Forever yuck: Oculomotor avoidance of disgusting stimuli resists habituation

Edwin S Dalmaijer; Alexander Lee; Rachel Leiter; Zoe Brown; Thomas Armstrong

doi:10.1037/xge0001006

Forever yuck: Oculomotor avoidance of disgusting stimuli resists habituation

Edwin S Dalmaijer
, Alexander Lee
, Rachel Leiter
, Zoe Brown
, Thomas Armstrong^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Bristol Neuroscience

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

253 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Disgust is an adaptation forged under the selective pressure of pathogens. Yet disgust may cause problems in contemporary societies because of its propensity for "false positives" and resistance to corrective information. Here, we investigate whether disgust, as revealed by oculomotor avoidance, might be reduced through the noncognitive process of habituation. In each of three experiments, we repeatedly exposed participants to the same pair of images, one disgusting and one neutral, and recorded gaze. Experiment 1 (N = 104) found no decline in oculomotor avoidance of the disgusting image after 24 prolonged exposures. Experiment 2 (N = 99) replicated this effect and demonstrated its uniqueness to disgust. In Experiment 3 (N = 93), we provided a gaze-contingent reward to ensure perceptual contact with the disgusting image. Participants looked almost exclusively at the disgusting image for 5 min but resumed baseline levels of oculomotor avoidance once the reward ceased. These findings underscore the challenge of reducing disgust. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1598-1611
Number of pages	14
Journal	Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
Volume	150
Issue number	8
Early online date	21 Jan 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001006
Publication status	Published - Aug 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The experiments described here were not preregistered. All experiments, data, and analyses materials have been made publicly available through the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/7gkmu/. Part of this work was presented at the 2019 European Conference on Eye Movements and the 2019 meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Thomas Armstrong and Edwin S. Dalmaijer developed the study concept. design. Testing and data collection the supervision of Thomas Armstrong. Thomas Armstrong and Edwin Dalmaijer analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors commented on and approved the final version of the manuscript for submission. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Thomas Armstrong, Department of Psychology, Whitman College, 345 Boyer Avenue, Walla Walla, WA 99362, United States

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Psychological Association

Keywords

Disgust
Emotion
Eye tracking
Habituation
Operant conditioning

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10.1037/xge0001006

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title = "Forever yuck: Oculomotor avoidance of disgusting stimuli resists habituation",

abstract = "Disgust is an adaptation forged under the selective pressure of pathogens. Yet disgust may cause problems in contemporary societies because of its propensity for {"}false positives{"} and resistance to corrective information. Here, we investigate whether disgust, as revealed by oculomotor avoidance, might be reduced through the noncognitive process of habituation. In each of three experiments, we repeatedly exposed participants to the same pair of images, one disgusting and one neutral, and recorded gaze. Experiment 1 (N = 104) found no decline in oculomotor avoidance of the disgusting image after 24 prolonged exposures. Experiment 2 (N = 99) replicated this effect and demonstrated its uniqueness to disgust. In Experiment 3 (N = 93), we provided a gaze-contingent reward to ensure perceptual contact with the disgusting image. Participants looked almost exclusively at the disgusting image for 5 min but resumed baseline levels of oculomotor avoidance once the reward ceased. These findings underscore the challenge of reducing disgust. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).",

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author = "Dalmaijer, \{Edwin S\} and Alexander Lee and Rachel Leiter and Zoe Brown and Thomas Armstrong",

note = "Funding Information: The experiments described here were not preregistered. All experiments, data, and analyses materials have been made publicly available through the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/7gkmu/. Part of this work was presented at the 2019 European Conference on Eye Movements and the 2019 meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Thomas Armstrong and Edwin S. Dalmaijer developed the study concept. design. Testing and data collection the supervision of Thomas Armstrong. Thomas Armstrong and Edwin Dalmaijer analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors commented on and approved the final version of the manuscript for submission. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Thomas Armstrong, Department of Psychology, Whitman College, 345 Boyer Avenue, Walla Walla, WA 99362, United States Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 American Psychological Association",

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N1 - Funding Information: The experiments described here were not preregistered. All experiments, data, and analyses materials have been made publicly available through the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/7gkmu/. Part of this work was presented at the 2019 European Conference on Eye Movements and the 2019 meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Thomas Armstrong and Edwin S. Dalmaijer developed the study concept. design. Testing and data collection the supervision of Thomas Armstrong. Thomas Armstrong and Edwin Dalmaijer analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors commented on and approved the final version of the manuscript for submission. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Thomas Armstrong, Department of Psychology, Whitman College, 345 Boyer Avenue, Walla Walla, WA 99362, United States Publisher Copyright: © 2021 American Psychological Association

PY - 2021/8

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N2 - Disgust is an adaptation forged under the selective pressure of pathogens. Yet disgust may cause problems in contemporary societies because of its propensity for "false positives" and resistance to corrective information. Here, we investigate whether disgust, as revealed by oculomotor avoidance, might be reduced through the noncognitive process of habituation. In each of three experiments, we repeatedly exposed participants to the same pair of images, one disgusting and one neutral, and recorded gaze. Experiment 1 (N = 104) found no decline in oculomotor avoidance of the disgusting image after 24 prolonged exposures. Experiment 2 (N = 99) replicated this effect and demonstrated its uniqueness to disgust. In Experiment 3 (N = 93), we provided a gaze-contingent reward to ensure perceptual contact with the disgusting image. Participants looked almost exclusively at the disgusting image for 5 min but resumed baseline levels of oculomotor avoidance once the reward ceased. These findings underscore the challenge of reducing disgust. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

AB - Disgust is an adaptation forged under the selective pressure of pathogens. Yet disgust may cause problems in contemporary societies because of its propensity for "false positives" and resistance to corrective information. Here, we investigate whether disgust, as revealed by oculomotor avoidance, might be reduced through the noncognitive process of habituation. In each of three experiments, we repeatedly exposed participants to the same pair of images, one disgusting and one neutral, and recorded gaze. Experiment 1 (N = 104) found no decline in oculomotor avoidance of the disgusting image after 24 prolonged exposures. Experiment 2 (N = 99) replicated this effect and demonstrated its uniqueness to disgust. In Experiment 3 (N = 93), we provided a gaze-contingent reward to ensure perceptual contact with the disgusting image. Participants looked almost exclusively at the disgusting image for 5 min but resumed baseline levels of oculomotor avoidance once the reward ceased. These findings underscore the challenge of reducing disgust. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

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KW - Habituation

KW - Operant conditioning

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Forever yuck: Oculomotor avoidance of disgusting stimuli resists habituation

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