Visual avoidance in specific phobia
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 26, 2026

Investigating Pain-Related Avoidance Behavior using a Robotic Arm-Reaching Paradigm
Published on: October 3, 2020
Abstract:
Cognitive models of anxiety postulate that fear and anxiety serve as programs for avoidance of threat-relevant stimuli. We hypothesized that exposure to phobia-relevant stimuli would lead to visual avoidance in specific phobics. Spider phobic, blood-injection-injury phobic, and nonphobic participants were asked to view spider, injection, and neutral photographs through a three-channel tachistoscope that measured viewing time for each picture. Despite experimenter instructions to study the pictures carefully for a subsequent recognition test, phobic subjects showed decreased viewing times for threat-relevant pictures as compared to neutral pictures. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive models of anxiety disorders and implications for exposure-based therapies.
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