Physiological threat sensitivity predicts anti-immigrant attitudes

Research finds that the perception that immigrants are culturally and economically threatening is associated with negative attitudes toward immigration. In a largely separate body of work, psychophysiological predispositions toward threat sensitivity are connected to a range of political attitudes, including immigration. This article draws together these two literatures, using a lab experiment to explore psychophysiological threat sensitivity and immigration attitudes in the United States. Respondents with higher threat sensitivity, as measured by skin conductance responses to threatening images, tend to be less supportive of immigration. This finding builds on our understanding of the sources of anti-immigrant attitudes.

Hippocampal Threat Reactivity Interacts with Physiological Arousal to Predict PTSD Symptoms

Prior studies highlight how threat-related arousal may impair hippocampal function. Hippocampal impairments are reliably associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, little research has characterized how increased threat-sensitivity may drive arousal responses to alter hippocampal reactivity, and further how these alterations relate to the sequelae of trauma-related symptoms. In a sample of individuals recently exposed to trauma (N=117, 76 Female), we found that PTSD symptoms at 2-weeks and 3-months were associated with decreased hippocampal responses to threat as assessed with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Further, decreased hippocampal threat sensitivity was predicted by individual differences in fear-potentiated startle, an arousal-mediated behavior. Critically, the relationship between hippocampal threat sensitivity and PTSD symptomology only emerged in individuals who showed high threat-related arousal. Collectively, our finding suggests that development of PTSD is associated with threat-related decreases in hippocampal function, due to increases in fear-potentiated arousal.

Pain processing and antisocial behavior: A multi-modal investigation of the roles of threat sensitivity and affiliative capacity

Antisocial behavior has been linked to an increased tolerance of painful stimuli; however, there is evidence that pain behavior is multi-determined. The current study used pain measures from three different modalities (pain tolerance, pain ratings, electrocortical reactivity) and assessed threat sensitivity and affiliative capacity to clarify the basis of associations between pain processing and antisocial behavior. Low threat sensitivity was significantly associated with blunted early neural response to painful and nonpainful stimuli as well as increased pain tolerance. Low affiliative capacity was associated with blunted elaborative processing of painful images, lower ratings of perceived pain for self and others, and increased pain tolerance. Affiliative capacity also accounted for variance shared between pain processing and antisocial behavior. Findings demonstrate that threat sensitivity and affiliative capacity contribute to pain processing in different ways and suggest that low affiliative capacity may uniquely account for the association between blunted pain processing and antisocial behavior.

Follow your heart? Examining heart rate variability as a predictor of neural reactivity to social rejection - A network approach to individual differences in social threat sensitivity

Frontal midline (FM) theta (4–8 Hz) reactivity to unexpected social rejection seems to be an important correlate of a neural threat-detection system. Neurovisceral integration theory proposes that the functioning of such systems is indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). Here, we tested this by examining whether baseline HRV predicts FM-theta reactivity to unexpected rejection feedback. Additionally, we examined whether this alleged heart-brain connection differs based on individual differences in personality and behavioral constructs relevant to social threat sensitivity. Female undergraduates (n = 149; mean age = 19.7 years) performed the social-judgment paradigm, where they communicated their expectations about being liked/disliked by unfamiliar peers who had allegedly evaluated them, and received peer-feedback indicating social acceptance/rejection. We used community structure analysis to subtract subgroups, based on self-esteem, social feedback expectations, and response speed of providing expectations. Results provided evidence of two distinct subgroups: optimistic vs. pessimistic in light of social threat. Baseline HRV did not predict FM-theta reactivity to unexpected rejection, and this relationship was not modulated by the subgroups. Both subgroups showed a significant FM-theta power increase following unexpected rejection. Additionally, the optimistic subgroup was uniquely characterized by a FM-theta power increase following rejection (as against acceptance) feedback. Supporting prior studies, our results suggest that enhanced FM-theta signals the need for cognitive control when faced with unexpected outcomes, and extend this by suggesting that differences in social threat sensitivity may determine whether an outcome is deemed meaningful enough to signal the need for cognitive control.