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Li S, Zhang Y, Li H, Hao B, He W, Luo W. Is processing superiority a universal trait for all threats? Divergent impacts of fearful, angry, and disgusted faces on attentional capture. Cortex 2024; 177:37-52. [PMID: 38833819 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024]
Abstract
Fearful, angry, and disgusted facial expressions are evolutionarily salient and convey different types of threat signals. However, it remains unclear whether these three expressions impact sensory perception and attention in the same way. The present ERP study investigated the temporal dynamics underlying the processing of different types of threatening faces and the impact of attentional resources employed during a perceptual load task. Participants were asked to judge the length of bars superimposed over faces presented in the center of the screen. A mass univariate statistical approach was used to analyze the EEG data. Behaviorally, task accuracy was significantly reduced following exposure to fearful faces relative to neutral distractors, independent of perceptual load. The ERP results revealed that the P1 amplitude over the right hemisphere was found to be enhanced for fearful relative to disgusted faces, reflecting the rapid and coarse detection of fearful cues. The N170 responses elicited by fearful, angry, and disgusted faces were larger than those elicited by neutral faces, suggesting the largely automatic and preferential processing of threats. Furthermore, the early posterior negativity (EPN) component yielded increased responses to fearful and angry faces, indicating prioritized attention to stimuli representing acute threats. Additionally, perceptual load exerted a pronounced influence on the EPN and late positive potential (LPP), with larger responses observed in the low perceptual load condition, indicating goal-directed cognitive processing. Overall, the early sensory processing of fearful, angry, and disgusted faces is characterized by differential sensitivity in capturing attention automatically, despite the importance of these facial signals for survival. Fearful faces produce a strong interference effect and are processed with higher priority than angry and disgusted ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuaixia Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Yihan Zhang
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Hui Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Bin Hao
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Weiqi He
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China.
| | - Wenbo Luo
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China.
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2
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March DS, Hasty C, Olivett V. The threat sensitivity scale: A brief self-report measure of dispositional sensitivity toward perceiving threats to physical harm. Sci Rep 2024; 14:11304. [PMID: 38760426 PMCID: PMC11101408 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-61476-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2024] [Accepted: 05/06/2024] [Indexed: 05/19/2024] Open
Abstract
The possibility of experiencing physical harm caused by an object, animal, or person is an omnipresent risk in almost any situation. People show variability in their in the propensity to perceive the possibility of harm from any ostensibly innocuous object or situation-a so-called threat bias. Despite the important psychological and societal consequences resulting from individual differences in physical threat bias, there does not currently exist an easily administered means to capture this disposition. We therefore endeavored to create a brief reliable self-report index of threat sensitivity for use by the many fields interested in the role of threat processing. We present here a physical threat sensitivity scale (TSS) that captures the dispositional tendency to perceive the possibility of physical harm in ostensibly innocuous situations or objects. We detail the development and validation of the TSS as a reliable index of individual threat bias (Studies 1a and 1b) and provide strong convergent evidence of the relationship between TS and both relevant individual differences (Study 2) and behavioral and perceptual indicates of threat bias (Study 3 and Study 4).
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Affiliation(s)
- David S March
- Florida State University, 1107 W. Call St., Tallahassee, FL, 32304, USA.
