Sensation Seeking and Scary Movies: Neural Correlates

Straube, Preissler, Lipka, Hewig, Mentzel, and Miltner (2010) studied the neural correlates in participants while watching scary movies and its association with the personality trait sensation seeking. Patients underwent during this task fMRI. The fMRI findings showed that while watching threatening video clips as compared to neutral video clips, there was a strong activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, the insula, as well as in the visual regions of the brain. The finding of strong activation of the visual areas is suggestive of enhanced visual processing while watching the threatening video clips (Straube et al., 2010). There was a positive correlation found between experienced anxiety and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. It is suggested that this area might be implicated in the subjective experience of being afraid. Participants that scored high on sensation seeking exhibited large activation in the visual brain areas. In addition, there were also found large activations in sensation seekers in the right thalamus and the right anterior insula. Besides, in both of these areas the positive correlation that was found among high sensation seekers and the activity between threat and neutral vidio clips was related to smaller activity in high compared to low sensation seekers while they were watching the neutral video clips. It is argued that the finding of thalamus activation is indicative of high sensation seekers is coupled with activity in sub-cortical brain regions.  

In low scoring sensation seekers, higher activation in the insula while having less stimulation may give a danger signal and therefore diminishes the look for more challenge (Straube et al., 2010). The diminished activity in the insula in high sensation seekers may be below the just right homeostatic mean of interoceptive sensation in these subjects (Straube et al., 2010).