Citation

Hoehl S, Hellmer K, Johansson M, Gredebäck G. Front. Psychol. 2017; 8: e1710.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Frontiers Research Foundation)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01710

PMID

29093687

PMCID

PMC5651927

Abstract

Attention biases have been reported for ancestral threats like spiders and snakes in infants, children, and adults. However, it is currently unclear whether these stimuli induce increased physiological arousal in infants. Here, 6-month-old infants were presented with pictures of spiders and flowers (Study 1, within-subjects), or snakes and fish (Study 1, within-subjects; Study 2, between-subjects). Infants' pupillary responses linked to activation of the noradrenergic system were measured. Infants reacted with increased pupillary dilation indicating arousal to spiders and snakes compared with flowers and fish.

RESULTS support the notion of an evolved preparedness for developing fear of these ancestral threats.

Language: en

Keywords

arousal; evolution; fear; infants; pupillary dilation