| | - Connor Hasty
- Florida State University, 1107 W. Call St., Tallahassee, FL, 32304, USA
| | - Vincenzo Olivett
- Florida State University, 1107 W. Call St., Tallahassee, FL, 32304, USA
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3
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Pakai-Stecina DT, Hout MC, Bali C, Zsido AN. Can the processing of task-irrelevant threatening stimuli be inhibited? - The role of shape and valence in the saliency of threatening objects. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2024; 243:104150. [PMID: 38271849 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Revised: 01/12/2024] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Numerous studies have demonstrated that attention is quickly oriented towards threatening stimuli, and that this attentional bias is difficult to inhibit. The root cause(s) of this bias may be attributable to the affective (e.g., valence) or visual features (e.g., shape) of threats. In two experiments (behavioral, eye-tracking), we tested which features play a bigger role in the salience of threats. In both experiments, participants looked for a neutral target (butterfly, lock) among other neutral objects. In half of the trials a threatening (snake, gun) or nonthreatening (but visually similar; worm, hairdryer) task-irrelevant distractor was also present at a near or far distance from the target. Behavioral results indicate that both distractor types interfered with task performance. Rejecting nonthreatening distractors as nontargets was easier when they were presented further from the target but distance had no effect when the distractor was threatening. Eye-tracking results showed that participants fixated less often (and for less time) on threatening compared to nonthreatening distractors. They also viewed targets for less time when a threatening distractor was present (compared to nonthreatening). Results suggest that visual features of threats are easier to suppress than affective features, and the latter may have a stronger role in eliciting attentional biases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diána T Pakai-Stecina
- Institute of Psychology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs, Hungary
| | - Michael C Hout
- Department of Psychology, New Mexico State University, United States
| | - Cintia Bali
- Institute of Psychology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs, Hungary
| | - Andras N Zsido
- Institute of Psychology, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs, Hungary.
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4
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March DS, Olson MA, Gaertner L. Automatic threat processing shows evidence of exclusivity. Behav Brain Sci 2023; 46:e131. [PMID: 37462171 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22002928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/20/2023]
Abstract
De Neys argues against assigning exclusive capacities to automatic versus controlled processes. The dual implicit process model provides a theoretical rationale for the exclusivity of automatic threat processing, and corresponding data provide empirical evidence of such exclusivity. De Neys's dismissal of exclusivity is premature and based on a limited sampling of psychological research.
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Affiliation(s)
- David S March
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, ://psy.fsu.edu/faculty/marchd/march.dp.php
| | - Michael A Olson
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA ://psychology.utk.edu/faculty/gaertner.php
| | - Lowell Gaertner
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA ://psychology.utk.edu/faculty/gaertner.php
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Olivett VJ, Maranges HM, March DS. The unique roles of threat perception and misinformation accuracy judgments in the relationship between political orientation and COVID‐19 health behaviors. JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Heather M. Maranges
- Department of Human Development and Family Science, The Family Institute Florida State University Tallahassee Florida USA
| | - David S. March
- Department of Psychology Florida State University Tallahassee Florida USA
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March DS. Perceiving a Danger Within: Black Americans Associate Black Men With Physical Threat. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/19485506221142970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Recent work suggests that good/bad out-group favoritism of Blacks for Whites may reflect positive associations with White rather than negative associations with Black. The Dual Implicit Process Model suggests that Blacks may come to associate their own group with threat, even absent a concurrent Black-negative association. This work tests this idea among Black Americans. Three studies tested this possibility using mouse-tracking (Study 1) and evaluative priming tasks (Studies 2 and 3) to assess how quickly participants make judgments involving Black versus White male faces and names. All studies found that that Black Americans hold automatic Black-threat associations absent automatic Black-negative associations. This supports the Dual Implicit Process Model’s threat versus negativity distinction within the realm of anti-Black bias and supplements recent work by showing that the presence of out-group favoritism on one dimension (i.e., threat) can occur even in the absence of out-group favoritism on a seemingly related dimension (i.e., negativity).
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Female advantage in threat avoidance manifests in threat reaction but not threat detection. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 45:e142. [PMID: 35875959 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22000462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Threat avoidance involves both detection of a threatening stimulus and reaction to it. We demonstrate with empirically validated stimuli (that are threatening, nonthreatening-negative, neutral, or positive) that threat detection is more pronounced among males, whereas threat reactivity is more pronounced among females. Why women are less efficient detectors of threat challenges Benenson et al.'s conceptual analysis.
