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Itsy bitsy spider?: Valence and self-relevance predict size estimation.

Tali Leibovich1, Noga Cohen2, Avishai Henik2

  • 1Department of Cognitive Sciences and the Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; Department of Psychology and the Brain and Mind Institute, the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Perception Science
  • Fear and Anxiety Research

Background:

  • Size estimation can be influenced by emotional factors.
  • Self-relevance and valence (pleasantness/unpleasantness) are key emotional dimensions.
  • Previous research suggests fear impacts perception, but the interplay with relevance is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how valence and self-relevance affect size estimation.
  • To examine these effects specifically for neutral and aversive animals.
  • To differentiate the influence of fear levels on size perception biases.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Participants with high and low spider fear rated the size and unpleasantness of spiders, birds, and butterflies.
  • Experiment 2: Expanded stimuli to include wasps and beetles, assessing similar perceptual judgments.
  • Mediation analysis was used to explore the pathways through which relevance and valence influence perceived size.

Main Results:

  • Highly fearful participants, but not low-fear participants, rated spiders as larger than neutral animals.
  • Both high and low fear groups found spiders unpleasant, but only high-fear participants showed a size bias.
  • Size estimation bias was observed for beetles (self-relevant, aversive) but not wasps (aversive, not self-relevant) in Experiment 2.
  • Mediation analysis indicated that in high-fear individuals, both relevance and valence impacted perceived size, while valence alone affected it in low-fear individuals.

Conclusions:

  • Highly relevant and aversive stimuli can lead to an overestimation of size, particularly in individuals with high fear.
  • The effect of self-relevant stimuli on size perception is multifaceted, operating both directly and indirectly through valence.
  • These findings highlight the complex interaction between emotional significance, personal relevance, and perceptual processes in shaping our view of the world.