Investigating inattentional blindness through the lens of fear chemosignals

Semin, Gün R.; DePhillips, Michael; Gomes, Nuno

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/9529

Use this identifier to reference this record.

Name:	Description:	Size:	Format:
Psychological Science 35(1) 72-81.pdf		511.52 KB	Adobe PDF	Download

Send Feedback

Authors

Semin, Gün R.

DePhillips, Michael

Gomes, Nuno

Abstract(s)

Inattentional blindness is a phenomenon wherein people fail to perceive obvious stimuli within their vision, sometimes leading to dramatic consequences. Research on the effects of fear chemosignals suggests that they facilitate receivers’ sensory acquisition. We aimed to examine the interplay between these phenomena, investigating whether exposure to fear chemosignals (vs. rest body odors) can reduce the inattentional-blindness handicap. Utilizing a virtual-reality aquarium,we asked participants to count how many morsels a school of fish consumedwhile two unexpected stimuli swam by. We predicted that participants exposed to fear chemosignals (N =131) would detect unexpected stimuli significantly more often than participants exposed to rest body odors (N =125). All participants were adult Portuguese university students aged 18 to 40 years. The results confirmed our hypothesis, χ2 (1) = 6.10,p = .014, revealing that exposure to fear chemosignals significantly increased the detection of unexpected stimuli by about 10%. The implications of our findings open a novel avenue for reducing the adverse consequences of inattentional blindness

Keywords

Fear chemosignals Inattentional blindness Sensory acquisition Virtual reality Open data Open materials Peregistration

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/9529

Citation

Semin, G. R., DePhillips, M., & Gomes, N. (2024). Investigating Inattentional Blindness Through the Lens of Fear Chemosignals. Psychological Science (0956-7976), 35(1), 72–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976231213572