Conscious and preconscious selective attention to social threat: differentneuroendocrine response patterns

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between selective a ttention to social threat and neuroendocrine activity. Selective attention to social threat was measured using a supraliminal (unmasked) and a sublimi nal (masked) version of a pictorial emotional Stroop task, comparing color- naming latencies of neutral and angry faces. Neuroendocrine activity was as sessed as (pre-task to post-task) increases in salivary cortisol and testos terone. Forty subjects were randomly assigned to the unmasked or masked ver sion of the task. Analyses for the unmasked task revealed that post-task co rtisol levels were significantly increased in subjects showing selective at tention to angry faces. Results for the masked task indicated that post-tas k cortisol and testosterone levels were significantly increased in subjects showing preconscious selective attention to angry faces. The difference in neuroendocrine activity between tasks is suggested to depend on cortical ( i.e. prefrontal) control in the unmasked task. Thus, psychological affectiv e regulatory processes were involved in the unmasked task, whereas the neur oendocrine response patterns in the masked task indicates a biologically pr epared mechanism. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.