Spider vs. guns: expectancy and attention biases to phylogenetic threat do not extend to ontogenetic threat.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Attention bias plays an important role in specific fears and phobias. Previous studies revealed that a-priori expectancies affect attention toward neutral stimuli but not threatening stimuli. The aim of the current study was to test whether this selective influence of expectancies on attention is specific to phylogenetic threat (i.e., spiders) or whether it can be generalized to ontogenetic threat (i.e., guns). Correspondingly, we directly compared expectancy effects on attentional allocation to phylogenetically vs. ontogenetically threatening stimuli.

Method

Expectancies were manipulated by presenting a cue indicating the likelihood of the appearance of a deviant picture in a visual search array. The array included eight distractors and one neutral (phon

SUBMITTER: Abado E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10498540 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature