AWARENESS BOUNDARIES OF VERY BRIEF EXPOSURE

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that very brief exposure (VBE) to feared stimuli can have positive effects on avoidance of that feared stimuli. The purpose of this study was to examine different dosages of Very Brief Exposure and to determine which amount of exposure to images of spiders would reduce fear behavior the most. A Behavioral Avoidance Test was completed one week before exposure and immediately after exposure. Phobic participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: VBE (33 ms stimulus duration), Briefer VBE (17 ms stimulus duration), Barely Visible VBE (50 ms stimulus duration), and VBF (33 ms stimulus duration). It was expected that VBE would reduce avoidance unconsciously in phobic participants. It was also expected that when a lower dose of exposure is given, at an SOA of 17 milliseconds (one refresh rate lower), there would be too little awareness for VBE to affect avoidance behavior. It was also expected that when a higher dose of exposure was given, at an SOA of 50 milliseconds (one refresh rate higher), there would be too much exposure. The results showed that the effect of VBE on reducing avoidance of the tarantula approached significance. The effects of Briefer VBE and Barely Visible VBE were not close to significant. If there were more participants, the effect of VBE on reducing phobic avoidance may have been significant, since the effect size was considerable. These results suggest that VBE is the optimal dose to reduce avoidance of feared stimuli, and that a future study with more participants is needed to test the hypotheses fully.