to elicit ERP components related to cognitive control processes, including contingent negative variation (CNV), P300, error-related negativity (ERN), and error positivity (Pe). Healthy participants were categorized into high-risk and low-risk groups based on their performance in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). The results revealed risk-taking behavior influenced CNV amplitudes, indicating heightened response preparation and inhibition for the high-risk group. In contrast, the P300 component showed no group differences but revealed enhanced amplitudes in Nogo trials, particularly in high-risk group. Furthermore, despite the lack of difference in the Pe component, the high-risk group exhibited smaller ERN amplitudes compared to the low-risk group, suggesting reduced sensitivity to error detection. These findings imply that risk-taking behaviors may be associated with a hypoactive avoidance system rather than impaired response inhibition. Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying risk propensity and cognitive control processes can contribute to the development of interventions aimed at reducing risky behaviors and promoting better decision-making.

Electrocortical correlates of hypersensitivity to large immediate rewards in sensation seeking

Sensation seeking and delay discounting are strong predictors of various risk-taking behaviors. However, the relationship between sensation seeking and delay discounting remains elusive. Here, we addressed this issue by examining how high sensation seekers (HSS; N = 40) and low sensation seekers (LSS; N = 40) evaluated immediate and delayed rewards with low and high amounts during a behavioral task and an EEG task of delay discounting. Although HSS and LSS exhibited comparable discounting preference at the behavioral level, HSS relative to LSS was associated with a greater delay discounting effect at the neural level when earned rewards were large. This abnormality of reward magnitude was further corroborated by an electrocortical hypersensitivity to large immediate rewards and a stronger neural coding of reward magnitude for HSS as compared to LSS. Our findings support both the hyperactive approach theory and the optimal arousal theory in sensation seeking and have implications for the prevention and intervention targeting sensation seeking to reduce maladaptive risk-taking behaviors.

Pre- and postnatal exposure to legacy environmental contaminants and sensation seeking in Inuit adolescents from Nunavik

Despite extensive evidence from cohort studies linking exposure to lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to numerous cognitive outcomes in children and adolescents, very few studies addressed reward sensitivity, a key dimension of emotional regulation. The present study aimed to examine associations between pre- and postnatal exposure to these environmental neurotoxicants and sensation seeking, a behavioral feature of reward. A total of 207 Inuit adolescents (mean age = 18.5, SD = 1.2) from Nunavik, Canada, completed the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS-4) and Sensation Seeking- 2 (SS-2), two self-report questionnaires assessing proneness to sensation seeking. Prenatal, childhood and adolescent exposure to Pb, Hg and PCBs were measured in cord blood at birth and blood samples at 11 years of age and at time of testing. Multiple linear regression models were performed, potential confounders including participants' sociodemographic characteristics and nutrient fish intake were considered. Results showed that higher child blood levels of Pb (b = -0.18, p = 0.01) and PCB-153 (b = -0.16, p = 0.06) were associated with lower BSSS-4 total scores, while cord and adolescent blood PCB-153 levels were significantly related to lower SS2 total scores (b = -0.15, p = 0.04; b = -0.24, p = 0.004). Such associations persisted after further adjustment for co-exposure to concurrent contaminants. These associations were influenced by self-report positive affect and marginally moderated by sex. Sex differences were only observed for child PCB exposure, with the association for risk-taking sensation seeking observed only in girls but not in boys. Further research is warranted to assess the extent to which reduced sensation seeking in chronically exposed individuals affects their behaviors, well-being, and emotional regulation.

(Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films

Why do we watch and like horror films? Despite a century of horror film making and entertainment, little research has examined the human motivation to watch fictional horror and how horror film influences individuals’ behavioral, cognitive, and emotional responses. This review provides the first synthesis of the empirical literature on the psychology of horror film using multi-disciplinary research from psychology, psychotherapy, communication studies, development studies, clinical psychology, and media studies. The paper considers the motivations for people’s decision to watch horror, why people enjoy horror, how individual differences influence responses to, and preference for, horror film, how exposure to horror film changes behavior, how horror film is designed to achieve its effects, why we fear and why we fear specific classes of stimuli, and how liking for horror develops during childhood and adolescence. The literature suggests that (1) low empathy and fearfulness are associated with more enjoyment and desire to watch horror film but that specific dimensions of empathy are better predictors of people’s responses than are others; (2) there is a positive relationship between sensation-seeking and horror enjoyment/preference, but this relationship is not consistent; (3) men and boys prefer to watch, enjoy, and seek our horror more than do women and girls; (4) women are more prone to disgust sensitivity or anxiety than are men, and this may mediate the sex difference in the enjoyment of horror; (5) younger children are afraid of symbolic stimuli, whereas older children become afraid of concrete or realistic stimuli; and (6) in terms of coping with horror, physical coping strategies are more successful in younger children; priming with information about the feared object reduces fear and increases children’s enjoyment of frightening television and film. A number of limitations in the literature is identified, including the multifarious range of horror stimuli used in studies, disparities in methods, small sample sizes, and a lack of research on cross-cultural differences and similarities. Ideas for future research are explored.

