Arachnophobia Question

[Arthroverts]

I just realized something...what does it say about academia when we're the ones being used as a sounding board?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[DaveM]

There was some work done on this topic by Stefanie Hoehl, in which naive infants showed heightened attention to images of spiders and snakes. That wasn't necessarily fear, but it was thought to be an innate adrenergic response that might prime the infants for heightened learning, of fear if the nearby adult role models exhibit fear responses that teach them to fear.
My infant daughter loves my spiders and always wants to say hello to them. Other kids would be afraid, but also paying a lot of attention. I think we're wired to pay attention to certain kinds of visual stimuli, and the fear or love comes from the example set by role models.
I love snakes because my father loved snakes. I hate caterpillars because my mother hated caterpillars. My kids love spiders as I do, but hate flying insects because my wife hates them.

If it's just a spider leg in this experiment, then I would want to experiment on the test subjects with related images to suss out the exact trigger of fear. How do they respond to a crab leg, scorpion leg, spider web, spider eyes...

 

[The Snark]

I just realized something...what does it say about academia when we're the ones being used as a sounding board?

Yes, what?

in which naive infants showed heightened attention to images of spiders and snakes. That wasn't necessarily fear, but it was thought to be an innate adrenergic response that might prime the infants for heightened learning,

I'm very limited as to what I can say here, but you are correct. Adrenergic stimulation plays a large part in this study. The study, in scope, is very similar to Darwin's theory of evolution. The target isn't to produce accurate clinically reliable results but to promote methodologies that work towards specific goals. The study touches on several other closely related scientific fields. The EEC and the stimuli being used is intended to produce predictable gross basal responses applicable to all higher order human brains.

Darwin's: This is what we have arrived at, so how did we get here?

 

[DaveM]

I'm very limited as to what I can say here, but you are correct. Adrenergic stimulation plays a large part in this study. The study, in scope, is very similar to Darwin's theory of evolution. The target isn't to produce accurate clinically reliable results but to promote methodologies that work towards specific goals. The study touches on several other closely related scientific fields. The EEC and the stimuli being used is intended to produce predictable gross basal responses applicable to all higher order human brains.

Darwin's: This is what we have arrived at, so how did we get here?

You're a good person to protect the integrity of this study. When it's done and published, though, please tell us names/results.

 

[The Snark]

You're a good person to protect the integrity of this study. When it's done and published, though, please tell us names/results.

You, me, her mom. and a few dozen professors and advisors. Instead of going after her doctorate she's now on hiatus studying several related fields.

 

[Cororon]

A photo of a leg only. It's not clear if it was immediately understood as a spider, but it could have triggered the same fight or flight reaction people get when they hear a sound with a similar frequency as the buzz of a stinging insect, like a wasp. When I hear that sound I flinch and sometimes quickly get up to close the window, but most of the time it's just a moped or something like that making the sound.

After I had cured my arachnophobia I was surprised that wasps didn't scare me like they used to. There must be a connection. I think there might be an instinct to fear venomous animals as a base for these phobias, but it's weak enough that you can be born without, trigger it by bad experiences but also get rid of it. "More research is needed", as they say.

 

[The Snark]

After I had cured my arachnophobia I was surprised that wasps didn't scare me like they used to. There must be a connection. I think there might be an instinct to fear venomous animals as a base for these phobias, but it's weak enough that you can be born without, trigger it by bad experiences but also get rid of it. "More research is needed", as they say.

It's fascinating to me how people are responding on this thread and their takes on the aspects of this investigation.

I've been allowed to offer a little backgrounder:
" There is a difference between psychology and physical sciences in the treatment of physical objects. Physical sciences investigate the nature of physical stimuli apart from their relation to an individual. But psychology studies the nature of the interaction between an individual with physical stimuli."
Theory: This premise is wrong and misleading.

 

[drublenaut]

Background, a friend, a psychologist. Her daughter is studying psychology. Testing students at her college using an Electroencephalograph, EEC, on random student volunteers. Showing the test subjects assorted images, one images elicited a significant neuro response in one or two out of every 10 subjects. The image of a long spiders leg. Shown an animated graphic of the same image the persons who had a response initially had a stronger response and one or two additional test subjects had some response.

So the question I've been asked to ask is where is the origin of this response?

I think my response will coincide with much of what was said earlier, but it comes from the ivory tower of academia. In this area, I have mostly studied how psychological diagnostics should be run and what they might indicate. So here is my best stab given what I currently know. In the social sciences, there is a long standing debate between nature versus nurture. That is, we are either biologically programmed to react in a certain way or we are raised to react in a certain way. That said, nature and nurture are not mutually exclusive. Both can be involved at varying degrees depending on the type of stimulus. It sounds like your friends daughter is studying the natural response for survival OR the nurtured response for survival. I am not sure, given the information, whether the study focuses on parsing them out.

An interesting aspect of this test is the partial pictures. I am not certain, but this may test for things that are generically leggy and hairy.

I hope that helps.

 

[drublenaut]

I just realized something...what does it say about academia when we're the ones being used as a sounding board?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

Probably that academia wants to reach out to people with experience. We read a lot of garbage out there and much of it comes from a lack of touching base with how the world actually works.

 

[schmiggle]

I just realized something...what does it say about academia when we're the ones being used as a sounding board?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

Probably that academia wants to reach out to people with experience. We read a lot of garbage out there and much of it comes from a lack of touching base with how the world actually works.

I agree. This kind of thing would be a terrible way to collect data, but it could be a good way to inspire new experimental design, especially since the bias on Arachnoboards is essentially the reverse of the usual bias elsewhere.

I tried to grow Stylidium for a research project a couple years ago, and my PI was irritated that the first place I went to for advice was a carnivorous plant forum. At the end of the day, though, you get people who have had a lot of success and good ideas. You just have to ignore anything they say might be a proximate cause...

 

[The Snark]

Reiteration

EEC

Only the image of the spider leg was shown. Not the entire spider.

pass analysis

methodology

Adrenergic stimulation plays a large part

several related fields

Additionally, correlation coefficient.
I'm think I'm getting the jist of where she is going with this investigation. Several of the comments have touched upon her methodology.