Attention Bias and Recognition of Sexual Images

Attention to sexual stimuli is necessary for the development of sexual response, yet while there is some evidence of attention bias in favor of sexual stimuli, the direction and magnitude of the effect remain unknown. A high-powered sample of 113 participants was tested using the dot-probe task (DPT...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inFrontiers in psychology Vol. 11; p. 556071
Main Authors Novák, Ondřej, Bártová, Klára, Vagenknecht, Václav, Klapilová, Kateřina
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Frontiers Media S.A 02.11.2020
Subjects
attention
dot probe
erotic
Psychology
recognition
sexual
visuospatial attention
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Attention to sexual stimuli is necessary for the development of sexual response, yet while there is some evidence of attention bias in favor of sexual stimuli, the direction and magnitude of the effect remain unknown. A high-powered sample of 113 participants was tested using the dot-probe task (DPT) and picture recognition task (PRT) to measure visuospatial attention to erotic images. Participants showed no attention bias in the DPT ( r B = 0.201, p = 0.064) but were significantly better at recognizing erotic rather than neutral or training pictures ( d = 1.445 and 1.461, respectively, both p < 0.001). This indicates that spatial attention bias to sexual pictures is small, negligible, possibly even non-existent, or else the DPT is not a reliable tool to assess it. Results of the PRT, on the other hand, show that sexual stimuli are prioritized in memory and this should be explored in future research.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Edited by: Joana Carvalho, Universidade Lusófona, Portugal
This article was submitted to Health Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
Reviewed by: Jorge Oliveira, Universidade Lusófona, Portugal; Pedro F. S. Rodrigues, University of Minho, Portugal
ISSN:1664-1078
1664-1078
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.556071