Abnormal performance monitoring but intact response inhibition in sensation seeking

The sensation-seeking trait is a potential endophenotype for various addictive behaviors. Using a nonclinical sample, the current ERP study examined the effects of sensation seeking on performance monitoring and response inhibition. Twenty high sensation seekers and 21 low sensation seekers were selected from a large sample based on their sensation-seeking score and performed a stop-signal task while their EEG was recorded. High relative to low sensation seekers displayed similar response inhibition in terms of performance measure and stop-P3 amplitudes. Compared to low sensation seekers, however, high sensation seekers exhibited a reduced stop-N2 for unsuccessful, but not successful, inhibition. Moreover, an enhanced go-N2 in response to go signals was observed for high versus low sensation seekers, irrespective of whether the go signals were followed by a stop signal or not. Together, our findings suggest that sensation seeking in nonclinical populations is related to individual variability in performance monitoring rather than response inhibition, which provides important implications for the prevention and intervention of addictive behaviors that are driven by trait sensation seeking.

Greater tolerance to losses in sensation seeking: Evidence from probability and delay discounting

BACKGROUND

Sensation seeking is a behavioral endophenotype of substance use and is associated with abnormalities in financial reward processing. Previous research suggests that high sensation seekers (HSS) relative to low sensation seekers (LSS) show either an enhanced sensitivity to financial rewards or a reduced sensitivity to financial punishments. However, there are few studies investigating the valuation of financial rewards and punishments as a function of delivery probability and delay, two important aspects of reward processing that influence the valuation.

METHODS

We administrated a probability discounting task and a delay discounting task to 56 HSS and 57 LSS selected from a large sample. Each task was crossed with two factors: valence (gain vs. loss) and amount (Ұ1000 vs. Ұ50000).

RESULTS

For the probability discounting task, HSS discounted probabilistic losses but not gains more steeply than LSS, irrespective of the amount of outcome. For the delay discounting task, HSS discounted delayed losses more steeply than LSS, for the large but not small amount condition. In contrast, both groups exhibited comparable discounting rates for gains across the two amount conditions. These results remained significant when impulsivity levels were controlled for.

CONCLUSIONS

Together, our data strengthen the argument that the dysfunctional valuation in sensation seeking is valence specific, which may be driven by a weaker avoidance system, rather than by a stronger approach system.

Developmental differences in reward sensitivity and sensation seeking in adolescence: Testing sex-specific associations with gonadal hormones and pubertal development

Sensation seeking has been found to increase, on average, from childhood to adolescence. Developmental scientists have hypothesized that this change could be driven by the rise of gonadal hormones at puberty, which affect reward-related processing in the brain. In a large, age-heterogeneous, population-based sample of adolescents and young adults (N = 810; ages 13-20 years), we tested for sex-specific associations between age, self-reported pubertal development, gonadal hormones (estradiol and testosterone) as measured in saliva, reward sensitivity as measured by a multivariate battery of in-laboratory tasks (including the Iowa gambling task, balloon analogue risk task, and stoplight task), and self-reported sensation seeking. Reward sensitivity was more strongly associated with sensation seeking in males than females. For both males and females, reward sensitivity was unrelated to age but was higher among those who reported more advanced pubertal development. There were significant sex differences in the effects of self-reported pubertal development on sensation seeking, with a positive association evident in males but a negative association in females. Moreover, gonadal hormones also showed diverging associations with sensation seeking-positive with testosterone but negative with estradiol. Overall, the results indicate that sensation seeking among adolescents and young adults depends on a complex constellation of developmental influences that operate via sex-specific mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record

