Science of Emotion and Sensibility (감성과학)

Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility (한국감성과학회)
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Effects of Low-Level Visual Attributes on Threat Detection: Testing the Snake Detection Theory

저수준 시각적 특질이 위협 탐지에 미치는 효과: 뱀 탐지 이론의 검증

  • Received : 2020.07.25
  • Accepted : 2020.09.06
  • Published : 2020.09.30
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Abstract

The snake detection theory posits that, due to competition with snakes, the primate visual system has been evolved to detect camouflaged snakes. Specifically, one of its hypotheses states that the subcortical visual pathway mainly consisting of koniocellular cells enables humans to automatically detect the threat of snakes without consuming mental resources. Here we tested the hypothesis by comparing human participants' responses to snakes with those to fearful faces and flowers. Participants viewed either original images or converted ones, which lacked the differences in color, luminance, contrast, and spatial frequency energies between categories. While participants in Experiment 1 produced valence and arousal ratings to each image, those in Experiment 2 detected target images in the breaking continuous flash suppression (bCFS) paradigm. As a result, visual factors influenced the responses to snakes most strongly. After minimizing visual differences, snakes were rated as being less negative and less arousing, and detected more slowly from suppression. In contrast, the images of the other categories were less affected by image conversion. In particular, fearful faces were rated as greater threats and detected more quickly than other categories. In addition, for snakes, changes in arousal ratings and those in bCFS response times were negatively correlated: Those snake images, the arousal ratings of which decreased, produced increased detection latency. These findings suggest that the influence of snakes on human responses to threat is limited relative to fearful faces, and that detection responses in bCFS share common processing mechanisms with conscious ratings. In conclusion, the current study calls into question the assumption that snake detection in humans is a product of unconscious subcortical visual processing.

뱀 탐지 이론은 영장류가 천적인 뱀과 경쟁하면서 뱀을 효과적으로 탐지할 수 있는 시각 체계를 갖추게 되었다고 설명한다. 구체적인 가설 중 하나는 먼지세포 중심의 피질하 시각 경로가 사람으로 하여금 심적 자원을 사용하지 않고서도 자동적으로 뱀의 위협을 탐지할 수 있게 한다는 것이다. 이에 본 연구는 뱀 영상에 대한 인간 참가자의 반응을 공포 표정의 얼굴 및 꽃에 대한 반응과 비교함으로써 뱀 탐지 이론의 가정들을 검토하였다. 참가자들은 원본 영상을 관찰하거나, 원본 영상에서 색상, 밝기와 대비, 공간주파수 에너지 차이를 제거한 변환 영상을 관찰하였다. 실험 1의 참가자들은 각 영상에 대한 정서가와 각성 유발 정도를 평정하였고, 실험 2의 참가자들은 연속점멸억제 절차에서 표적 자극을 탐지하였다. 그 결과, 뱀에 대한 반응은 시각 요인의 영향을 가장 크게 받았다. 영상들의 시각적 차이를 제거했을 때, 뱀 영상은 덜 부정적이고 각성을 덜 유발하며 연속점멸억제에서 느리게 탈출하였다. 그에 비해, 다른 범주에 대한 반응은 영상 변환의 영향을 덜 받았다. 특히, 공포 표정의 얼굴은 일관적으로 영상 조건에 상관없이 위협적인 대상으로 평정되었으며 빠르게 탐지되었다. 또한, 실험 1에서 측정한 각성 평정의 변화량과 실험 2에서 측정한 연속점멸억제 탈출 시간의 변화량이 부적 상관을 보였다. 영상 변환 후 각성 평정 점수가 많이 감소한 뱀 영상일수록 탐지반응시간이 증가하였다. 이러한 결과는 뱀이 인간 관찰자의 위협 탐지 반응에 미치는 영향이 공포 표정의 얼굴에 비해 제한적이며, 연속점멸억제 탈출 반응과 의식적 평정 반응이 처리 기제를 공유할 가능성을 시사한다. 결론적으로 본 연구는 인간의 뱀 탐지가 무의식적 피질하 시각 경로의 산물이라는 가정에 의문을 제기한다.

Keywords

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