This study will examine the effects of social support on threat vigilance and arousal using eye tracking. We will also test the moderating effects of trauma and discrimination history.
In a stable romantic relationship for 6 months or more
Normal vision or corrected-to-normal vision
Fluent in English
If vision is corrected-to-normal, needs to use hard contact lenses, bifocal contact lenses, or glasses
Experienced a traumatic event within the past 4 weeks
Crossover
social support
Behavioralsocial support is provided in the form of social touch (hand holding)
Vigilance Related Eye Movements - Number of Eye Fixations
Participants will view 15 pictures of natural environmental scenes for 10 seconds per image. We will use an eye tracker to examine the number of eye fixations per scene. A greater number of fixations during the 10 second presentation of a scene would indicate greater vigilance.
Vigilance Related Eye Movements - Visual Scanning
Participants will view 15 pictures of natural environmental scenes for 10 seconds per image. We will use an eye tracker to examine the proportion of the scene that they look at (fixate on) out of approximately 80 possible sectors. A greater proportion of the scene they fixate on would indicate greater vigilance.
Threat-Related Physiological Arousal - Pupil Dilation
Participants will view a series of visual cues (either an 'X' or an 'O') where an 'X' signals a possible (20% probability) aversive auditory stimulus (human scream). We will examine pupil dilation during the task in order to measure arousal in response to uncertain threat. We will calculate average pupil dilation during the wait period after threat cues (X) and after safety cues (O). We will subtract average pupil dilation after safety cues from threat cues to create an index of threat-related arousal. Greater pupil dilation (for threat minus safety cues) would indicate greater threat-related arousal.
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