Shared Neural Mechanisms for the Evaluation of Intense Sensory Stimulation and Economic Reward, Dependent on Stimulation-Seeking Behavior

Why are some people strongly motivated by intense sensory experiences? Here we investigated how people encode the value of an intense sensory experience compared with economic reward, and how this varies according to stimulation-seeking preference. Specifically, we used a novel behavioral task in combination with computational modeling to derive the value individuals assigned to the opportunity to experience an intense tactile stimulus (mild electric shock). We then examined functional imaging data recorded during task performance to see how the opportunity to experience the sensory stimulus was encoded in stimulation-seekers versus stimulation-avoiders. We found that for individuals who positively sought out this kind of sensory stimulation, there was common encoding of anticipated economic and sensory rewards in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Conversely, there was robust encoding of the modeled probability of receiving such stimulation in the insula only in stimulation-avoidant individuals. Finally, we found preliminary evidence that sensory prediction error signals may be positively signed for stimulation-seekers, but negatively signed for stimulation-avoiders, in the posterior cingulate cortex. These findings may help explain why high intensity sensory experiences are appetitive for some individuals, but not for others, and may have relevance for the increased vulnerability for some psychopathologies, but perhaps increased resilience for others, in high sensation-seeking individuals.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

People vary in their preference for intense sensory experiences. Here, we investigated how different individuals evaluate the prospect of an unusual sensory experience (electric shock), compared with the opportunity to gain a more traditional reward (money). We found that in a subset of individuals who sought out such unusual sensory stimulation, anticipation of the sensory outcome was encoded in the same way as that of monetary gain, in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Further understanding of stimulation-seeking behavior may shed light on the etiology of psychopathologies such as addiction, for which high or low sensation-seeking personality has been identified as a risk factor.

Blunted neural responses to monetary risk in high sensation seekers

The sensation-seeking trait is a valid predictor of various risk-taking behaviors. However, the neural underpinnings of risk processing in sensation seeking are yet unclear. The present event-related potential (ERP) study examined electrophysiological correlates associated with different stages of risky reward processing in sensation seeking. Twenty-one high sensation seekers (HSS) and 22 low sensation seekers (LSS) performed a simple two-choice gambling task. Behaviorally, whereas LSS exhibited a risk-averse pattern, HSS showed a risk-neutral pattern. During the anticipation stage, an increased stimulus-preceding negativity was elicited by high-risk compared to low-risk choices in LSS but not in HSS. During the outcome-appraisal stage, the feedback-related negativity, when calculated as the difference between losses and gains, was enhanced in response to the high-risk versus low-risk outcomes, which appeared for LSS but not for HSS. Further, HSS as compared to LSS exhibited a diminished P300 to both gains and losses. These findings suggest that risk-taking behavior in sensation seeking is expressed as blunted neural responses to risk in the anticipation stage and in the outcome-appraisal stage, which represents a candidate target for drug prevention.

Aversive startle potentiation and fear pathology: Mediating role of threat sensitivity and moderating impact of depression

Enhanced startle reactivity during exposure to unpleasant cues (aversive startle potentiation; ASP) appears in the RDoC matrix as a physiological index of acute threat response. Increased ASP has been linked to focal fear disorders and to scale measures of dispositional fearfulness (i.e., threat sensitivity; THT+). However, some studies have reported reduced ASP for fear pathology accompanied by major depressive disorder (MDD) or pervasive distress. The current study evaluated whether (a) THT+ as indexed by reported dispositional fearfulness mediates the relationship between fear disorders (when unaccompanied by depression) and ASP, and (b) depression moderates relations of THT+ and fear disorders with ASP. Fear disorder participants without MDD showed enhanced ASP whereas those with MDD (or other distress conditions) showed evidence of reduced ASP. Continuous THT+ scores also predicted ASP, and this association: (a) was likewise moderated by depression/distress, and (b) accounted for the relationship between ASP and fear pathology without MDD. These findings point to a role for the RDoC construct of acute threat, operationalized dispositionally, in enhanced ASP shown by individuals with fear pathology unaccompanied by distress pathology.

