Learning to avoid spiders: Fear predicts performance, not competence
Source
Cognition & Emotion, 32, 6, (2018), pp. 1291-1303ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
SW OZ BSI KLP
Journal title
Cognition & Emotion
Volume
vol. 32
Issue
iss. 6
Languages used
English (eng)
Page start
p. 1291
Page end
p. 1303
Subject
Experimental Psychopathology and TreatmentAbstract
We used an immersive virtual environment to examine avoidance learning in spider-fearful participants. In 3 experiments, participants were asked to repeatedly lift one of 3 virtual boxes, under which either a toy car or a spider appeared and then approached the participant. Participants were not told that the probability of encountering a spider differed across boxes. When the difference was large (Exps. 1 and 2), spider-fearfuls learned to avoid spiders by lifting the few-spiders-box more often and the many-spiders-box less often than non-fearful controls did. However, they hardly managed to do so when the probability differences were small (Exp. 3), and they did not escape from threat more quickly (Exp. 2). In contrast to the observed performance differences, spider-fearfuls and non-fearfuls showed equal competence, that is comparable post-experimental knowledge about the probability to encounter spiders under the 3 boxes. The limitations and implications of the present study are discussed.
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- Academic publications [238441]
- Electronic publications [122526]
- Faculty of Social Sciences [29483]
- Open Access publications [97521]
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