title: A dissociation between detection and identification of phobic stimuli: unconscious perception?
abstract: A psychophysical paradigm for investigating unconscious perception was used to test the hypothesis of dissociation between detection and identification of phobic stimuli. Spider-phobic and non-phobic participants were presented with masked images of spiders and flowers and an equal number of control stimuli in a random sequence. After each masked stimulus was flashed, participants first reported whether or not an object was presented. Then they identified each stimulus as either a spider or a flower, regardless of their prior detection response. Phobic participants identified both detected and undetected spiders better than chance, as assessed by two measures of response bias. They did not exhibit dissociation between detection and identification for flowers. Non-phobic participants did not exhibit detection-identification dissociation for either spiders or flowers. These results are consistent with the interpretation that phobic individuals unconsciously perceive their feared stimulus, and constitute the first direct demonstration of such for emotional stimuli.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Psychology , SUNY/Westchester and Purchase College , Westchester , NY , USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Siegel
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology; D014796:Visual Perception