Attention bias modification for reducing speech anxiety

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Highlights

  • Attention bias modification (ABM) reduced speech fear.

  • Yet ABM was no more effective than two control interventions.

  • Physiological, behavioral, and self-report measures revealed significant improvement in all three conditions.

Abstract

The mechanisms mediating the anxiolytic effects of attention bias modification (ABM) remain unclear. Accordingly, we randomly assigned speech-anxious subjects to receive four sessions of one of three training conditions: ABM, inverse ABM, and control. In the ABM condition, subjects viewed pairs of photographs of models displaying facial expressions of disgust and joy on a computer screen. Probes always replaced the positive face, and subjects pushed a button to indicate the identity of the probe (E or F) as rapidly as possible. In the inverse condition, the probes always replaced the negative face, and in the control condition, the probes replaced each face type equally often. After four training sessions, all groups exhibited statistically indistinguishable, but significant, reductions on self-report, behavioral, and physiological measures of speech anxiety. Self-report and behavioral measures of attentional control improved likewise. Contrary to early studies, ABM was not superior to control procedures in producing reductions on measures of social anxiety.

Section snippets

Design

We used a 3 (Group; ABM, inverse, control) × 2 (Assessment; pretraining, posttraining) mixed design. Using an algorithm designed by the second author, we randomly assigned subjects to the ABM, inverse, and control groups. Research assistants (RAs) testing subjects knew what protocol to run (A, B, or C), but only the second author was aware of what protocol corresponded to ABM, inverse, and control training procedures. Hence, the experiment was double blind. Harvard University's Committee on the

Overview

We present data on subjects who completed the protocol. Prior to inspecting the data and breaking the blind on group assignment, we excluded subjects for several reasons. Some subjects dropped out before completing the protocol (ABM = 12; inverse = 10; control = 7). The data of two additional inverse subjects were eliminated because of experimenter error in delivering the incorrect training regimen for one subject, and the other because the Harvard University Study Pool identified him as a

Discussion

Irrespective of their group assignment, subjects who completed four sessions of training exhibited statistically significant reductions on self-report, behavioral, and physiological measures of anxiety while delivering their speech at the posttraining assessment relative to the pretraining assessment. Moreover, the three groups likewise reported statistically indistinguishable and significant reductions on questionnaires tapping speech anxiety, anxiety, stress, depression, and social phobia.

Acknowledgements

We thank Ujunwa Anakwenze, Christopher Chiu, Gina Ferrari, Cindy Guan, Nicole LeBlanc, Richard Liu, Martin Möbius, Emily Pereira, Ashley Stilley, Mia Tankersley, Imke Vonk, Winnie Wu, and Janet Yarboi for their assistance with this project.

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