Citation

Soares SC, Esteves FG, Lundqvist D. Scand. J. Psychol. 2015; 56(1): 11-17.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Scandinavian Psychological Associations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/sjop.12179

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Using a modified attention paradigm we investigated specific attentional mechanisms in processing animal feared stimuli. In this paradigm arrays of four pictures were displayed and after its disappearance from view a probe (a letter, X or P) then followed unpredictably in the location of one of the four pictures. The results showed that discriminations of probes tended to be impeded by spider stimuli, compared to snake stimuli. This effect was potentiated by high anxiety but only for those individuals fearful of spiders, since no such effect was observed for snake fearful individuals. Moreover, the discrimination of the probes was not facilitated when presented after the feared stimuli. The implications of these findings are discussed as a function of the cognitive bias involved in specific fear.

Language: en