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March DS, Gaertner L, Olson MA. On the Automatic Nature of Threat: Physiological and Evaluative Reactions to Survival-Threats Outside Conscious Perception. AFFECTIVE SCIENCE 2022; 3:135-144. [PMID: 36046094 PMCID: PMC9382976 DOI: 10.1007/s42761-021-00090-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
A neural architecture that preferentially processes immediate survival threats relative to other negatively and positively valenced stimuli presumably evolved to facilitate survival. The empirical literature on threat superiority, however, has suffered two problems: methodologically distinguishing threatening stimuli from negative stimuli and differentiating whether responses are sped and strengthened by threat superiority or delayed and diminished by conscious processing of nonthreatening stimuli. We addressed both problems in three within-subject studies that compared responses to empirically validated sets of threating, negative, positive, and neutral stimuli, and isolated threat superiority from the opposing effect of conscious attention by presenting stimuli outside conscious perception. Consistent with threat superiority, threatening stimuli elicited stronger skin-conductance (Study 1), startle-eyeblink (Study 2), and more negative downstream evaluative responses (Study 3) relative to the undifferentiated responses to negative, positive, and neutral stimuli. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00090-6.
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Affiliation(s)
- David S. March
- grid.255986.50000 0004 0472 0419Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL USA
| | - Lowell Gaertner
- grid.411461.70000 0001 2315 1184University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN USA
| | - Michael A. Olson
- grid.411461.70000 0001 2315 1184University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN USA
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Olivett VJ, March DS. White civilians’ implicit danger evaluation of police officers underlies explicit perception of police. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2021; 6:81. [PMID: 34928473 PMCID: PMC8688646 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-021-00343-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 11/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The role of implicit processes during police-civilian encounters is well studied from the perspective of the police. Decades of research on the “shooter bias” suggests that implicit Black-danger associations potentiate the perception of threat of Black individuals, leading to a racial bias in the decision to use lethal force. Left understudied are civilians’ possible associations of police with danger and how such associations pervade behavior and explicit views of the police. The current work begins to address this gap. In two within-subjects studies, we separately assess police-threat (i.e., safety/danger) and police-valence (i.e., good/bad) associations as well as their relative influences on explicit perceptions of police. Study 1 revealed that implicit threat evaluations (police-danger associations) more strongly predicted negative explicit views of the police compared to implicit valence evaluations (police-negative associations). Study 2 replicated these findings and suggests that individuals evaluate the police as more dangerous versus negative when each response is pitted against each other within single misattribution procedure trials. The possible implications for explicit attitudes toward police reform and behavior during police-civilian encounters are discussed.
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March DS, Olson MA, Gaertner L. Lions, and Tigers, and Implicit Measures, Oh My! Implicit Assessment and the Valence vs. Threat Distinction. SOCIAL COGNITION 2020. [DOI: 10.1521/soco.2020.38.supp.s154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Physically threatening objects are negative, but negative objects are not necessarily threatening. Moreover, responses elicited by threats to physical harm are distinct from those elicited by other negatively (and positively) valenced stimuli. We discuss the importance of the threat versus valence distinction for implicit measurement both in terms of the activated evaluation and the design of the measure employed to assess that evaluation. We suggest that accounting for the distinct evaluations of threat and valence better enables implicit measures to provide understanding and prediction of subsequent judgment, emotion, and behavior.
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Gawronski B, De Houwer J, Sherman JW. Twenty-Five Years of Research Using Implicit Measures. SOCIAL COGNITION 2020. [DOI: 10.1521/soco.2020.38.supp.s1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The year 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of two seminal publications that have set the foundation for an exponentially growing body of research using implicit measures: Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, and Williams's (1995) work using evaluative priming to measure racial attitudes, and Greenwald and Banaji's (1995) review of implicit social cognition research that served as the basis for the development of the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The current article provides an overview of (1) two conceptual roots that continue to shape interpretations of implicit measures; (2) conflicting interpretations of the term implicit; (3) different kinds of dissociations between implicit and explicit measures; (4) theoretical developments inspired by these dissociations; and (5) research that used implicit measures to address domain-specific and applied questions. We conclude with a discussion of challenges and open questions that remain to be addressed, offering guidance for the next generation of research using implicit measures.
