Arachnophobia Brain Experiment

Showing arachnophobes images of spiders for a split second helped in regulating emotional and behavioural responses to fear, a study has found.

21:39 07 February 2017

US researchers have found that showing people the cause of their phobia for a split second can help them overcome their fear.

 

In their study, 21 young women with a phobia of spiders were shown images of spiders for split second in between images of flowers. They were then shown spider images for a longer time while their brain activity was monitored.

 

Compared to women with phobias, the participants showed a strong activity in areas of the brain that regulate emotional and behavioural responses to fear when they were shown spider images very briefly. The researchers explained that it resulted in the level of fear actually experienced being reduced.

 

Paul Siegel, lead author of the study and associate professor of psychology at Purchase College of the State University of New York, said: "Counter-intuitively, our study showed that the brain is better able to process feared stimuli when they are presented without conscious awareness.

"Our findings suggest that phobic people may be better prepared to face their fears if at first they are not consciously aware that they've faced them."