Assessment of trypophobia and an analysis of its visual precipitation

Abstract

We developed and validated a symptom scale that can be used to identify "trypophobia", in which individuals experience aversion induced by images of clusters of circular objects. The trypophobia questionnaire (TQ) was based on reports of various symptom types, but it nevertheless demonstrated a single construct, with high internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The TQ scores predicted discomfort from trypophobic images, but not neutral or unpleasant images, and did not correlate with anxiety. Using image filtering, we also reduced the excess energy at midrange spatial frequencies associated with both trypophobic and uncomfortable images. Relative to unfiltered trypophobic images, the discomfort from filtered images experienced by observers with high TQ scores was less than that experienced with control images and by observers with low TQ scores. Furthermore, we found that clusters of concave objects (holes) did not induce significantly more discomfort than clusters of convex objects (bumps), suggesting that trypophobia involves images with particular spectral profile rather than clusters of holes per se.

The Influence of Background Objects on Unpleasantness Evoked by Lotus-seed-pods-on-the-living-body Images (“Hasu-colla”)

“…Second, it is possible that the differences in unpleasantness could be explained by the spatial frequency of background objects. Cole and Wilkins (2013) and Le et al (2015) indicated that trypophobic images have characteristic spatial frequency properties [2,4]. We partly regulated the luminance, but not spatial frequency, in Experiments 1 and 2.…”

“…Imaizumi et al (2016) showed that trypophobia is predicted partially by core disgust [6]. Moreover, lotus seedpods are typical stimuli that induce trypophobia [4]. The visual appearance of lotus seedpods looks similar to scars and sores, and therefore, may remind viewers of them [3].…”

“…Importantly, there might be different underlying mechanisms; lotus seedpods on animals elicit animal reminder disgust, while lotus seedpods on an edible plant (i.e., a non-animal object) elicit core disgust. Given that the substantial inter-individual variability of Hasu-colla-evoked disgust [9] and trypophobia [4,6,31], there may be a demand for an effective intervention for those susceptible to these disgust responses. Our results that suggest that the negative cognitive processing associated with scars, sores and food rejection might contribute to the unpleasantness of placing lotus seedpods on background objects (i.e., Hasu-colla), and also imply that people who are sensitive to Hasu-colla and/or clusters need help.…”

“…This refers to disgust regarding a circular cluster such as lotus seedpods [2,3], and these are typical stimuli that induce trypophobia [4]. A recent study suggests that trypophobia is evoked by not only circular clusters but also clusters of eyes and faces [5].…”

Trypophobia: an investigation of clinical features

“…It has been suggested that trypophobia involves images with a particular spectral profile rather than clusters of holes per se. 6 On the one hand, this set of symptoms would seem to be an unusual one, perhaps rarely encountered by the clinician. However, with the emergence of the internet and virtual support groups, and the ability of more people to share information about their concerns and fears, it turns out that trypophobia may not be an uncommon phenomenon.…”