Some animal specific fears are more specific than others: evidence from attention and emotion measures

Sandra C. Soares; Francisco Esteves; Daniel Lundqvist; Arne Öhman

doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.07.022

Some animal specific fears are more specific than others: evidence from attention and emotion measures

Sandra C. Soares^*, Francisco Esteves, Daniel Lundqvist, Arne Öhman

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

60 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Using a visual search methodology we investigated the effect of feared animal stimuli on attention. Our results confirmed the important role of emotion on attention. All participants detected fear-relevant stimuli (snakes and spiders) faster than neutral (mushrooms) ones against a background of fruits. In addition, spider fearful participants were sensitized specifically to detect their feared stimulus (spiders), compared to their fear-relevant but non-feared (snakes) and neutral stimuli. However, for participants fearful of snakes there was no significant difference in detection latencies between the feared (snakes) and the fear-relevant but non-feared animal stimuli (spiders). The results from the attention task were mirrored in the emotional ratings, which showed that spider fear was highly specific, whereas snake fear was associated with a more generalized enhanced evaluation of all negative stimuli.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1032-1042
Number of pages	11
Journal	Behaviour Research and Therapy
Volume	47
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2009.07.022
Publication status	Published - Dec 2009
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Animal fear
Emotional ratings
Perceptual load
Visual search

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10.1016/j.brat.2009.07.022

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title = "Some animal specific fears are more specific than others: evidence from attention and emotion measures",

abstract = "Using a visual search methodology we investigated the effect of feared animal stimuli on attention. Our results confirmed the important role of emotion on attention. All participants detected fear-relevant stimuli (snakes and spiders) faster than neutral (mushrooms) ones against a background of fruits. In addition, spider fearful participants were sensitized specifically to detect their feared stimulus (spiders), compared to their fear-relevant but non-feared (snakes) and neutral stimuli. However, for participants fearful of snakes there was no significant difference in detection latencies between the feared (snakes) and the fear-relevant but non-feared animal stimuli (spiders). The results from the attention task were mirrored in the emotional ratings, which showed that spider fear was highly specific, whereas snake fear was associated with a more generalized enhanced evaluation of all negative stimuli.",

keywords = "Animal fear, Emotional ratings, Perceptual load, Visual search",

author = "Soares, \{Sandra C.\} and Francisco Esteves and Daniel Lundqvist and Arne {\"O}hman",

note = "Funding Information: Sandra Soares was supported by grant SFRH/19513/2004 from the Foundation of Science and Technology, from the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education to pursue her Ph.D studies at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. This grant was co-financed by The Operational Program of Science and Innovation 2010 and the European Social Funding. The research was supported by an award as a Leading Scientist to Arne {\"O}hman from the Swedish Research Council, and by a grant to Arne {\"O}hman as an investigator at the NIMH (P50 MH 72850), Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention (CSEA), University of Florida-Gainesville, USA. Copyright: Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2009",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1016/j.brat.2009.07.022",

language = "English",

volume = "47",

pages = "1032--1042",

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AU - Soares, Sandra C.

AU - Esteves, Francisco

AU - Lundqvist, Daniel

AU - Öhman, Arne

N1 - Funding Information: Sandra Soares was supported by grant SFRH/19513/2004 from the Foundation of Science and Technology, from the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education to pursue her Ph.D studies at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. This grant was co-financed by The Operational Program of Science and Innovation 2010 and the European Social Funding. The research was supported by an award as a Leading Scientist to Arne Öhman from the Swedish Research Council, and by a grant to Arne Öhman as an investigator at the NIMH (P50 MH 72850), Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention (CSEA), University of Florida-Gainesville, USA. Copyright: Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2009/12

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N2 - Using a visual search methodology we investigated the effect of feared animal stimuli on attention. Our results confirmed the important role of emotion on attention. All participants detected fear-relevant stimuli (snakes and spiders) faster than neutral (mushrooms) ones against a background of fruits. In addition, spider fearful participants were sensitized specifically to detect their feared stimulus (spiders), compared to their fear-relevant but non-feared (snakes) and neutral stimuli. However, for participants fearful of snakes there was no significant difference in detection latencies between the feared (snakes) and the fear-relevant but non-feared animal stimuli (spiders). The results from the attention task were mirrored in the emotional ratings, which showed that spider fear was highly specific, whereas snake fear was associated with a more generalized enhanced evaluation of all negative stimuli.

AB - Using a visual search methodology we investigated the effect of feared animal stimuli on attention. Our results confirmed the important role of emotion on attention. All participants detected fear-relevant stimuli (snakes and spiders) faster than neutral (mushrooms) ones against a background of fruits. In addition, spider fearful participants were sensitized specifically to detect their feared stimulus (spiders), compared to their fear-relevant but non-feared (snakes) and neutral stimuli. However, for participants fearful of snakes there was no significant difference in detection latencies between the feared (snakes) and the fear-relevant but non-feared animal stimuli (spiders). The results from the attention task were mirrored in the emotional ratings, which showed that spider fear was highly specific, whereas snake fear was associated with a more generalized enhanced evaluation of all negative stimuli.

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KW - Emotional ratings

KW - Perceptual load

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M3 - Article

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JO - Behaviour Research and Therapy

JF - Behaviour Research and Therapy

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ER -

Some animal specific fears are more specific than others: evidence from attention and emotion measures

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Keywords

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