Neural Mechanisms of Imaginal and in Vivo Exposure

Summary

Imaginal exposure is a widely used and effective psychological treatment technique. Recent research suggests that neural activations and emotional responses during imaginal exposure are similar to those elicited during in vivo exposure. However, to the investigators knowledge, no direct comparison between in vivo and imaginal exposure has been performed during neuroimaging. This study compares neural activations and emotional responses during imaginal and in vivo exposure. This study also explores the generalizability of fear reduction achieved through imaginal exposure to fear responses elicited by in vivo stimuli, and vice versa, in a follow-up session approximately one week later. A better understanding of the mechanisms behind both types of exposure could have significant clinical utility, as well as elucidate the differences between fear created from outward stimuli and fear created from inward stimuli, such as mental imagery.

Conditions

• Fear of Spiders

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Imaginal exposure

Session 1 (Day 1): Participants receive repeated exposure to mental imagery of fear-provoking stimuli (spiders) and neutral stimuli (leaves) while undergoing brain imaging med fMRI.

BEHAVIORAL

Exposure

Session 2 (Ca one week): Participants receive both imaginal and in vivo exposure to fear-provoking stimuli and neutral stimuli (both arms are exposed to both video clips (in vivo exposure) and mental imagery (imaginal exposure). Session 2 is conducted in the laboratory, i.e., no brain imaging.

BEHAVIORAL

Approach-avoidance conflict

Session 2 (Ca one week): Spider fear is probed by an approach-avoidance conflict task. Participants can receive varying small rewards for watching pictures of spiders, or avoid the spider pictures at the cost of not receiving a reward (neutral pictures are shown instead).

BEHAVIORAL

In vivo exposure

Session 1 (Day 1): in vivo exposure. Participants receive repeated exposure to film clips of fear-provoking stimuli (spiders) and neutral stimuli (leaves) while undergoing brain imaging med fMRI.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Uppsala University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Thomas Ågren, PhD · Uppsala University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-04-07

Primary Completion

2023-03-01

Completion

2023-03-01

Countries

• Sweden

Study Locations