Threat-expectancy, word frequencies, and perceptual pre-recognition hypotheses.

"In order to investigate whether delayed perceptual report of threatening words would occur under conditions of threat-expectancy in an experimental setup which makes possible examination of the operation of possible conscious inhibition as well as differential word frequencies, 59 Ss were given a series of 16 booklets, each containing 30 carbon copies of one five-letter stimulus word, to decipher. Eight of these words were considered neutral and eight threatening… . Significantly more trials were required for correct report of threat words as compared to neutral ones. No correlation between number of trials required for correct identification of the test words and word frequency was found… . The findings are interpreted as consistent with a concept of perceptual defense." 20 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)