Trypophobiais describe as the fear of a cluster of irregular - shaped circles or jam , such as the pickle in a sponge , honeycomb , or eruct in a coffee bean cup . These shapes might seem innocent enough to most people , but just take care at range of a function of these holes can be enough to provoke intense feelings of fright , anxiety , and distaste in some people .

psychologist from the University of Kent in the UK consider they have happen the cause of this condition : a cryptic - seated distaste to parasite and disease .

Their study , of late print in the journalCognition and Emotion , indicate that the experimental condition is bear on to an evolutionary response to forefend infective diseases or parasitic contagion . As they highlight , many awful infections entail circular patterns and gob , such as tic , botflies , smallpox , measles , epidemic roseola , typhus , reddish fever , etc .

It ’s a well - establish fact that many response of disgust and antipathy stem from an evolutionary function to head off source of contagion . For example , many masses are disgusted by   blood and speculative olfactory property , which serves to dissuade them from potential sources of unwellness .

For their study , the team   recruited over 600 hoi polloi , half with trypophobia and half without , to take in   16 images of jam and clusters , along with answering a questionnaire . Eight of the trope   were pic related to pathologic body constituent , like skin rash or   implant ticks , while the other eight had no relevancy to diseases , such as drilled hole in a wall and a germ seedpod .

The eight disease - refer images provoked a minus reception among both groups . However , the non - disease - related images only provoked this reply in the citizenry with trypophobia .

Individuals with trypophobia also reported feelings of disgust , nausea , or the urge to vomit up when they viewed these images . They also said they experienced sensations like skin itchiness , skin creep , or the sensation of bugs cringe on the pelt . Once more , this reaffirm the theory that people with trypophobia may comprehend bunch input as if they are harbingers of parasites and disease .

Like many of our   fears , it ’s simply a deep - root response – in this character , possibly   an   overgeneralize anxiety about parasites and infectious diseases .