Fear of clusters skin#

They compared 76 images of trypophobic objects along with 76 images of holes not associated with the phobia.Īfter standardising various features of the images, the researchers found that the trypophobic objects had relatively high contrast energy at midrange spatial frequencies in comparison to the control images, which is to say they have a unique visual quality to them.

Fear of clusters skin#

Sufferers have visceral reaction when they see everyday objects and animals with associated patterns, which can reportedly make their skin crawl, hair hurt, and even their stomach turnĭespite this, there has been little scientific investigation of the phenomenon.ĭr Cole and Dr Wilkins, both vision scientists, wondered whether there might be a specific visual feature common to trypophobic objects.

Although it is not not officially recognised by some psychologists, thousands of people claim to be fearful of objects with small holes, such as beehives, ant holes and lotus seed heads.

The term trypophobia (sometimes called repetitive pattern phobia) was coined in 2005.