1. 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 experimental parameters 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 The Attentional Blink Effect in Spider and Snake Phobia Arash Farshid, 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 WordsExperiment 2 Target Words Spider-relatedAffectively NeutralSnake-relatedAffectively Neutral CrawlyDiagramsBiteCoin CreepyDaybedCoilComb SpiderTokensCreepyBinder ArachnidDoctoralDisgustCrayons FangTwigFangKnit BiteKnitHissKnob LegsFlowReptileBorrows CobwebHangerScalesQuotes WebIonSlitherBooklet VenomPlazaSnakeShoes DisgustInflateStrikeCourts InsectHeaterVenomComma 5-7 distracters T1 (threat or neutral) 0-8 distracters 2-11 distracters 120 ms stimulus presentation 15 ms ISI neutron Time cobweb 15 ms ISI ion 15 ms ISI coat Probe, appears on half of trials 15 ms ISI hanger