Anxiety induced by 2 types of predictable and unpredictable aversive stimuli, an unpleasant shock or a less aversive airblast to the larynx, were investigated in a between-group design. Participants anticipated predictable (signaled) or unpredictable (not signaled) aversive events, or no aversive event. Unpredictable, relative to predictable, contexts potentiated the startle reflex in the shock group but not in the airblast group. These data suggest that unpredictability can lead to a sustained level of anxiety only when the pending stimulus is sufficiently aversive. Because predictable and unpredictable danger may induce different types of aversive responses, the proposed design can serve as a useful tool for studying the neurobiology and psychopharmacology of fear and anxiety.

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We develop an image-driven approach to the question of what makes the shape of a woman's body attractive. We constructed a set of 625 images of female bodies by factorially recombining four independent descriptors of shape derived from a principal components analysis of the variation in natural body shape, and had observers rate these images for attractiveness. We then modelled observers' attractiveness ratings with polynomial multiple regression, using the same shape descriptors as explanatory variables. The resulting model agrees well with existing models based on simple anthropometric indices of shape; however, some interesting new findings emerge. There was considerable variation in the shape of bodies that were judged to be equally attractive. Further experiments confirmed that observers could detect these subtle variations in shape suggesting a dissociation between attractiveness judgement and shape discrimination.What makes a woman's body shape attractive? So far, the majority of attempts to answer this question have focused on exploring the impact of variation in a few simple anthropometric measures of body shape on

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