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Orienting and Defensive Responses to Visual Stimuli
Author(s) -
Hare Robert D.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1973.tb00532.x
Subject(s) - habituation , spider , psychology , orienting response , skin conductance , dorsum , audiology , heart rate , neuroscience , anatomy , medicine , zoology , biology , blood pressure , biomedical engineering
Physiological responses were recorded while 10 females who feared spiders (Group SP) and 10 females who did not (Group NP) viewed 24 neutral and 6 spider slides. Group NP responded to the spider stimuli with heart rate (HR) deceleration and cephalic vasodilation (increase in pulse amplitude), while Group SP responded with HR acceleration and cephalic vasoconstriction. Neither group gave appreciable or systematic cardiovascular responses to the neutral stimuli. Palmar and dorsal skin conductance (SC) responses to the spider stimuli were larger than those given to the neutral slides, and tended to be larger and more resistant to habituation in Group SP than in Group NP. When considered along with post‐experimental reports, the responses given by Group NP to the spider slides could be considered to be indicative of an orienting response (OR), while those given by Group SP were consistent with recent conceptions of the defensive response (DR). These response patterns, especially the latter one, were evident in both group data and in individual records.