Itsy bitsy spider…: Infants react with increased arousal to spiders and snakes

Author(s)
Stefanie Hoehl, Kahl Hellmer, Maria Johansson, Gustaf Gredebäck
Abstract

Attention biases have been reported for ancestral threats like spiders and snakes in infants, children, and adults. However, it is currently unclear whether these stimuli induce increased physiological arousal in infants. Here, 6-month-old infants were presented with pictures of spiders and flowers (Study 1, within-subjects), or snakes and fish (Study 1, within-subjects; Study 2, between-subjects). Infants' pupillary responses linked to activation of the noradrenergic system were measured. Infants reacted with increased pupillary dilation indicating arousal to spiders and snakes compared with flowers and fish. Results support the notion of an evolved preparedness for developing fear of these ancestral threats.

Organisation(s)
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology
External organisation(s)
Max-Planck-Institut für Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften, Uppsala University
Journal
Frontiers in Psychology
Volume
8
No. of pages
8
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01710
Publication date
10-2017
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
501005 Developmental psychology
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Psychology(all)
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/itsy-bitsy-spider-infants-react-with-increased-arousal-to-spiders-and-snakes(87f5ca09-fe45-4182-8119-b950d0dd8610).html