Is Trypophobia a Phobia?

Wang, Can; Zhuoran, Zhao; Jin, Zheng

doi:10.1177/0033294116687298

Cited by 22 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…It has been suggested that a trypophobic reaction may be an extension of an intrinsic disgust for decomposing items, sores and scars, which would aid in the avoidance of contaminated stimuli specifically and disease more generally ( Cole & Wilkins, 2013 ; Deacon & Olatunji, 2007 ; Rozin & Fallon, 1987 ; Skaggs, 2014 ). Holes, but not spiders and snakes, or other repetitive patterns, may have come to be associated with disease transmission ( Rozin & Fallon, 1987 ), either over the course of evolution or learned during ontogenetic development ( Can, Zhuoran & Zheng, 2017 ; Kupfer & Le, 2017 ). The result of this association may be a corresponding withdrawal response controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pupillometry reveals the physiological underpinnings of the aversion to holes

Ayzenberg

Hickey

Lourenco

2018

PeerJ

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An unusual, but common, aversion to images with clusters of holes is known as trypophobia. Recent research suggests that trypophobic reactions are caused by visual spectral properties also present in aversive images of evolutionary threatening animals (e.g., snakes and spiders). However, despite similar spectral properties, it remains unknown whether there is a shared emotional response to holes and threatening animals. Whereas snakes and spiders are known to elicit a fear reaction, associated with the sympathetic nervous system, anecdotal reports from self-described trypophobes suggest reactions more consistent with disgust, which is associated with activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. Here we used pupillometry in a novel attempt to uncover the distinct emotional response associated with a trypophobic response to holes. Across two experiments, images of holes elicited greater constriction compared to images of threatening animals and neutral images. Moreover, this effect held when controlling for level of arousal and accounting for the pupil grating response. This pattern of pupillary response is consistent with involvement of the parasympathetic nervous system and suggests a disgust, not a fear, response to images of holes. Although general aversion may be rooted in shared visual-spectral properties, we propose that the specific emotion is determined by cognitive appraisal of the distinct image content.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pupillometry reveals the physiological underpinnings of the aversion to holes

Ayzenberg

Hickey

Lourenco

2018

PeerJ

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“…A previous study has demonstrated that the spectrum of the trypophobic images is similar to that of poisonous animals and speculated that this visual property induces an avoidance reaction (Cole & Wilkins, 2013). However, a subsequent study showed that trypophobic objects were not associated with poisonous animals (Can, Zhuoran, & Zheng, 2017). On the other hand, Yamada and Sasaki (2017) recently proposed a new possible explanation: The "involuntary protection against dermatosis" (IPAD)…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invisible but Unpleasant: Unconscious emotional processing of trypophobic objects

K¹,

Watanabe²,

Yamada³

2018

Preprint

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Clusters of round objects (e.g., lotus seedpods) induce strong discomfort (trypophobic discomfort). A previous study has shown that trypophobic discomfort stems not only from middle but also low spatial frequency information, which should be rapidly transmitted to the amygdala via the superior colliculus and pulvinar pathway. Based on this finding, we hypothesized that trypophobic discomfort would be evoked by invisible trypophobic images; the present study examined this using a backward masking technique. We found that trypophobic images were reported as unpleasant significantly above the chance level irrespectively of visibility of the image (Experiments 1 and 2). On the other hand, detection sensitivity for trypophobic images was lower than that for neutral images (Experiment 3). Taken together, our findings suggest that emotional information about trypophobic objects is processed unconsciously although this information does not promote detection.

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“…Recently, Can et al ( 19 ) questioned whether trypophobia is really a phobia, given that previous reports showed people commonly feel disgust rather than fear when confronted to trypophobic images. Hence, if trypophobia does not involve fear in most cases, it might not be a specific phobia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trypophobia: What Do We Know So Far? A Case Report and Comprehensive Review of the Literature

et al. 2018

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In this article, we describe the case of a girl who suffers from a phobia to repetitive patterns, known as trypophobia. This condition has not yet been recognised by diagnostic taxonomies such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Trypophobia usually involves an intense and disproportionate fear towards holes, repetitive patterns, protrusions, etc., and, in general, images that present high-contrast energy at low and midrange spatial frequencies. It is commonly accompanied by neurovegetative symptoms. In the case we present here, the patient also suffered from generalised anxiety disorder and was treated with sertraline. After she was diagnosed, she showed symptoms of both fear and disgust towards trypophobic images. After some time following treatment, she only showed disgust towards said images. We finish this case report presenting a comprehensive literature review of the peer reviewed articles we retrieved after an exhaustive search about trypophobia, we discuss how this case report contributes to the understanding of this anxiety disorder, and what questions future studies should address in order to achieve a better understanding of trypophobia.

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Is Trypophobia a Phobia?

Cited by 22 publications

References 25 publications

Pupillometry reveals the physiological underpinnings of the aversion to holes

Pupillometry reveals the physiological underpinnings of the aversion to holes

Invisible but Unpleasant: Unconscious emotional processing of trypophobic objects

Trypophobia: What Do We Know So Far? A Case Report and Comprehensive Review of the Literature

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