Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Preparedness and Phobias01:09

Preparedness and Phobias

199
Human fear responses to certain stimuli, such as darkness, heights, deep water, and blood, can often arise despite the absence of direct negative experiences. This phenomenon is rooted in evolutionary psychology, which posits that humans have developed a predisposition to fear stimuli that historically posed significant survival threats. This predisposition, known as preparedness, suggests that early humans who developed a fear of potentially dangerous entities, such as venomous snakes and...
199
Social Anxiety Disorder01:28

Social Anxiety Disorder

158
Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is characterized by an intense fear of social situations where one might face humiliation, rejection, embarrassment, or negative evaluation. This disorder leads individuals to avoid activities like casual conversations, public speaking, or seemingly simple tasks such as eating, signing documents, or swimming, in public settings. Its impact extends beyond discomfort, often significantly interfering with daily functioning and quality of life.
158
Skin Diseases and Disorders01:23

Skin Diseases and Disorders

4.6K
Skin is the first line of defense and encounters a variety of microbes. Some pathogenic strains are often the cause of a broad range of infections of the skin and other body systems. These conditions can affect people of all ages and may have different causes, including genetic factors, infections, autoimmune reactions, environmental factors, and lifestyle choices.
Gram-positive Staphylococcus spp. and Streptococcus spp. are responsible for many of the most common skin infections. However, many...
4.6K
Allergic Reactions02:06

Allergic Reactions

29.5K
Overview
29.5K
Accessory Structures of the Skin: Hair and Hair Follicles01:16

Accessory Structures of the Skin: Hair and Hair Follicles

3.6K
Hair and hair follicles are integral components of the integumentary system. Hair is a filamentous structure composed mainly of a protein called keratin. It is found on the surface of the skin throughout the body, except for areas such as the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.
Hair is a keratinous filament growing out of the epidermis. It is primarily made of dead, keratinized cells. Hair strands originate at the epidermal penetration called the hair follicle. The hair shaft is the part...
3.6K
Skin Cancer01:30

Skin Cancer

5.0K
Skin cancer is a type of cancer that occurs when there is an abnormal growth of skin cells, usually triggered by damage to the DNA within the skin cells. It is primarily caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or artificial sources like tanning beds. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer worldwide, and its incidence continues to rise.
Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC): BCC is the most common type of skin cancer, accounting for about 80% of cases. It typically develops in...
5.0K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Human cooperation with artificial agents varies across countries.

Scientific reports·2025
Same author

Different judgment frameworks for moral compliance and moral violation.

Scientific reports·2024
Same author

Disrupting optimal decision making in visual foraging: The impact of search experience.

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance·2024
Same author

The influence of blocking on feature learning and optimal decision in the visual foraging task.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2024
Same author

Visual images of disgusting creatures facilitated attentional orienting and delayed attentional disengagement.

Cognitive processing·2023
Same author

Morality extracted under crowding impairs face identification.

i-Perception·2022

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 5, 2025

Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality
10:38

Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality

Published on: August 9, 2010

21.2K

Priming with skin-problems increases fear of clusters.

Risako Shirai1,2, Hirokazu Ogawa3

  • 1Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8555, Japan. RisakoShirai@gmail.com.

Scientific Reports
|May 15, 2021
PubMed
Summary

The involuntary protection against dermatosis (IPAD) hypothesis suggests trypophobia stems from skin disease aversion. This study found that priming with skin problem words increased discomfort from trypophobic images, supporting the IPAD hypothesis.

More Related Videos

Using the Threat Probability Task to Assess Anxiety and Fear During Uncertain and Certain Threat
11:18

Using the Threat Probability Task to Assess Anxiety and Fear During Uncertain and Certain Threat

Published on: September 12, 2014

15.4K
Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI
12:51

Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI

Published on: October 6, 2011

13.3K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Nov 5, 2025

Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality
10:38

Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality

Published on: August 9, 2010

21.2K
Using the Threat Probability Task to Assess Anxiety and Fear During Uncertain and Certain Threat
11:18

Using the Threat Probability Task to Assess Anxiety and Fear During Uncertain and Certain Threat

Published on: September 12, 2014

15.4K
Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI
12:51

Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI

Published on: October 6, 2011

13.3K

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Trypophobia is a discomfort triggered by clustered patterns.
  • The involuntary protection against dermatosis (IPAD) hypothesis links trypophobia to an aversion to skin diseases.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To empirically investigate the IPAD hypothesis by testing if activating skin disease concepts influences trypophobia.
  • To examine the effect of priming with skin-related words on the evaluation of trypophobic images.

Main Methods:

  • Participants completed a lexical decision task with skin-problem, negative, or neutral words.
  • Following priming, participants rated the discomfort of trypophobic, negative, and neutral images.
  • Experiment 2 attempted to replicate findings and test COVID-19 related priming.

Main Results:

  • Exposure to skin-problem words significantly increased the perceived discomfort of trypophobic images.
  • Priming with skin-related words did not affect the discomfort ratings of negative images.
  • Experiment 2 failed to replicate the priming effect with skin-related or COVID-19 related words.

Conclusions:

  • Findings from Experiment 1 provide initial empirical support for the IPAD hypothesis, suggesting a link between skin disease aversion and trypophobia.
  • The lack of replication in Experiment 2 highlights the need for further research into the causal relationship between skin diseases and trypophobia.