ArticleScientific reports2025
Early changes in corticospinal excitability for subliminally presented fearful body postures.
Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Stronger Activation of the Right Primary Motor Cortex in the Early Processing Stage of Negative Emotional Scenes Stimulation.Depression and anxiety · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Fearful body expressions convey critical information that is rapidly and preferentially processed, facilitating swift motor reactions to potential dangers. Consistent evidence has shown that even the subliminal presentation of fear-related expressions can impact visual processing and autonomic responses, increasing sensory vigilance for monitoring potential threats. However, it remains unclear whether the presentation of non-visible emotional bodies modulates corticospinal excitability (CSE) in the observer. To investigate this, we asked 22 healthy participants to perform a sex discrimination task involving neutral target body postures, preceded by the brief subliminal presentation of fearful, happy, or neutral body postures. CSE was tested using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) at early time points (70, 90, and 110 ms) after target stimulus onset. Results showed a significant CSE reduction in the dominant hemisphere for subliminal fearful primes compared to happy and neutral primes. This CSE suppression was independent of the time of stimulation, participants' subjective or objective awareness, metacognitive sensitivity, or personality traits. Our findings highlight an early automatic activation of the motor system in response to subliminal fearful stimuli, supporting the view that fearful expressions, even when not consciously perceived, activate basic survival mechanisms for monitoring and preparing fast motor responses to potential threats.
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