The interactive effects of affect lability, negative urgency, and sensation seeking on young adult problematic drinking

Prior studies have suggested that affect lability might reduce the risk for problematic drinking among sensation seekers by compensating for their deficiencies in emotional reactivity and among individuals high on negative urgency by disrupting stable negative emotions. Due to the high prevalence of college drinking, this study examined whether affect lability interacted with sensation seeking and negative urgency to influence college student problematic drinking. 414 college drinkers (mean age: 20, 77% female, and 74% Caucasian) from a US Midwestern University completed self-administered questionnaires online. Consistent with our hypotheses, our results indicated that the effects of sensation seeking and negative urgency on problematic drinking weakened at higher levels of affect lability. These findings emphasize the importance of considering specific emotional contexts in understanding how negative urgency and sensation seeking create risk for problematic drinking among college students. These findings might also help us better understand how to reduce problematic drinking among sensation seekers and individuals high on negative urgency.

Delineating physiologic defensive reactivity in the domain of self-report: phenotypic and etiologic structure of dispositional fear

BACKGROUND

Individual differences in fear and fearlessness have been investigated at their extremes in relation to markedly different forms of psychopathology--anxiety disorders and psychopathy, respectively. A documented neural substrate of fear-related traits and disorders is defensive reactivity as reflected in aversive startle potentiation (ASP).

METHOD

The current study extended prior work by characterizing, in a sample of adult twins from the community (n = 2511), the phenotypic and etiologic structure of self-report measures of fear and fearlessness known to be associated with ASP.

RESULTS

Analyses revealed a hierarchical structure to the trait fear domain, with an overarching, bipolar fear/fearlessness dimension saturating each measure in this domain, and subfactors labeled 'distress,' 'stimulation seeking' and 'sociability' accounting for additional variance in particular measures. The structure of genetic and non-shared environmental associations among the measures closely mirrored the phenotypic structure of the domain.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings have implications for proposals to reconceptualize psychopathology in neurobiological terms.

Neural correlates of trait anxiety in fear extinction

BACKGROUND

Fear conditioning involves the amygdala as the main neural structure for learning fear responses whereas fear extinction mainly activates the inhibitory prefrontal cortex (PFC). In this study we investigated whether individual differences in trait anxiety affect amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation during fear conditioning and extinction.

METHOD

Thirty-two healthy subjects were investigated by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3 T while performing a cued fear-conditioning task. All participants completed the trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T). Activations of the amygdala and the dACC were examined with respect to the effects of trait anxiety.

RESULTS

Analysis of the fMRI data demonstrated enhanced activation in fear-related brain areas, such as the insula and the ACC, during both fear conditioning and extinction. Activation of the amygdala appeared only during the late acquisition phase whereas deactivation was observed during extinction. Regression analyses revealed that highly trait-anxious subjects exhibited sustained amygdala activation and reduced dACC involvement during the extinction of conditioned responses.

CONCLUSIONS

This study reveals that high levels of trait anxiety are associated with both increased amygdala activation and reduced dACC recruitment during the extinction of conditioned fear. This hyper-responsivity of the amygdala and the deficient cognitive control during the extinction of conditioned fear in anxious subjects reflect an increased resistance to extinct fear responses and may thereby enhance the vulnerability to developing anxiety disorders.

Interaction effects between COMT and BDNF polymorphisms on boredom susceptibility of sensation seeking traits

Sensation seeking is a temperament associated with willingness to take risks to obtain arousal. We investigated the relationship between the polymorphisms of the COMT Val158Met and BDNF Val66Met and sensation seeking traits. The Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) and genotyping were performed in 277 Korean healthy volunteers (165 males, 112 females). Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to test the association between the COMT and BDNF functional polymorphisms and dimensions of sensation seeking, namely, disinhibition, boredom susceptibility, experience seeking and thrill/adventure seeking. No main and interaction effects of the COMT and BDNF on SSS were observed for total subjects. However, in females, a significant gene-gene interaction effect on the boredom susceptibility of SSS was shown. Among females with COMT Met present genotype (Val/Met+Met/Met), subjects with BDNF Met absent genotype (Val/Val) had significantly higher boredom susceptibility than subjects with BDNF Met. The effects of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on boredom susceptibility of sensation seeking traits could be modulated by COMT Val158Met polymorphism in female.

