title: Effects of attention training on self-reported, implicit, physiological and behavioural measures of spider fear.
abstract: Cognitive theories hold that biased attention to threat plays a prominent role in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders. In support of this view, attention training has been shown to affect emotional reactivity. An important limitation of most attention training studies is that they almost exclusively rely on self-report measures to assess changes in fear. In the present study, we trained attention towards or away from spiders. We assessed not only self-reported spider fear, but also implicit spider associations, physiological, and behavioural measures of spider fear. Although we successfully changed the attentional processing of spiders, attention training had no effect on any of the outcome variables. These results indicate that changes in attentional bias are not necessarily associated with changes in fear, suggesting that attention training may be unsuitable as a clinical intervention for spider fear.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. Bram.Vanbockstaele@UGent.be
authors.forename: Bram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Van Bockstaele
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Verschuere
authors.forename: Ernst H W
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Koster
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tibboel
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De Houwer
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Crombez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety; D001244:Association; D001288:Attention; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003863:Depression; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D013112:Spiders; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires