Direction of stimulus movement alters fear-linked individual differences in attentional vigilance to spider stimuli

Abstract

Researchers have proposed that high spider-fearful individuals are characterised by heightened attentional vigilance to spider stimuli, as compared to low spider-fearful individuals. However, these findings have arisen from methodologies that have uniformly employed only static stimuli. Such findings do not inform upon the patterns of fear-linked attentional selectivity that occur in the face of moving feared stimuli. Hence, the present study developed a novel methodology designed to examine the influence of stimulus movement on attentional vigilance to spider and non-spider stimuli. Eighty participants who varied in level of spider-fear completed an attentional-probe task that presented stimuli under two conditions. One condition presented stimuli that displayed an approaching movement, while the other condition presented stimuli that displayed a receding movement. Fear-linked heightened attentional vigilance was observed exclusively under the latter condition. These findings suggest that fear-linked attentional vigilance to spider stimuli does not represent a uniform characteristic of heightened spider-fear, but rather is influenced by stimulus context. The means by which these findings inform understanding of attentional mechanisms that characterise heightened spider-fear, and avenues for future research, are discussed.