Modulation of the startle response in verbal aggressors: differences among stimuli with distinct affective social content

ABSTRACT

The emotional response to socially affective stimuli is an important variable to understand aggression. Research is lacking on the psychophysiological basis of verbal aggressiveness that would allow the identification of these emotional responses. The aim of the present study was to investigate modulation of the startle response in verbal aggressors during the presentation of visual stimuli with different affective social content. Acoustic startle probes were administered to 29 verbal aggressors and 28 non-verbal aggressors while viewing slides from the International Affective Picture System, which contains sexual, filial, neutral, unpleasant, and suffering of others pictures. Verbal aggressors showed a low startle response to sexual pictures compared with non-verbal aggressors and a potentiated startle response to neutral pictures compared with unpleasant, filial, and suffering of others pictures. These differences were observed among women. Based on previous studies, the present results may be explained by high testosterone levels, low cortisol levels, and moral disengagement exhibited by verbally aggressive women...