Adaptation in attentional cautiousness among highly sensitive persons: Evidence from spatial cueing paradigm

Abstract

Individuals with higher sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) exhibit heightened cautiousness during attentional orienting. This study investigated how expectancy influences SPS-related cautiousness in two experiments using a spatial cueing paradigm. Spatial cues either validly or invalidly signaled the location of subsequent target stimuli. Experiment 1 manipulated cue-target predictivity at 80 % and 50 % probabilities. The results indicated that higher SPS was associated with a decreased validity effect in both probability conditions, suggesting that individuals with higher SPS tend to treat valid and invalid cues similarly. Experiment 2 expanded this manipulation to include probabilities of 100 %, 80 %, and 50 %. The results confirmed that higher SPS was associated with a decreased validity effect. Additionally, individuals with higher SPS responded more slowly; however, this slowing diminished as valid probability approached full predictivity (100 %), compared to partial probabilities (50 % and 80 %). The decreased validity effect associated with higher SPS supports the notion of heightened cautiousness in attentional orienting among highly sensitive individuals. Moreover, our findings suggest that highly sensitive individuals prefer predictable events, but can adapt their cautious attentional approach in response to varying expectancy levels. This study empirically links SPS to a preference for greater certainty while simultaneously showing adaptability under uncertain conditions.