Trypophobic Discomfort is Spatial-Frequency Dependent

Abstract

Clusters of holes, such as those in a lotus seedpod, induce trypophobic discomfort. Previous research has demonstrated that high-contrast energy at midrange spatial frequencies in images causes trypophobic discomfort. The present study examined the effects on discomfort of eliminating various spatial frequency components from the images to reveal how each spatial frequency contributes to the discomfort. Experiment 1 showed that eliminating midrange spatial frequencies did not affect trypophobic discomfort, while Experiment 2 revealed that images of holes that consisted of only high-spatial frequencies evoked less discomfort than other images and that images containing only low or midrange spatial frequencies induced as much trypophobic discomfort as did the original images. Finally, Experiment 3 found that participants with a high level of the trypophobic trait experienced stronger discomfort from the original images and the images containing only low or midrange spatial frequencies than participants with a low level of the trypophobic trait. Our findings thus suggest that trypophobic discomfort can be induced by middle and low spatial frequencies.

Invisible but Unpleasant: Unconscious emotional processing of trypophobic objects

“…experience of the objects. Actually, low-pass filtered images of trypophobic objects are sufficient to induce trypophobic discomfort (Sasaki et al, 2017) and this previous finding supports our notion about unconscious emotional processing of trypophobic objects.…”

“…Although subsequent studies have shown that trypophobia does not only involve the middle spatial frequency (Le et al, 2015;Sasaki et al, 2017), excess energy at the midrange spatial frequency possibly contributes to unconscious emotional processing of trypophobic images. To confirm this possibility, we conducted a similar spectrum analysis to that of Cole and Wilkins (2013).…”

“…Le and colleagues filtered trypophobic images such that the images had a 1/f spectrum and revealed that the filtered images still induced discomfort (Le, Cole, & Wilkins, 2015). Moreover, even when midrange spatial frequency components were removed, trypophobic discomfort did not decrease (Sasaki et al, 2017). Sasaki et al have also revealed that strong discomfort was induced not only by original and mid-pass filtered trypophobic images but also by low-pass filtered trypophobic images.…”

“…This colliculus-pulvinar pathway contributes to rapid and unconscious processing of threat objects (e.g., Bar, Neta, & Linz, 2006;Kawai & He, 2016;Tsuchiya, Moradi, & Felsen, 2009). Low spatial frequency components induce trypophobic discomfort (Sasaki et al, 2017), and thus these cues of trypophobic discomfort should be rapidly transmitted to the amygdala via the colliculus-pulvinar pathway. Therefore, trypophobic objects are possibly judged as unpleasant without awareness.…”

Object Clusters or Spectral Energy? Assessing the Relative Contributions of Image Phase and Amplitude Spectra to Trypophobia

“…Two main theoretical frameworks have been proposed to explain trypophobia (Cole & Wilkins, 2013;Kupfer & Le, 2017;; both theories suggest that the visual discomfort elicited by trypophobic stimuli is an evolved response to help organisms detect and avoid harmful stimuli. One proposal is that the characteristic trypophobic patterns contain excessive energy at mid-range spatial frequencies, as defined in previous work (Sasaki et al 2017: 2-9 cycles per degree of visual angle (cpd); Fernandez & Wilkins 2008: 3 cpd +/-2 octaves). This same spectral energy profile can also be observed in the patterning of many venomous and/or predatory animals like snakes and spiders (Cole & Wilkins, 2013).…”