Attention Bias Modification Training for Social Phobia (ABMSP)

Attentional bias has primarily been investigated as a primary cognitive etiology of social anxiety symptoms. Previous research has found that individuals with high social anxiety showed facilitated attentional engagement to threat stimuli or delayed disengagement of attention from threat. Attentional Bias Modification Training (ABMT) was developed through applying the attentional mechanism in social anxiety. During ABMT, participants are deliberately induced to shift their attention away from threat stimuli and toward neutral stimuli. Despite its proven effectiveness, a recent meta-study found that the effect size of ABMT is significant but too small. As a result, the current study focuses on improving the existing ABMT by incorporating integrative factors into attention training. The current study aims to integrate bottom-up and top-down cognitive processes in ABMT. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions (active or placebo training) and will complete the ABMT for three weeks. The ABMT's efficacy will be assessed by comparing pre- and post-training measures.

Inclusion Criteria: * Diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (based on the DIAMOND interview - Social anxiety module) * Moderate or severe symptoms of social anxiety as revealed by the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS score of ≥ 40) or MINI-SPIN (Score of ≥ 6) * Ages 18-60 * English as a primary language * Possession of a mobile device for access to the app (Inquisit 6) Exclusion Criteria: * Self-reported visual impairment that cannot be adjusted and will prevent them from clearly recognizing words and pictures on mobile screen * Self-reported history of a bipolar disorder or psychotic disorder