title: Expectancy influences on attention to threat are only weak and transient: Behavioral and physiological evidence.
abstract: Can prior expectancies shape attention to threat? To answer this question, we manipulated the expectancies of spider phobics and nonfearful controls regarding the appearance of spider and bird targets in a visual search task. We observed robust evidence for expectancy influences on attention to birds, reflected in error rates, reaction times, pupil diameter, and heart rate (HR). We found no solid effect, however, of the same expectancies on attention to spiders; only HR revealed a weak and transient impact of prior expectancies on the orientation of attention to threat. Moreover, these asymmetric effects for spiders versus birds were observed in both phobics and controls. Our results are thus consistent with the notion of a threat detection mechanism that is only partially permeable to current expectancies, thereby increasing chances of survival in situations that are mistakenly perceived as safe.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Switzerland; Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: tatjana.aue@psy.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aue
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
authors.forename: Léa A S
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Chauvigné
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Mirko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bristle
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Hadas
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okon-Singer
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Neuroscience, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Raphaël
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guex
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D000070379:Attentional Bias / Q000502:physiology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001717:Birds; D003463:Cues; D003469:Culture; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011336:Probability; D011603:Psychophysiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013112:Spiders; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attention bias; Biological preparedness; Combined cognitive biases hypothesis; Encounter expectancy bias; Fear module; Heart rate; Pupil diameter; Respiration rate; Spider phobia; Visual search