NCT03969160

Neural Activations During Imaginal Exposure in Individuals Fearful of Spiders

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (actual)
• Sponsor: Uppsala University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study explores the brain basis of imaginal exposure, a widely used psychological treatment technique. Specifically, this study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain areas activated during imaginal exposure, in individuals fearful of spiders. Physiological responses and subjective fear experienced during imaginal exposure are also assessed. The primary aim of this study is to explore differences in neural activity during exposure to phobic, compared to neutral, mental imagery. The study will focus primarily on exploratory whole brain analyses, but will also include regions of interest analyses on brain areas previously associated with imaginal exposure. The experimental procedure consists of repeated exposure to mental imagery, i.e. imagery of short durations, including either highly emotion-provoking or neutral content, prompted by verbal instructions. A secondary aim is to explore the effects of repeated exposure to mental imagery, used during the experimental procedure, on subjective fear and physiological responses.

Detailed description

Results will elucidate if neural activity to phobic imagery differs from activity associated with the production of mental imagery per se. Findings will also increase our general understanding of the neural basis of imaginal exposure treatments.

Conditions

• Individuals With Fear of Spiders

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Imaginal exposure	Imaginal exposure to mental imagery of phobic and neutral stimuli

Timeline

• Start date: 2017-11-11
• Primary completion: 2018-02-14
• Completion: 2018-02-22
• First posted: 2019-05-31
• Last updated: 2019-05-31

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Sweden