Greater sustained anxiety but not phasic fear in women compared to men.
Open accessAbstract
Startle reflex studies in rodents indicate that female are more reactive than rats in experimental models of sustained anxiety but not in models of phasic fear (Toufexis, 2007). This study examined evidence for a similar effect in humans. Participants were exposed to three conditions, (1) predictable aversive shocks signaled by a cue, (2) unpredictable shocks, and (3) no shocks. Acoustic startle stimuli were delivered regularly across conditions. Phasic startle potential to the threat cue in the predictable condition was not affected by sex. In contrast, and consistent with basic research, the sustained increase in startle in the predictable and unpredictable conditions was greater in women compared to men. Animal studies suggest that such an effect may be mediated by the effects of sexual dimorphism in limbic structures, including the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. However, psychosocial factors may also contribute to this effect.
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Men and women have similar fear-potentiated startle to a threat cue, but women show greater sustained anxiety to unpredictable shocks.
“Men and women do not differ in their fear-potentiated startle to a threat cue, but women show enhanced sustained anxiety to unpredictable shocks (Grillon, 2008).”
From Phasic vs Sustained Fear in Rats and Humans: Role of the Extended Amygdala in Fear vs Anxiety (2010) · cites this paper as Grillon, 2008
Cites
Anxious Responses to Predictable and Unpredictable Aversive Events.
Grillon, C., Baas, J. P., Lissek, S., Smith, K., & Milstein, J. (2004) · Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.1037/0735-7044.118.5.916 · Cited by 349 · see citing works
Self-citationSex difference in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis of the human brain
Allen, L. S., & Gorski, R. A. (1990) · Journal of Comparative Neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.903020402 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Unpredictable and uncontrollable events: A new perspective on experimental neurosis.
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Baseline and fear-potentiated startle in panic disorder patients
Grillon, C., Ameli, R., Goddard, A., Woods, S. W., & Davis, M. (1994) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/0006-3223(94)90040-x · Cited by 212 · see citing works
Self-citationGrillon, C., Levenson, J., & Pine, D. S. (2007) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1301204 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Self-citationFear-potentiated startle and posttraumatic stress symptoms in urban police officers
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Phasic vs Sustained Fear in Rats and Humans: Role of the Extended Amygdala in Fear vs Anxiety
Davis, M., Walker, D. L., Miles, L., & Grillon, C. (2010) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2009.109 · Cited by 1,488 · see citing works
Self-citationPost‐traumatic stress disorder: a state‐of‐the‐art review of evidence and challenges
Bryant, R. A. (2019) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.20656 · Cited by 528 · see citing works
Models and mechanisms of anxiety: evidence from startle studies
Grillon, C. (2008) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-007-1019-1 · Cited by 456 · see citing works
Self-citationSchmitz, A., & Grillon, C. (2012) · Nature Protocols · doi:10.1038/nprot.2012.001 · Cited by 383 · see citing works
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Self-citationDoes intolerance of uncertainty predict anticipatory startle responses to uncertain threat?
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If or when? Uncertainty's role in anxious anticipation
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Effects of predictability of shock timing and intensity on aversive responses
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- Authors
- Grillon, C.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Grillon, Christian
- ORCID
- Grillon, Christian
- Venue
- Emotion
- Published
- 2008
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 410-413
- ISSN
- 1528-3542 (ISSN-L)
- 1931-1516
- PMC
- PMC2669676
- OpenAlex
- W2033156846
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 2.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Emotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health (Z01MH002798)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- sex differences, acoustic startle response, startle potentiation, threat cues, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, psychosocial factors
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Sex Factors, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
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