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Article Dans Une Revue Psychological Science Année : 2010

Are coarse scales sufficient for fast detection of visual threat?

Sylvie Droit-Volet
  • Fonction : Auteur
Damien Devaux
  • Fonction : Auteur
Alexandre Schaefer
  • Fonction : Auteur
Nicolas Vermeulen
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

It has recently been suggested that low-spatial-frequency information would provide rapid visual cues to the amygdala for basic but ultrarapid behavioral responses to dangerous stimuli. The present behavioral study investigated the role of different spatial-frequency channels in visually detecting dangerous stimuli belonging to living or nonliving categories. Subjects were engaged in a visual detection task involving dangerous stimuli, and subjects' behavioral responses were assessed in association with their fear expectations (induced by an aversive 90-dB white noise). Our results showed that, despite its crudeness, low-spatial-frequency information could constitute a sufficient signal for fast recognition of visual danger in a context of fear expectation. In addition, we found that this effect tended to be specific for living entities. These results were obtained despite a strong perceptual bias toward faster recognition of high-spatial-frequency stimuli under supraliminal perception durations.
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Dates et versions

hal-00965117 , version 1 (24-03-2014)

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Citer

Martial Mermillod, Sylvie Droit-Volet, Damien Devaux, Alexandre Schaefer, Nicolas Vermeulen. Are coarse scales sufficient for fast detection of visual threat?. Psychological Science, 2010, 21 (10), pp.1429-37. ⟨10.1177/0956797610381503⟩. ⟨hal-00965117⟩
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