Unconscious processes, subliminal stimulation, and anxiety. Export

@article{citeulike:1291085, abstract = {Ever since Poetzl's studies, subliminal stimulation has been used as a paradigm to explore the connection between unconscious processes and psychopathology. Inspired by the psychodynamic tradition, folk psychology attributes a dramatic power to subliminal stimulation. In contrast, most modern researchers argue that effects of subliminal stimulation are rather limited. Does that mean that the unconscious is irrelevant to psychopathology? Not necessarily. Ohman and Soares' hypothesis about the preattentive origins of phobic reactions represents a good example of a model in which a "quick and dirty" unconscious may produce pathogenic effects. Although the empirical basis of this model is still meagre, its attractiveness hinges on the assumption that "quick and dirty" processes that make up the first second of human information processing are essential for higher level analysis and performance. In line with this, recent studies have indicated that the attentional bias that accompanies pathological anxiety, might be an unconscious phenomenon. Theories that focus on unconscious cognitive processes involved in pathological anxiety are certainly interesting, but it should be emphasized that there are other aspects of automaticity (i.e., involuntariness) that may be as relevant to psychopathology as absence of awareness.}, address = {Department of Medical, Clinical, and Experimental Psychology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. B.Mayer@DEP.Unimaas.NL}, author = {Mayer, B. and Merckelbach, H.}, citeulike-article-id = {1291085}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10467492}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=10467492}, issn = {0272-7358}, journal = {Clin Psychol Rev}, keywords = {anxiety, attentional-bias, review, subliminal, unconscious}, month = {August}, number = {5}, pages = {571--590}, posted-at = {2007-05-12 06:15:02}, priority = {2}, title = {Unconscious processes, subliminal stimulation, and anxiety.}, url = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10467492}, volume = {19}, year = {1999} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1291085 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1291085 N2 - Ever since Poetzl's studies, subliminal stimulation has been used as a paradigm to explore the connection between unconscious processes and psychopathology. Inspired by the psychodynamic tradition, folk psychology attributes a dramatic power to subliminal stimulation. In contrast, most modern researchers argue that effects of subliminal stimulation are rather limited. Does that mean that the unconscious is irrelevant to psychopathology? Not necessarily. Ohman and Soares' hypothesis about the preattentive origins of phobic reactions represents a good example of a model in which a "quick and dirty" unconscious may produce pathogenic effects. Although the empirical basis of this model is still meagre, its attractiveness hinges on the assumption that "quick and dirty" processes that make up the first second of human information processing are essential for higher level analysis and performance. In line with this, recent studies have indicated that the attentional bias that accompanies pathological anxiety, might be an unconscious phenomenon. Theories that focus on unconscious cognitive processes involved in pathological anxiety are certainly interesting, but it should be emphasized that there are other aspects of automaticity (i.e., involuntariness) that may be as relevant to psychopathology as absence of awareness. IS - 5 JF - Clin Psychol Rev SN - 0272-7358 AD - Department of Medical, Clinical, and Experimental Psychology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. B.Mayer@DEP.Unimaas.NL EP - 590 TI - Unconscious processes, subliminal stimulation, and anxiety. VL - 19 SP - 571 KW - anxiety KW - attentional-bias KW - review KW - subliminal KW - unconscious AU - Mayer, B AU - Merckelbach, H PY - 1999/08// UR - http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10467492 ER -