Startle response potentiation to chemosensory anxiety signals in socially anxious individuals

The present study aimed to investigate whether withdrawal related behavior is activated in the context of chemosensory anxiety signals. Moreover, it was examined whether chemosensory perception of social stress is modulated by the degree of social anxiety. Axillary sweat was collected from students, awaiting an oral examination at the university (anxiety condition) and from the same students in a sport control condition. The chemosensory stimuli were presented to 32 participants (16 socially anxious) via an olfactometer during inhalation (duration = 3 s). 102 dB white noise bursts served as startle probes. During a single session only male or female axillary sweat was presented, therefore, all participants were tested in two separate sessions. Even though the chemosensory stimuli were perceived at the perceptual threshold level, participants could identify (forced choice) the emotion of the donors in the anxiety condition. In the context of chemosensory anxiety signals the acoustic startle reflex was significantly augmented as compared to startle responses obtained in the context of sport sweat (p = 0.002). This effect was more pronounced in socially anxious than in non-anxious participants. It is concluded that human motor systems automatically adapt to chemosensory stress signals. This adaptation is neither dependent on the gender of the odor donor nor on the gender of the perceiver, but is intensified in socially anxious participants.