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Can you read my pokerface? A study on sex differences in dentophobia

Men and women with dentophobia differ in specific fear contents and underlying brain activity during symptom provocation. Possible sex differences concerning other basic emotions, such as disgust, have undergone minimal investigation. Therefore, we recorded the facial electromyogram from the musculu...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Leutgeb, Verena, Übel, Sonja, Schienle, Anne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3786531/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24028595
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eos.12079
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author Leutgeb, Verena
Übel, Sonja
Schienle, Anne
author_facet Leutgeb, Verena
Übel, Sonja
Schienle, Anne
author_sort Leutgeb, Verena
collection PubMed
description Men and women with dentophobia differ in specific fear contents and underlying brain activity during symptom provocation. Possible sex differences concerning other basic emotions, such as disgust, have undergone minimal investigation. Therefore, we recorded the facial electromyogram from the musculus levator labii (as a specific disgust indicator) and the heart rate of 36 individuals with dentophobia (18 women and 18 men with comparable disorder severity) and of 36 non-phobic controls (18 women and 18 men). The participants were asked to look at pictures showing dental treatment scenes, generally fear- and disgust-inducing, as well as pictures with neutral contents. Subsequently they performed an affective picture rating. Independently of sex, phobic subjects relative to controls showed heart-rate acceleration when watching pictures of dental treatment scenes, reflecting a fear reaction. Male and female phobic subjects did not differ in their verbal reports of fear and disgust experienced. However, phobic women showed enhanced disgust-related facial electromyographic activity to dental treatment scenes relative to men. This sex-specific response pattern points to the greater relevance of disgust for the female symptomatology of dentophobia, or it might also be possible that male patients more successfully inhibit disgust reactions during confrontation.
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spelling pubmed-37865312013-10-04 Can you read my pokerface? A study on sex differences in dentophobia Leutgeb, Verena Übel, Sonja Schienle, Anne Eur J Oral Sci Original Articles Men and women with dentophobia differ in specific fear contents and underlying brain activity during symptom provocation. Possible sex differences concerning other basic emotions, such as disgust, have undergone minimal investigation. Therefore, we recorded the facial electromyogram from the musculus levator labii (as a specific disgust indicator) and the heart rate of 36 individuals with dentophobia (18 women and 18 men with comparable disorder severity) and of 36 non-phobic controls (18 women and 18 men). The participants were asked to look at pictures showing dental treatment scenes, generally fear- and disgust-inducing, as well as pictures with neutral contents. Subsequently they performed an affective picture rating. Independently of sex, phobic subjects relative to controls showed heart-rate acceleration when watching pictures of dental treatment scenes, reflecting a fear reaction. Male and female phobic subjects did not differ in their verbal reports of fear and disgust experienced. However, phobic women showed enhanced disgust-related facial electromyographic activity to dental treatment scenes relative to men. This sex-specific response pattern points to the greater relevance of disgust for the female symptomatology of dentophobia, or it might also be possible that male patients more successfully inhibit disgust reactions during confrontation. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013-10 2013-09-12 /pmc/articles/PMC3786531/ /pubmed/24028595 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eos.12079 Text en Copyright © 2013 European Journal of Oral Sciences http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Leutgeb, Verena
Übel, Sonja
Schienle, Anne
Can you read my pokerface? A study on sex differences in dentophobia
title Can you read my pokerface? A study on sex differences in dentophobia
title_full Can you read my pokerface? A study on sex differences in dentophobia
title_fullStr Can you read my pokerface? A study on sex differences in dentophobia
title_full_unstemmed Can you read my pokerface? A study on sex differences in dentophobia
title_short Can you read my pokerface? A study on sex differences in dentophobia
title_sort can you read my pokerface? a study on sex differences in dentophobia
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3786531/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24028595
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eos.12079
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