Backward Masked Snakes and Guns Modulate Spatial Attention

Fearful faces are important social cues that alert others of potential threat. Even backward masked fearful faces facilitate spatial attention. However, visual stimuli other than fearful faces can signal potential threat. Indeed, unmasked snakes and spiders modulate spatial attention. Yet, it is unclear if the rapid threat-related facilitation of spatial attention to backward masked stimuli is elicited by non-face threat cues. Evolutionary theories claim that phylogenetic threats (i.e. snakes and spiders) should preferentially elicit an automatic fear response, but it is untested as to whether this response extends to enhancements in spatial attention under restricted processing conditions. Thirty individuals completed a backward masking dot-probe task with both evolutionary relevant and irrelevant threat cues. The results suggest that backward masked visual fear stimuli modulate spatial attention. Both evolutionary relevant (snake) and irrelevant (gun) threat cues facilitated spatial attention.