title: Perceptual defense, a replication.
abstract: McGinnies ' (1949) study on perceptual defense was replicated. No significant results were noted for galvanic skin responses. Threshold differences were significant; taboo words had higher thresholds than neutral words. Possibly "emotionality" and "threat" may require separate operational definitions if the effect, "perceptual defense," is to be clearly demonstrated.
mesh_terms: D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D012660:Semantics