46 males were administered the IPAT Anxiety Scale and the obtained sten scores were correlated with the number of neutral auditory stimuli required to reach habituation. Habituation was defined by the absence of digital vasoconstriction (a component of the orientation reaction) to the stimuli. The Spearman rho was .788. The results were interpreted in terms of activation theory and the hypothesis was forwarded that the high arousal level of the anxious S interferes with the recording of the properties of the stimulus and thus subsequent identical stimuli are perceived as being novel.
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