In the grip of fear: dissociations in attentional processing of animal fearful individuals.
Using a modified attention paradigm we investigated specific attentional mechanisms in processing animal feared stimuli. In this paradigm arrays of four pictures were displayed and after its disappearance from view a probe (a letter, X or P) then followed unpredictably in the location of one of the four pictures. The results showed that discriminations of probes tended to be impeded by spider stimuli, compared to snake stimuli. This effect was potentiated by high anxiety but only for those individuals fearful of spiders, since no such effect was observed for snake fearful individuals. Moreover, the discrimination of the probes was not facilitated when presented after the feared stimuli. The implications of these findings are discussed as a function of the cognitive bias involved in specific fear.
Department of Education, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Research in Light and Image, University of Coimbra, Portugal; Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Portugal.
Sandra C
SC
Soares
Francisco
F
Esteves
Daniel
D
Lundqvist
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012911:Snakes; D013112:Spiders; D055815:Young Adult
Attentional capture; choice reaction time task; snake fear; spider fear