Is threat recognition special? Resistance of threat recognition to perceptual noise
Magdalena Król
Abstract
Perception takes into account the costs and benefits of possible interpretations of incoming sensory data. This should be especially pertinent for threat recognition, where minimising the costs associated with missing a real threat is of primary importance. We tested whether recognition of threats has special characteristics that adapt this process to the task it fulfils. Participants were presented with images of threats and visually matched neutral stimuli, distorted by varying levels of noise. We found threat superiority effect and liberal response bias. Moreover, increasing the level of noise degraded the recognition of the neutral images to higher extent than the threatening images. To summarise, recognising threats is special, in that it is more resistant to noise and decline in stimulus quality, suggesting that threat recognition is a fast ‘all or nothing’ process, in which threat presence is either confirmed or negated.Author | |||||
Journal series | Polish Psychological Bulletin, ISSN 0079-2993, e-ISSN 1641-7844, (B 15 pkt) | ||||
Issue year | 2018 | ||||
Vol | 49 | ||||
Pages | 489-495 | ||||
Publication size in sheets | 0.5 | ||||
Keywords in English | threat superiority, object recognition, signal detection, fear module, misperceptions | ||||
ASJC Classification | |||||
DOI | DOI:10.24425/124347 | ||||
Language | en angielski | ||||
File |
| ||||
Additional file |
| ||||
Score (nominal) | 15 | ||||
Score source | journalList | ||||
Publication indicators | : 2017 = 0.232 | ||||
Citation count* |
* presented citation count is obtained through Internet information analysis and it is close to the number calculated by the Publish or Perish system.
Back