Habituation to complex emotional stimuli.

On each of three sessions, 5s viewed 20 presentations of an isolated accident (experimental group) or a benign (control group) motion picture scene. At the end of each session, 5s also saw the complete movie from which these scenes were taken. Skin conductance, self-reported distress, and, to a lesser extent, heart rate showed considerable carry-over of habituation from the accident scene viewed in isolation to the same scene embedded in the complete movie; there was however, very little generalization of habituation to other, similar accident scenes in the same movie. Also of interest is the fact that the heart rate response to the isolated accident scene was primarily deceleration, while cardiac acceleration was the primary response when the accident scene was viewed in the context of the complete film. The implication of these results for analogue studies of desensitization therapy is discussed.