Forever yuck: Oculomotor avoidance of disgusting stimuli resists habituation.

ABSTRACT: Disgust is an adaptation forged under the selective pressure of pathogens. Yet disgust may cause problems in contemporary societies because of its propensity for "false positives" and resistance to corrective information. Here, we investigate whether disgust, as revealed by oculomotor avoidance, might be reduced through the noncognitive process of habituation. In each of three experiments, we repeatedly exposed participants to the same pair of images, one disgusting and one neutral, and recorded gaze. Experiment 1 (N = 104) found no decline in oculomotor avoidance of the disgusting image after 24 prolonged exposures. Experiment 2 (N = 99) replicated this effect and demonstrated its uniqueness to disgust. In Experiment 3 (N = 93), we provided a gaze-contingent reward to

SUBMITTER: Dalmaijer ES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7613016 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature