title: The Hidden Snake in the Grass: Superior Detection of Snakes in Challenging Attentional Conditions.
abstract: Snakes have provided a serious threat to primates throughout evolution. Furthermore, bites by venomous snakes still cause significant morbidity and mortality in tropical regions of the world. According to the Snake Detection Theory (SDT Isbell, 2006; 2009), the vital need to detect camouflaged snakes provided strong evolutionary pressure to develop astute perceptual capacity in animals that were potential targets for snake attacks. We performed a series of behavioral tests that assessed snake detection under conditions that may have been critical for survival. We used spiders as the control stimulus because they are also a common object of phobias and rated negatively by the general population, thus commonly lumped together with snakes as "evolutionary fear-relevant". Across four experiments (N = 205) we demonstrate an advantage in snake detection, which was particularly obvious under visual conditions known to impede detection of a wide array of common stimuli, for example brief stimulus exposures, stimuli presentation in the visual periphery, and stimuli camouflaged in a cluttered environment. Our results demonstrate a striking independence of snake detection from ecological factors that impede the detection of other stimuli, which suggests that, consistent with the SDT, they reflect a specific biological adaptation. Nonetheless, the empirical tests we report are limited to only one aspect of this rich theory, which integrates findings across a wide array of scientific disciplines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; IBILI - Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Sandra C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lindström
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Esteves
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D012911:Snakes; D014794:Visual Fields; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult