Mouth proximity influences perceived disgust of visual stimuli
Category
Journal Article
Authors
Pavol Prokop, Jana Fancovicova, Dominika Sramelova, Gaëtan Thiebaut, Alain Méot, Patrick Bonin
Year
2023
Title
Mouth proximity influences perceived disgust of visual stimuli
Journal / book / conference
Personality and Individual Differences
Abstract
The emotion of disgust likely evolved to protect humans against oral contamination by pathogens. Accordingly,
objects positioned in close proximity to body parts -where infection can easily invade the human body-should be
perceived as more disgusting than objects positioned in more neutral places. In the present study, we experimentally
altered the distance of various edible and non-edible stimuli from the human mouth and found that
mouth proximity enhanced disgust ratings, and more particularly for non-food stimuli. Interestingly, stimuli that
were shown near the foot, i.e., far away from the mouth, were also given high disgust ratings, probably due to
different contextual integration of emotional conflict. These findings suggest that disgust is enhanced when the
risk of oral contamination increases, and thus, that disgust is context-dependent.
Volume
207
Keywords
Pathogen disgust Oral contamination Emotional context dependence
relative links
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2023.112146