Is it dangerous? The role of an emotional visual search strategy and threat‐relevant training in the detection of guns and knives

Damjanovic, Ljubica; Williot, Alexandre; Blanchette, Isabelle · 2020 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12404

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Summary

This study investigates whether explicit verbal instructions can enhance the detection of threatening objects, such as guns and knives, in visual search tasks. Motivated by public safety campaigns that encourage vigilance through verbal cues, the authors examine the "language-as-context" hypothesis, which posits that emotional verbal strategies sharpen perceptual representations of threat. The research also explores how threat-relevant training and the observer’s emotional state influence this detection process. The study comprised two experiments using a visual search task where participants identified a target object embedded in a 3x3 matrix of neutral distractors. In Experiment 1, university students performed the task under two conditions: an emotional strategy (answering "Is it dangerous?") or a semantic strategy (answering "Is it an object?"). Experiment 2 compared police trainees, who received specialized threat awareness training, with student controls. This experiment additionally manipulated situational threat levels (high vs. low) via instructions adapted from policing protocols. Both experiments measured reaction times and utilized self-report questionnaires to assess anxiety, trauma, paranoia, and emotion regulation. Results from Experiment 1 demonstrated a significant threat superiority effect, with faster detection of dangerous objects compared to neutral ones. Crucially, this effect was significantly enhanced when participants used the emotional processing strategy compared to the semantic strategy. Correlational analyses revealed no significant link between participants’ self-reported emotional states (anxiety, trauma, etc.) and threat detection performance. In Experiment 2, police trainees exhibited a larger threat superiority effect than student controls, indicating that training improves threat detection. However, both groups benefited from the emotional processing strategy. Contrary to predictions, manipulating situational threat levels in the instructions had no significant effect on visual search performance. The findings support the language-as-context hypothesis, demonstrating that verbal cues can modulate visual attention and enhance the detection of threats. The results suggest that an emotional processing strategy is more effective than a semantic one for identifying dangerous objects, regardless of the observer’s professional background. Furthermore, the study highlights the role of expertise, as trained officers showed superior detection capabilities. The lack of effect from situational threat instructions and self-reported emotional states suggests that proximal verbal strategies are more influential than broad contextual cues or individual affective states in this specific visual search paradigm. These insights have practical implications for designing effective public safety campaigns and training programs for law enforcement.

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• hazard perception