This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Studies using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) have shown that anticipatory fear responses, as measured by decreases in skin resistance (SCR), precede both conscious awareness of fear as well behavioral avoidance of feared stimuli (in this task-- cards that lead to losses during a gambling task). Many have interpreted such findings to suggest that non-conscious fear responses may influence behavior without awareness. While this phenomenon is being widely studied in non-clinical samples, the clinical relevance of this work has received little attention. Phobic subjects are known to produce SCRs to fear-related stimuli even when presented subliminally. This study will investigate whether such anticipatory fear responses to subliminal stimuli will lead to avoidance of fear-related stimuli in phobic subjects. Four hundred college students will be screened for spider fear with extreme scorers placed into ?high fear? (HF) and ?low fear? (LF) groups. Both groups will perform a modified version of the Iowa Gambling Task that will include subliminal presentations of fear-related stimuli when certain choices are made. Only phobic subjects should produce SCRs to fear-related stimuli and thus should be the only group to show behavioral avoidance of such stimuli even when unaware of the stimulus presentation.
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