Attentional bias for taboo words

Abstract

The present study compares attentional bias for positive and threatening stimuli. However, only a small number of studies used taboo words for Russian-speaking people, although such material clearly refects emotional processing of information. Taboo words were included in the dot-probe task. In our study, we tested the idea that taboo words, compared with neutral distracters, will impair emotional attention. Participants (n = 43) performed the dotprobe task (MacLeod, Mathews, Tata, 1986), then they were asked about words, which they remember. There were no statistically signifcant differences between the neutral and taboo words. We found a correlation between the number of correctly named words and attentional bias for presenting words on 100 ms (r = 0,431, p < 0,05). Subsequent research will focus on procedure of the dot-probe task. This research showed the need to control the emotionality of words for participants. Larger effects of attentional bias for taboo words can be obtained with the use of a large number of probes.