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An Eye Tracking Study Examining the Role of Mating Strategies, Perceived Vulnerability to Disease, and Disgust in Attention to Pathogenic Cues - PubMed

An Eye Tracking Study Examining the Role of Mating Strategies, Perceived Vulnerability to Disease, and Disgust in Attention to Pathogenic Cues

Ray Garza et al. Adapt Human Behav Physiol. 2023.

Abstract

Disgust is an emotion that regulates disease avoidance and reduces the likelihood of pathogenic infections. Existing research suggests a bidirectional relationship between disgust and mating, where disgust inhibits sexual behavior and sexual behavior inhibits disgust. In the current study, we investigated the role of individual differences and mating motivations on visual attention to pathogenic cues. Participants (N = 103) were randomly assigned to a mating prime or control condition, and they were asked to view images of pathogenic cues (i.e., rotten food, exposed cuts, bodily fluids) paired with their non-pathogenic counterparts. The findings showed no effect of mating prime on visual attention to pathogenic stimuli; however, dispositional mating strategies (SOI-R) were associated with attention to pathogenic stimuli. Individuals with unrestricted sociosexual orientations viewed pathogenic stimuli longer. The findings demonstrate that dispositional mating orientation is associated with greater attention to disgusting images, a link between pathogens and mating orientation that warrants further exploration.

Keywords: Attention; Disgust; Eye-tracking; Mating; Pathogens; Sociosexual orientation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing InterestsThe authors declare that there are no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1

An example of the presentation sequence for viewing images on the eye-tracker. Presented is a toilet without (left) and with (right) fecal matter on the toilet seat

Fig. 2
Fig. 2

(a) First fixation duration (in milliseconds), (b) Number of fixations, and (c) Dwell time (in milliseconds) to non-pathogen and pathogen cues

Fig. 3
Fig. 3

The moderating role of short-term mating orientation on number of fixations to pathogen cues

Fig. 4
Fig. 4

The moderating role of short-term mating orientation on dwell time to pathogen cues

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