 |
| Research article summary (published 30 Dec 2001): |
Fear, disgust, and information processing in specific phobia: the application of signal detection theory.
Full Abstract
A growing body of research suggests that individuals with small animal and blood-injection-injury (BII) phobias respond to phobia-relevant stimuli with a combination of fear and disgust. Despite the recognition that disgust may serve a functional role in phobic avoidance behavior, little is known about biased information processing for disgust-related material. Two studies examined recognition memory, using signal detection analyses, for phobia-relevant and general disgust pictures. Study I failed to find differences between spider phobics, BII phobics, and nonphobics in discrimination ability (d') and response bias (c) for spider, surgical, and two categories of general disgust pictures. Results indicated that all participants responded in a liberal manner toward surgical and disgust pictures, whereas they responded more conservatively when judging spider pictures. Study 2 also failed to find differences between BII phobics and nonphobics in discrimination ability and response bias for surgical and disgust pictures presented at 500 and 50 ms exposure durations. All participants again adopted a liberal response bias toward surgical and disgust pictures, although only under the 500 ms stimulus presentation condition. These results do not suggest the presence of preferential information processing of phobia-relevant or general disgust elicitors among phobic participants. The functional value of disgust-mediated information processing biases is questioned given the available literature. Implications and suggestions for continued information processing research for fearful and disgusting stimuli in specific phobia are outlined.
Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills
Author information
Author/s: Sawchuk, Craig N (CN); Meunier, Suzanne A (SA); Lohr, Jeffrey M (JM); Westendorf, David H (DH);
Affiliation: University of Washington, School of Medicine, Seattle, USA. sawchuck(-atsign-)u.washington.edu
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article
Journal: Journal of anxiety disorders (J Anxiety Disord), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2002-; vol 16 (issue 5) : pp 495-510
Dates: Created 2002/10/24; Completed 2003/03/04; Revised 2004/11/17;
PMID: 12396208, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):
Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.
This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.
MeSH headings (categories)
This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.
|
Related articles
This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.
See a large map of 100+ related articles.