A Method to Induce Sustained Anxiety Using Aversive Sounds: Validation of the ‘Threat of Screams’ Paradigm

Inducing long-lasting anxiety during laboratory experiments represents a methodological challenge. Here, we used aversive human screams to induce anxiety in participants. Our ‘Threat of Scream’ paradigm was tested on 109 participants. Physiological and subjective responses confirmed the efficiency of this paradigm, a paradigm which does not require dedicated laboratory equipment.