Do infants possess an evolved spider-detection mechanism?

David H. Rakison; Jaime Derringer

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2007.07.022

Do infants possess an evolved spider-detection mechanism?

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Previous studies with various non-human animals have revealed that they possess an evolved predator recognition mechanism that specifies the appearance of recurring threats. We used the preferential looking and habituation paradigms in three experiments to investigate whether 5-month-old human infants have a perceptual template for spiders that generalizes to real-world images of spiders. A fourth experiment assessed whether 5-month-olds have a perceptual template for a non-threatening biological stimulus (i.e., a flower). The results supported the hypothesis that humans, like other species, may possess a cognitive mechanism for detecting specific animals that were potentially harmful throughout evolutionary history.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	381-393
Number of pages	13
Journal	Cognition
Volume	107
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2007.07.022
State	Published - Apr 2008
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Adaptations
Cognition
Evolution
Fear
Infancy
Perception
Spiders

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Language and Linguistics
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Linguistics and Language
Cognitive Neuroscience

Online availability

10.1016/j.cognition.2007.07.022

Library availability

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Cite this

@article{1558e70ec24544d0b8dcbb8e5f95b13e,

title = "Do infants possess an evolved spider-detection mechanism?",

abstract = "Previous studies with various non-human animals have revealed that they possess an evolved predator recognition mechanism that specifies the appearance of recurring threats. We used the preferential looking and habituation paradigms in three experiments to investigate whether 5-month-old human infants have a perceptual template for spiders that generalizes to real-world images of spiders. A fourth experiment assessed whether 5-month-olds have a perceptual template for a non-threatening biological stimulus (i.e., a flower). The results supported the hypothesis that humans, like other species, may possess a cognitive mechanism for detecting specific animals that were potentially harmful throughout evolutionary history.",

keywords = "Adaptations, Cognition, Evolution, Fear, Infancy, Perception, Spiders",

author = "Rakison, {David H.} and Jaime Derringer",

note = "We thank Erik Thiessen for helpful input concerning Experiment 3. We thank Katie Andreasson, Jessica Cicchino, Gabriel Smith, Kelly Mingle, Caroline Eckert, Theresa Kelly and the rest of the staff of the Infant Cognition Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University for their help with data collection and participant recruitment. We also thank the parents who kindly agreed to participate in the research. This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R03HD049511-01) to D.H.R. and a SURG Carnegie Mellon Grant to J.D.",

year = "2008",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1016/j.cognition.2007.07.022",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "107",

pages = "381--393",

journal = "Cognition",

issn = "0010-0277",