Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) and Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) in Social Anxiety Disorder

Attention bias is modified using a dot-probe task. Each trial begins with a fixation cross presented in the center of the screen for 500 ms. Next, participants are presented with two stimuli depicting two faces of the same individual for 500 ms, either of two neutral faces or with one neutral face and one disgust face (i.e., the socially-threatening stimulus). Then, one of two optional probes appears in the location former occupied by one of the faces. Participants are instructed to discriminate as fast as possible between the two variants of the probe, without compromising accuracy, by pressing on two corresponding keys. The probe remains on the screen until the participant responds, after which the next trial commences. This protocol is designed to divert attention away from socially-threatening stimuli as in 80% of trials the probe appears in the location formerly occupied by the neutral face. The remaining 20% of trials include two neutral faces, with no predictive value

the Placebo ABMT is similar to the active ABMT except that this protocol is not designed to divert attention away from or toward socially-threatening stimuli as in 40% of trials the probe appears in the location formerly occupied by the neutral face and in 40% it appears in the location formally occupied by the threatening face. The remaining 20% of trials include two neutral faces