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Acute dissociation predicts rapid habituation of skin conductance responses to aversive auditory probes
Author(s) -
Giesbrecht Timo,
Merckelbach Harald,
Burg Linda ter,
Cima Maaike,
Simeon Daphne
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.20323
Subject(s) - habituation , skin conductance , dissociation (chemistry) , psychology , aversive stimulus , dissociative , anxiety , audiology , developmental psychology , neuroscience , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , chemistry , biomedical engineering
The present study examined how acute dissociation, trait‐like dissociative symptoms, and physiological reactivity relate to each other. Sixty‐nine undergraduate students were exposed to 14 aversive auditory probes, while their skin conductance responses were measured. A combination of self‐reported anxiety and trait‐like dissociation was found to predict variability in peritraumatic dissociation levels induced by the aversive probes. Furthermore, high levels of acute dissociation were associated with faster habituation of skin conductance responding, while trait‐like dissociation was unrelated to habituation. Interestingly, individuals who reported childhood trauma displayed elevated skin conductance responses. Our findings contribute to the growing body of evidence indicating that subjective feelings of acute dissociation have their objective concomitants, notably fast habituation of physiologic responses.