Effects of unpleasant emotional exposure on the state anxiety and heart rate in healthy women: a pilot study

Ricardo Borges Viana,Wellington Fernando Da Silva,Naiane Silva Morais,Thalles Guilarducci Costa,Lucas Carrara Do Amaral,Claudio Andre Barbosa De Lira,Douglas Assis Teles Santos

doi:10.33448/rsd-v10i16.24153

Abstract

Considering that exposure to unpleasant pictures taken from the International Affective Pictures System (IAPS) has a more significant impact on anxiety than exposure to pleasant and neutral pictures, we investigated changes in state anxiety levels and heart rate responses in healthy women following exposure to three blocks of unpleasant pictures from the IAPS. Thirty-seven healthy women visited the lab three times, separated by a gap of 24–72 hours. Anxiety levels were assessed using the State Anxiety Inventory before and after participants viewed the blocks of unpleasant IAPS pictures, while the heart rate was continuously monitored throughout each session by a heart rate monitor. We found extreme evidence (BF10 = 7.53*108) for the changes in the participants’ state anxiety after viewing IAPS unpleasant pictures, although there was ambiguous evidence (BF01 = 2.642) favoring similar changes in state anxiety and ratings of pleasure (BF01 = 1.567), arousal (BF01 = 2.609), and dominance (BF01 = 1.954) between the three blocks of unpleasant pictures used. Moreover, we found moderate evidence (BF01 = 7.449) favoring similar mean heart rates between the three blocks of unpleasant pictures. These findings reveal that exposure to unpleasant pictures can act as an anxiogenic stimulus used to induce experimental anxiety.

Highlights

Anxiety is one of the most frequent psychiatric conditions (Bandelow & Michaelis, 2015; Mondin et al, 2013)defined as apprehension, tension, or uneasiness from the anticipation of danger (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
The results revealed that caffeine consumption did not influence the amplitude of the soleus H-reflex but did increase state anxiety
Block of unpleasant pictures), the BF10 indicates that the state anxiety level data are 7.53*108 times more likely under the model that includes only time as the predictor, compared to the null model

Summary

Introduction

Anxiety is one of the most frequent psychiatric conditions (Bandelow & Michaelis, 2015; Mondin et al, 2013)defined as apprehension, tension, or uneasiness from the anticipation of danger (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). An increase in anxiety levels can be induced experimentally using various methods (Charney et al, 1984; Motl & Dishman, 2004; Smith, 2013; Smith et al, 2005; Youngstedt et al, 1998). Caffeine ingestion has been demonstrated to be effective in increasing anxiety levels (Charney et al, 1984; Motl & Dishman, 2004; Youngstedt et al, 1998). In a seminal study, Charney et al (1984) examined the mechanism of action of behavioral reactions to caffeine and how such effects are related to caffeine’s ability to produce anxiety in healthy individuals. In another study, Motl and Dishman (2004) investigated the effects of a moderate-intensity cycling exercise on the soleus H-reflex and state anxiety in healthy individuals by experimentally manipulating anxiety via the consumption of a large dose of caffeine

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