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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Urs Mosimann
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Predicting the behavior of phobic patients in a confrontational situation is challenging. While avoidance as a major clinical component of phobias suggests that patients orient away from threat, findings based on cognitive paradigms indicate an attentional bias towards threat. Here we present eye movement data from 21 spider phobics and 21 control subjects, based on 3 basic oculomotor tasks and a visual exploration task that included close-up views of spiders. Relative to the control group, patients showed accelerated reflexive saccades in one of the basic oculomotor tasks, while the fear-relevant exploration task evoked a general slowing in their scanning behavior and pronounced oculomotor avoidance. However, this avoidance strongly varied within the patient group and was not associated with the scores from spider avoidance-sensitive questionnaire scales. We suggest that variation of oculomotor avoidance between phobics reflects different strategies of how they cope with threat in confrontational situations. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Author(s): Pflugshaupt T, Mosimann UP, Schmitt WJ, von Wartburg R, Wurtz P, Luthi M, Nyffeler T, Hess CW, Muri RM
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Anxiety Disorders
Year: 2007
Volume: 21
Issue: 3
Pages: 353-366
Print publication date: 01/01/2007
ISSN (print): 0887-6185
ISSN (electronic): 1873-7897
Publisher: Pergamon
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.05.005
DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.05.005
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