Linking dimensional models of internalizing psychopathology to neurobiological systems: affect-modulated startle as an indicator of fear and distress disorders and affiliated traits

Integrative hierarchical models have sought to account for the extensive comorbidity between various internalizing disorders in terms of broad individual difference factors these disorders share. However, such models have been developed largely on the basis of self-report and diagnostic symptom data. Toward the goal of linking such models to neurobiological systems, we reviewed studies that have employed variants of the affect-modulated startle paradigm to investigate emotional processing in internalizing disorders as well as personality constructs known to be associated with these disorders. Specifically, we focused on four parameters of startle reactivity: fear-potentiated startle, inhibition of startle in the context of pleasant stimuli, context-potentiated startle, and general startle reactivity. On the basis of available data, we argue that these varying effects index differing neurobiological processes related to mood and anxiety disorders that are interpretable from the standpoint of dimensional models of the internalizing spectrum. Further, we contend that these empirical findings can feed back into and help reshape conceptualizations of internalizing disorders in ways that make them more amenable to neurobiological analysis.

The onset of puberty: effects on the psychophysiology of defensive and appetitive motivation

We examined puberty-specific effects on affect-related behavior and on the psychophysiology of defensive and appetitive motivation while controlling for age. Adolescents (N = 94, ages = 12 and 13 years) viewed 75 pictures (International Affective Picture System: pleasant, neutral, and aversive) while listening to auditory probes. Startle response and postauricular (PA) reflex were collected as measures of defensive and appetitive motivation, respectively. Pubertal status and measures of anxiety/stress reaction and sensation/thrill seeking were obtained. Mid-/late pubertal adolescents showed enhanced startle amplitude across all picture valences. A Puberty x Valence interaction revealed that mid-/late pubertal adolescents showed appetitive potentiation of the PA, whereas pre-/early pubertal adolescents showed no modulation of the PA reflex. Mid-/late pubertal adolescents also scored significantly higher on measures of sensation/thrill seeking than did their pre-/early pubertal peers and puberty moderated the association between psychophysiology and behavioral measures, suggesting that it plays a role in reorganizing defensive and appetitive motivational systems.

Genetic and environmental influences on emotion-modulated startle reflex: a twin study

Emotion-modulated startle reflex is an important indicator of traitlike differences in affective processing implicated in the biological basis of personality and psychopathology. This study examined heritability of startle modulation by affective pictures in 66 pairs of monozygotic and 57 pairs of dizygotic female twins. Consistent with previous studies, startle magnitude was significantly influenced by emotional valence of the picture (positive < neutral < negative). Absolute response magnitude showed high heritability in all three valence conditions (59-61%); however, there were no significant genetic influences on the amount of startle modulation. Thus, our data do not support the hypothesis that emotion-modulated startle can serve as an indicator of genetically transmitted individual differences in affective processing.

Sensation seeking and the aversive motivational system

Sensation seeking (SS) has traditionally been viewed as a phenomenon of the appetitive motivational system. The limited SS research exploring contributions from the aversive motivational system reveals greater anxious reactivity to dangerous activities among low sensation seekers. The present study extends this line of work by comparing levels of fear and anxiety during anticipation of predictable and unpredictable aversive stimuli across high- and low-SS groups. Low sensation seekers displayed greater fear-potentiated startle (FPS) to predictable aversive stimuli, and only those low on SS showed FPS and skin conductance response effects during experimental contexts in which aversive stimuli were delivered unpredictably. Findings implicate enhanced apprehensive anticipation among those low on SS as a potential deterrent for their participation in intense and threatening stimulus events.

Are nonpharmacological induced rewards related to anhedonia? A study among skydivers

It is well-known that persons with a drug addiction experience feelings of anhedonia during "normal" daily activities. It has been proposed that these symptoms of anhedonia are the result of direct pharmacological influences of drugs on the dopamine system. To test the assumption that nonpharmacological processes are also involved in anhedonia, we studied anhedonic symptoms in skydivers who regularly expose themselves to thrillful extreme sport activity and then experience intense hedonic feelings. A group of skydivers completed anhedonia scales and their scores were compared to a control group (a group of rowers). The main finding of the present study was that subjects who engage in the high-risk activity of skydiving, experienced more anhedonic symptoms than subjects who do not engage in such an extreme sport, but rather prefer a low-risk activity like rowing. This finding supports the notion that skydiving has similarities with addictive behaviors and that frequent exposure to "natural high" experiences is related to anhedonia. This suggests that the negative emotional state as observed in drug users may not be exclusively the results of exogenous psychopharmacological effects, but might also result from psychological mechanisms that are partly responsible for these anhedonic feelings.