EYEBLINK STARTLE RESPONSES IN SPIDER PHOBICS BEFORE AND AFTER TREATMENT - A PILOT-STUDY

Before and after treatment, acoustic probes eliciting eyeblink startles were presented to 41 female spider phobics during a behavioral approach test (BAT). During this test, subjects pulled a glass jar containing a live spider as nearby as they normally would tolerate. In order to obtain baseline startles, the subjects also carried out a BAT with a basket containing attractive food items. Startle responses were found to be relatively larger during the "spider" BAT than during the "food" BAT. This difference in relative magnitude decreased as a result of one-session treatment. The startle response appeared to be relatively independent of other outcome measures (i.e., Spider Questionnaire, BAT, and heart rate). Taken together, the results sustain findings previously reported by Lang and co-workers.