Attention bias modification in specific fears: Spiders versus snakes. (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Luo, Xijia; Ikani, Nessa; Barth, Anja; Rengers, Lea; Becker, Eni; Rinck, Mike
• Is Part Of: Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry. Volume 49: Part A (2015)
• Page Start: 30
• Page End: 36
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: Attention bias modification -- Attention bias -- Attention training -- Specific phobia -- Spiders -- Snakes; Behavior therapy -- Periodicals; 616.89142
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2015.04.006
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0005-7916

Abstract

Abstract: Background and objectives: Attention Bias Modification (ABM) is used to manipulate attention biases in anxiety disorders. It has been successful in reducing attention biases and anxious symptoms in social anxiety and generalized anxiety, but not yet in specific fears and phobias. Methods: We designed a new version of the dot-probe training task, aiming to train fearful participants' attention away from or towards pictures of threatening stimuli. Moreover, we studied whether the training also affected participants' avoidance behavior and their physical arousal upon being confronted with a real threat object. Results: In Experiment 1, students with fear of spiders were trained. We found that the attention manipulation was successful, but the training failed to affect behavior or arousal. In Experiment 2, the same procedure was used on snake-fearful students. Again, attention was trained in the expected directions. Moreover, participants whose attention had been trained away from snakes showed lower physiological arousal upon being confronted with a real snake. Limitations: The study involved healthy students with normal distribution of the fear of spider/snake. Future research with clinical sample could help with determining the generalizability of the current findings. Conclusions: The effect of ABM on specific phobia is still in question. The finding in the present study suggested the possibility to alter attentional bias with a dot-probe task with general positive stimuli and this training could even affect the behavior while encountering a real threat. Highlights: Attention Bias Modification with the dot-probe task was administered for both spider fear (Exp. 1) and snake fear (Exp. 2). We examined the effect of the training on attention and on fear-related behavior. ABM successfully altered participants' attention for spiders and for snakes. ABM away-from-threat reduced participants' arousal during confrontation with a real snake, but not a real spider.