Affective Habituation and Distancing in Paramedics: Prior Experience Matters

What is it about?

In their daily work, paramedics are often exposed to situations that can elicit strong emotions. In this study, we compared the emotional responses of paramedics and individuals without medical experience. To do this, we used a method in which emotionally evocative pictures are repeatedly presented for a very short time. We were able to show that paramedics reacted less intensely to emergency-related pictures that elicited disgust and sadness and habituated more strongly to these stimuli than individuals who are not regularly confronted with emergency situations. However, both groups were equally able to distance themselves from the pictures shown. Although habituation has often been described in previous research as a simple learning mechanism, our findings suggest that habituation appears to be more complex than previously assumed, as experience with similar situations seems to play a central role in the habituation process.

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Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash

Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study suggests that experience with an emotional situation plays a relevant role in habituation to similar situations. This finding has important implications for the understanding of emotional processing of paramedics.