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Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

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Threat Expectation Does Not Improve Perceptual Discrimination despite Causing Heightened Priority Processing in the

Nadia Haddara¹, Dobromir Rahnev²

¹School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 nadiahaddara@gmail.com.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience

|February 23, 2024

Summary

Threat cues do not improve perceptual sensitivity, despite activating brain regions involved in threat processing. This challenges the idea that expecting danger automatically sharpens our senses.

Keywords:

classical/pavlovian conditioning expectation fMRI frontoparietal network perceptual decision-making threat perception

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Sensory Perception

Background:

Threat cues are known to increase neural processing in sensory and attentional brain networks.
It remains debated whether this neural enhancement translates to improved perceptual performance.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether threat cues enhance perceptual sensitivity.
To differentiate between theories suggesting threat cues improve or do not improve perception.

Main Methods:

Utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor brain activity in 46 participants.
Employed a perceptual decision-making task using a random dot kinematogram with threat, safe, or neutral cues.
Participants identified the direction of motion after cue presentation.

Main Results:

Threat cues did not significantly enhance perceptual sensitivity compared to safe or neutral cues.
Threat cues elicited widespread frontoparietal brain activity and increased connectivity between the right insula and the frontoparietal network.
Behavioral performance in perceptual decision-making was not improved by threat cues.

Conclusions:

The expectation of threat does not automatically enhance perceptual sensitivity.
The frontoparietal network plays a crucial role in prioritizing the processing of environmental threat cues, rather than directly improving sensory perception.
Findings challenge intuitive assumptions about threat perception and its neural underpinnings.