
pmid: 17109814
When a threat-related stimulus is preferentially processed, it may act as if it is presented alone, and thus trigger processes comparable with the effects elicited by a single stimulus. Peripheral stimuli are known to yield a Simon effect: faster responses when stimulus and response spatially correspond than when not. We designed a task during which a threat-related (physical threat, social threat, or height) word is presented with a neutral word (14 or 500 ms, masked), one above the other, and spatial correspondence of threat-related word and response varies across trials. Undergraduates performed this task when exposed to height (N=22) or in a lab (N=25). The height group, compared to the control group, showed a content-specific Simon effect for physical-threat words. This result adds evidence to the hypothesis of preferential processing of relevant threat-related information.
Adult, Male, Automatism, Fear, Awareness, Semantics, Discrimination Learning, Phobic Disorders, Reading, Reaction Time, Humans, Attention, Female, Arousal, Color Perception, Psychomotor Performance
Adult, Male, Automatism, Fear, Awareness, Semantics, Discrimination Learning, Phobic Disorders, Reading, Reaction Time, Humans, Attention, Female, Arousal, Color Perception, Psychomotor Performance
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