Physiological Responses of Anxious and Normal Subjects to Simple Signal and Non-Signal Auditory Stimuli

In an attempt to assess orienting (OR) and defensive responses (DR) of anxious and normal Ss, heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) changes were measured in response to three intensities of signal and non-signal tones. Anxious Ss significantly differed from normal Ss in the number of spontaneous SC responses emitted, but did not differ in either magnitude or rate of habituation of SC responses to the tones. An analysis of second-by-second changes in HR suggested that, relative to normal Ss, anxious Ss show a deficit in OR and a greater tendency to respond with a pattern characteristic of a DR. This difference was particularly apparent under signal conditions.