When danger lurks in the background: attentional capture by animal fear-relevant distractors is specific and selectively enhanced by animal fear |
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Authors: | Lipp Ottmar V Waters Allison M |
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Institution: | School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia. o.lipp@psy.uq.edu.au |
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Abstract: | Across 2 experiments, a new experimental procedure was used to investigate attentional capture by animal fear-relevant stimuli. In Experiment 1 (N=34), unselected participants were slower to detect a neutral target animal in the presence of a spider than a cockroach distractor and in the presence of a snake than a large lizard distractor. This result confirms that phylogenetically fear-relevant animals capture attention specifically and to a larger extent than do non-fear-relevant animals. In Experiment 2 (N=86), detection of a neutral target animal was slowed more in the presence of a feared fear-relevant distractor (e.g., a snake for snake-fearful participants) than in presence of a not-feared fear-relevant distractor (e.g., a spider for snake-fearful participants). These results indicate preferential attentional capture that is specific to phylogenetically fear-relevant stimuli and is selectively enhanced in individuals who fear these animals. |
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