A pox on the mind: Disjunction of attention and memory in the processing of physical disfigurement

Abstract

The unfavorable treatment of people with physical disfigurements is well-documented, yet little is known about basic perceptual and cognitive responses to disfigurement. Here, we identify a specialized pattern of cognitive processing consistent with the hypothesis that disfigurements act as heuristic cues to contagious disease. Disfigurements are often invariant across time and difficult to conceal, and thus observers can detect the presence of such cues without necessarily remembering the particular individuals bearing these cues. Indeed, despite the fact that disfigured faces were especially likely to hold disease-sensitive perceivers' attention (Study 1), disfigured individuals were often confused with one another and thus not well remembered later (Study 2), revealing a disjunction of the typical relationship between elevated attention and elevated memory. We discuss the implications of our results for stigmatization of people with and without physical abnormalities and suggest the possibility that cognitive mechanisms for processing social information may be functionally tuned to the variant nature of important cues.

Where Do You Look Visual Attention to Human Bodies across the Weight Spectrum in Individuals with Normal Weight or with Obesity

“…This de-individualisation effect corresponds to results of studies investigating deviant body appearance (e.g. [27,28]). Both studies found that pictures of individuals with deviant body appearance, e.g.…”

“…Both studies found that pictures of individuals with deviant body appearance, e.g. individuals with port-wine stain or strabismus [28] and children with cleft lip [27], were associated with an attentional bias towards viewing them: a physical deviant face appearance attracted more attention without increasing memory for these faces [28], and the mouth area of children with cleft lip was dwelt on longer than viewing children without cleft lip, whereas the eye area of children with cleft lip was fixated less [27]. …”

The behavioural immune system and the psychology of human sociality

“…Indeed, regardless of the source or veracity of an individual's subjective perception of vulnerability to infection, that subjective perception is likely to influence the activation of the behavioural immune system. Under conditions in which individuals perceive themselves to be more vulnerable to infection, they are expected to be more perceptually sensitive to things (including people) who appear to pose an infection risk [22]; and when those things (including people) are detected, those perceivers are expected to exhibit more exaggerated aversive responses-greater disgust, greater activation of aversive cognitions into working memory, greater motivation for behavioural avoidance and so forth.…”

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“…Naturally, then, psychological adaptations for detecting and avoiding infectious disease should play an important role in assessing the health of potential mates and motivating adaptive behaviour. Humans have evolved to detect infectious disease threat via tactile, olfactory and visual cues that have reliably connoted pathogen presence over evolutionary time [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. For instance, open, inflamed pus-oozing sores indicate infection, and people typically respond to these features in strangers by withdrawal, which is often accompanied by a visceral emotional response in the domain of 'disgust' [44,45].…”