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Example Trial Results Experiment 1

The Attentional Blink Effect in Spider and Snake Phobia Arash Farshid , Jeffrey S. Katz, and F . Dudley McGlynn Auburn University. Introduction

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Example Trial Results Experiment 1

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  1. The Attentional Blink Effect in Spider and Snake Phobia ArashFarshid, Jeffrey S. Katz, and F. Dudley McGlynn Auburn University • Introduction • Anxiety is thought to be associated with the selective processing of information related to threat, producing cognitive biases in such domains as attention • Attentional blink (AB): perception of a second target in an RSVP stream is impaired when it is presented 180-450 ms after the first target • Reductions in AB among anxious individuals may reflect the after-effects of hypervigilance toward threat • Representative study examining the AB in spider phobia: Cisler et al. (2007) • Compared to low spider-fearful participants, the duration of the AB was found to be reduced among high spider-fearful participants in response to spider-related T1 words • Limitations of Cisler et al. (2007) study • By using only spider-related T1 words, it could not be determined whether the differences observed between high and low spider-fearful participants were due to differential processing of threat or more global differences in attentional capture • The target words were not matched in frequency of use to the distracter words • A sub-clinical spider phobia sample was used, thus limiting the degree to which the results can be generalized to a clinical population • Participants may have been unintentionally made aware of the general purpose of the experiment • A between-subjects design was used with respect to participation in the experimental and control conditions, thus precluding a comparison between the AB durations of the two conditions for each individual • The present study performed a systematic replication of the Cisler et al. experiment (Experiment 1) and subsequently assessed the generalizeability of these results in individuals with snake phobia (Experiment 2) • Method • Participants • Experiment 1 • Spider phobics: 12 • Non-anxious controls (NAC): 24 • Experiment 2 • Snake phobics: 10 • NAC: 18 • Measures • Fear Survey Schedule-II • Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire • Spider Questionnaire (Experiment 1); Snake Questionnaire (Experiment 2) • Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV • Design and Stimuli • Stimuli • 24 target words: 12 threat-related & 12 affectively neutral • Target and distracter words were matched in length, syllable, and frequency of use (Kučera & Francis, 1967), as were the threat-related and affectively neutral target words • Design • Total trials: 864 (648 for experimental condition and 216 for control condition) • Control condition: participants ignore T1 and report whether the probe appeared • Experimental condition: participants identify T1 and report the presence or absence of the probe • Task was performed on a computer; each response was typed in a message box at the end of each trial • Experiment 1 Target Words Experiment 2 Target Words • Spider-relatedAffectively NeutralSnake-relatedAffectively Neutral • Crawly Diagrams Bite Coin • Creepy Daybed Coil Comb • Spider Tokens Creepy Binder • Arachnid Doctoral Disgust Crayons • Fang Twig Fang Knit • Bite Knit Hiss Knob • Legs Flow Reptile Borrows • Cobweb Hanger Scales Quotes • Web Ion Slither Booklet • Venom Plaza Snake Shoes • Disgust Inflate Strike Courts • Insect Heater Venom Comma • Example Trial • Results • Experiment 1 • Results revealed an AB duration of 540 ms for phobic individuals and 675 ms for NAC when T1 was spider-related • Results revealed an AB duration of 675 ms for both phobic individuals and NAC when T1 was affectively neutral • Experiment 2 • Results revealed an AB duration of 540 ms for phobic individuals and 675 ms for NAC when T1 was snake-related • Results revealed an AB duration of 675 ms for both phobic individuals and NAC when T1 was affectively neutral • Discussion • Individuals with spider phobia relative to NAC displayed a shorter AB period in response to spider-related T1 words; no such difference was found when T1 was affectively neutral • However, the magnitude of the difference was smaller (135 ms vs. 240 ms) than previously observed • These findings were replicated among snake phobia individuals when T1 was snake-related, marking the first experiment to assess individuals with snake phobia using these experimentalparameters • Future studies should examine the degree to which the presentation parameters affect the magnitude of the AB effect in animal phobia • The present results suggest that individuals with animal phobia may require fewer attentional resources to process threat-relevant stimuli • Given the heterogeneity in the attentional patterns among some of the anxiety disorders (e.g., a differential AB effect has been demonstrated for some anxiety disorders but not for others), current models describing how anxiety is thought to be maintained may need to be re-examined 5-7 distracters neutron 15 ms ISI T1 (threat or neutral) cobweb 15 ms ISI 120 ms stimulus presentation 0-8 distracters ion 15 ms ISI Probe , appears on half of trials coat Time 15 ms ISI 2-11 distracters hanger

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