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Abstract
The social neuroscience approach to prejudice investigates the psychology of intergroup bias by integrating models and methods of neuroscience with the social psychology of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. Here, we review major contemporary lines of inquiry, including current accounts of group-based categorization; formation and updating of prejudice and stereotypes; effects of prejudice on perception, emotion, and decision making; and the self-regulation of prejudice. In each section, we discuss key social neuroscience findings, consider interpretational challenges and connections with the behavioral literature, and highlight how they advance psychological theories of prejudice. We conclude by discussing the next-generation questions that will continue to guide the social neuroscience approach toward addressing major societal issues of prejudice and discrimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Amodio
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA; .,Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1001 NK Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Mina Cikara
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
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Teachman BA, Clerkin EM, Cunningham WA, Dreyer-Oren S, Werntz A. Implicit Cognition and Psychopathology: Looking Back and Looking Forward. Annu Rev Clin Psychol 2019; 15:123-148. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050718-095718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Implicit cognitive processing is theorized to have a central role in many forms of psychopathology. In the current review, we focus on implicit associations, by which we mean evaluative representations in memory that are difficult to control and do not require conscious reflection to influence affect, cognition, or behavior. We consider definitional and measurement challenges before examining recent empirical evidence for these associations in anxiety, obsessive–compulsive, posttraumatic stress, depressive, and alcohol use disorders. This examination is framed by a brief review of the ways that prominent models of psychopathology represent biased implicit processing of disorder-relevant information. We consider to what extent models reflect more traditional automatic/implicit versus strategic/explicit dual-process perspectives or reflect more recent dynamical systems perspectives in which mental representations are iteratively reprocessed, evolving continuously. Finally, we consider the future research needed to better understand the interactive and temporal dynamics of implicit cognition in psychopathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bethany A. Teachman
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, USA
| | - Elise M. Clerkin
- Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA
| | | | | | - Alexandra Werntz
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, USA
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Maratos FA, Pessoa L. What drives prioritized visual processing? A motivational relevance account. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2019; 247:111-148. [PMID: 31196431 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.03.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Emotion is fundamental to our being, and an essential aspect guiding behavior when rapid responding is required. This includes whether we approach or avoid a stimulus, and the accompanying physiological responses. A common tenet is that threat-related content drives stimulus processing and biases visual attention, so that rapid responding can be initiated. In this paper, it will be argued instead that prioritization of threatening stimuli should be encompassed within a motivational relevance framework. To more fully understand what is, or is not, prioritized for visual processing one must, however, additionally consider: (i) stimulus ambiguity and perceptual saliency; (ii) task demands, including both perceptual load and cognitive load; and (iii) endogenous/affective states of the individual. Combined with motivational relevance, this then leads to a multifactorial approach to understanding the drivers of prioritized visual processing. This accords with current recognition that the brain basis allowing for visual prioritization is also multifactorial, including transient, dynamic and overlapping networks. Taken together, the paper provides a reconceptualization of how "emotional" information prioritizes visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frances Anne Maratos
- Department of Psychology and Human Sciences Research Centre, University of Derby, Derby, United Kingdom.
| | - Luiz Pessoa
- Department of Psychology and Maryland Neuroimaging Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States
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March DS, Gaertner L, Olson MA. In Harm’s Way: On Preferential Response to Threatening Stimuli. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2017; 43:1519-1529. [DOI: 10.1177/0146167217722558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Given the evolutionary significance of survival, the mind might be particularly sensitive (in terms of strength and speed of reaction) to stimuli that pose an immediate threat to physical harm. To rectify limitations in past research, we pilot-tested stimuli to obtain images that are threatening, nonthreatening-negative, positive, or neutral. Three studies revealed that participants (a) were faster to detect a threatening than nonthreatening-negative image when each was embedded among positive or neutral images, (b) oriented their initial gaze more frequently toward threatening than nonthreatening-negative, positive, or neutral images, and (c) evidenced larger startle-eyeblinks to threatening than to nonthreatening-negative, positive, or neutral images. Social-psychological implications for the mind’s sensitivity to threat are discussed.
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