Clinical Research Directory
Browse clinical research sites, groups, and studies.
Attention Bias Modification Training for Social Phobia (ABMSP)
Sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Summary
Attentional bias has primarily been investigated as a primary cognitive etiology of social anxiety symptoms. Previous research has found that individuals with high social anxiety showed facilitated attentional engagement to threat stimuli or delayed disengagement of attention from threat. Attentional Bias Modification Training (ABMT) was developed through applying the attentional mechanism in social anxiety. During ABMT, participants are deliberately induced to shift their attention away from threat stimuli and toward neutral stimuli. Despite its proven effectiveness, a recent meta-study found that the effect size of ABMT is significant but too small. As a result, the current study focuses on improving the existing ABMT by incorporating integrative factors into attention training. The current study aims to integrate bottom-up and top-down cognitive processes in ABMT. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions (active or placebo training) and will complete the ABMT for three weeks. The ABMT's efficacy will be assessed by comparing pre- and post-training measures.
Official title: Mobile-based Attentional Bias Modification Training (ABMT) for Socially Anxious Individuals
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 60 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
60
Start Date
2022-04-07
Completion Date
2024-08-31
Last Updated
2024-04-05
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
Attentional Bias Modification Training (ABMT)
The ABMT is aimed to modify attentional bias for negative stimuli in social anxiety by deliberately inducing the participant's attention to positive or neutral stimuli. In the training, after a pair of facial stimuli (e.g., threatening-neutral, neutral-neutral) are presented, a left or right arrow appears in one of the location. Participants are instructed to press the button in the correct direction as quickly and accurately as possible.
General Attention Control Training
The general attention control training aimed to improve participants' general attention control ability by asking them to press a left or right arrow in the correct direction. The basic design of attention control training is the same as the ABMT, but the attention control training does not aim to alter the direction of attention toward or away from certain stimuli.
Locations (1)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States