Skip to main content
Search
Search
    Quick Search anywhere
    Quick search in Citations
Advanced Search
Skip main navigationClose Drawer MenuOpen Drawer Menu
Previous article
Article

Disgust Proneness and the Perception of Disgust-Evoking Pictures

An Eye-Tracking Experiment

Published Online:May 03, 2016https://doi.org/10.1027/0269-8803/a000162

Abstract

Abstract. Disgust has been conceptualized as an emotion which promotes disease-avoidance behavior. The present eye-tracking experiment investigated whether disgust-evoking stimuli provoke specific eye movements and pupillary responses. Forty-three women viewed images depicting disgusting, fear-eliciting, neutral items and fractals while their eye movements (fixation duration and frequency, blinking rate, saccade amplitude) and pupil size were recorded. Disgust and fear ratings for the pictures as well as trait disgust and trait anxiety were assessed. The disgust pictures evoked the target emotion specifically and prompted characteristic scanning patterns. The participants made more and shorter fixations when looking at the repulsive pictures compared to all other categories. Moreover, state and trait disgust of the participants correlated negatively with their pupil size during disgust elicitation. Our data point to a disgust-specific visual exploration behavior, which possibly supports the fast identification of health-threatening aspects of a stimulus.

References

  • Armstrong, T., McLenahan, L., Kittle, J. & Olatunji, B. O. (2014). Don’t look now! Oculomotor avoidance as a conditioned disgust response. Emotion, 14, 95–104. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Beatty, J. & Lucero-Wagoner, B. (2000). The pupillary system. In J. T. CacioppoL. G. TassinaryG. G. BerntsonEds., Handbook of psychophysiology (pp. 14–162). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Bebko, G. M., Franconeri, S. L., Ochsner, K. N. & Chiao, J. Y. (2011). Differential perceptual strategies underlying expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal. Emotion, 11, 732–742. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Benson, P. J., Leonards, U., Lothian, R. M., St. Clair, D. M. & Merlo, M. C. G. (2007). Visual scan paths in first-episode schizophrenia and cannabis-induced psychosis. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, 32, 267–274. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Bradley, M. M., Houbova, P., Miccoli, L., Costa, V. D. & Lang, P. J. (2011). Scan patterns when viewing natural scenes: Emotion, complexity, and repetition. Psychophysiology, 48, 1543–1552. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bradley, M., Miccoli, L., Escrig, M. & Lang, P. (2008). The pupil as a measure of emotional arousal and autonomic activation. Psychophysiology, 45, 602–607. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bradley, M. M., Sabatinelli, D., Lang, P. J., Fitzsimmons, J. R., King, W. & Desai, P. (2003). Activation of the visual cortex in motivated attention. Behavioral Neuroscience, 117, 369–380. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Davey, G. C. L. (2011). Disgust: The disease-avoidance emotion and its dysfunctions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 366, 3453–3465. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Derogatis, L. R. & Melisaratos, N. (1983). The Brief Symptom Inventory: An introductory report. Psychological Medicine, 13, 595–605. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Fischer, T., Graupner, S.-T., Velichkovsky, B. M. & Pannasch, S. (2013). Attentional dynamics during free picture viewing: Evidence from oculomotor behavior and electrocortical activity. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 7, 1–9. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Hess, E. H. (1972). Pupillometrics. In N. S. GreenfieldR. A. SternbachEds., Handbook of Psychophysiology (pp. 491–531). New York, NY: Holt, Richard & Winston. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Laux, L., Hock, M., Bergner-Köther, R., Hodapp, V., Renner, K.-H. & Merzbacher, G. (2013). State-Trait-Angst-Depressions-Inventar [State Trait Anxiety Inventory]. Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • McIntire, L. K., McKinley, R. A., Goodyear, C. & McIntire, J. P. (2014). Detection of vigilance performance using eye blinks. Applied Ergonomics, 45, 354–362. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Olofsson, J. K., Nordin, S., Sequeira, H. & Polich, J. (2008). Affective picture processing: An integrative review of ERP findings. Biological Psychology, 77, 247–265. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Pannasch, S., Helmert, J. R., Roth, K., Herbold, A. K. & Walter, H. (2008). Visual fixation durations and saccade amplitudes: Shifting relationship in a variety of conditions. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 2, 1–19. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Schienle, A., Stark, R., Walter, B., Blecker, C., Ott, U., Sammer, G. & Vaitl, D. (2002). The insula is not specifically involved in disgust processing: An fMRI study. NeuroReport, 13, 2023–2026. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Schienle, A., Übel, S. & Scharmüller, W. (2014). Placebo treatment can alter primary visual cortex activity and connectivity. Neuroscience, 263, 125–129. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Schienle, A., Übel, S., Schöngaßner, F., Ille, R. & Scharmüller, W. (2014). Disgust regulation via placebo: An fMRI study. Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, 9, 985–990. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Schienle, A., Walter, B. & Vaitl, D. (2002). Ein Fragebogen zur Erfassung der Ekelempfindlichkeit [A questionnaire for the assessment of disgust proneness]. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 31, 110–120. First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Unema, P. J. A., Pannasch, S., Joos, M. & Velichkovsky, B. M. (2005). Time course of information processing during scene perception. Visual Cognition, 12, 473–494. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Van Reekum, C. M., Johnstone, T., Urry, H. L., Thurow, M. E., Schaefer, H. S., Alexander, A. L. & Davidson, R. J. (2007). Gaze fixations predict brain activation during the voluntary regulation of picture-induced negative affect. Neuroimage, 36, 1041–1055. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Weiner, E. A. & Concepcion, P. (1975). Effects of affective stimuli mode on eye‐blink rate and anxiety. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 31, 256–259. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Xing, C. & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2006). Aiming at happiness: How motivation affects attention to and memory for emotional images. Motivation and Emotion, 30, 243–250. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar