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Are Coarse Scales Sufficient for Fast Detection of Visual Threat?

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Title: Are Coarse Scales Sufficient for Fast Detection of Visual Threat?
Authors: Mermillod, Martial, Droit-Volet, Sylvie, Devaux, Damien, Schaefer, Alexandre, Vermeulen, Nicolas
Source: Psychological Science (0956-7976). Oct2010, Vol. 21 Issue 10, p1429-1437. 9p.
Subjects: Fear, Sensory perception, Amygdaloid body, Human behavior, Threat (Psychology), Aversive stimuli, Conditioned response
Abstract: It has recently been suggested that low-spatial-frequency information would provide rapid visual cues to the amygdala for basic but ultrarapid behavioral responses to dangerous stimuli. The present behavioral study investigated the role of different spatial-frequency channels in visually detecting dangerous stimuli belonging to living or nonliving categories. Subjects were engaged in a visual detection task involving dangerous stimuli, and subjects’ behavioral responses were assessed in association with their fear expectations (induced by an aversive 90-dB white noise). Our results showed that, despite its crudeness, low-spatial-frequency information could constitute a sufficient signal for fast recognition of visual danger in a context of fear expectation. In addition, we found that this effect tended to be specific for living entities. These results were obtained despite a strong perceptual bias toward faster recognition of high-spatial-frequency stimuli under supraliminal perception durations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
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Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
Description
Abstract:It has recently been suggested that low-spatial-frequency information would provide rapid visual cues to the amygdala for basic but ultrarapid behavioral responses to dangerous stimuli. The present behavioral study investigated the role of different spatial-frequency channels in visually detecting dangerous stimuli belonging to living or nonliving categories. Subjects were engaged in a visual detection task involving dangerous stimuli, and subjects’ behavioral responses were assessed in association with their fear expectations (induced by an aversive 90-dB white noise). Our results showed that, despite its crudeness, low-spatial-frequency information could constitute a sufficient signal for fast recognition of visual danger in a context of fear expectation. In addition, we found that this effect tended to be specific for living entities. These results were obtained despite a strong perceptual bias toward faster recognition of high-spatial-frequency stimuli under supraliminal perception durations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
ISSN:09567976
DOI:10.1177/0956797610381503