BRIEF REPORT Selective Processing and Fear of Spiders: Use of the Stroop Task to Assess Interference for Spider-related, Movement, and Disgust Information
Title:
BRIEF REPORT Selective Processing and Fear of Spiders: Use of the Stroop Task to Assess Interference for Spider-related, Movement, and Disgust Information
Author:
Barker, Karen Robertson, Noelle
Appeared in:
Cognition & emotion
Paging:
Volume 11 (1997) nr. 3 pages 331-336
Year:
1997-06-01
Contents:
Recent theories proposed to explain the aetiology of spider fear suggest that it may occur in response to the way the animals move, their visual characteristics, or disgust evoking properties. A computerised version of the Stroop task demonstrated that spider-fearing subjects were significantly slower than nonfearing controls to colour name three sets of words representing the physical attributes of spiders, their movement, and general disgust/contamination words, when compared to matched control words. No significant latencies were evident between the three word sets for either group. These findings demonstrate that the spider-fearing group show interference for material directly associated with spiders, and also disgust-related material in general. Implications are discussed in respect of aetiology, given that interference may be indicative of threat or predominant concern. Alternative explanations for the findings are also considered.
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