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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Mar 7.
Published in final edited form as: Biol Psychiatry. 2010 Dec 1;68(11):982–990. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.07.021

Table 1.

Study characterictics and mean effect sizes (Hedge d a)

Post-training Post-stressor Follow-Up (4 months)
Study # of Subjects Population Mean age of subjects Female % of subjects Random assignment (Yes/No) Blind (Double/Semi) Stimulus type of training target Stimulus Duration (ms) Stimulus Location (Left-Right/Top-Bottom) # of training trials #of sessions (days) Type of stressor Outcome measures Hedge d
Comparison between a group trained toward neutral stimulus and control group: Neutral vs Control
Amir et al. (2009) 48 Patients with GSP 29.35 59 Yes Double Neutral Face 500 Top-Bottom 160 8 None STAI-T -0.10 - -
LSAS 0.43 - -
SPAI -0.33 - -
BDI-II 1.12 *** - -
HAM-D 0.58 - -
SDS 0.89 ** - -
Elder & Bar-Haim (2009) 30 Low anxious students 22.64 73 Yes Semi Neutral Face 500 Left-Right 480 1 None STAI-S 0.01 - -
30 High anxious students 22.72 87 Yes Semi Neutral Face 500 Left-Right 480 1 None STAI-S -0.34 - -
Klump & Amir (2009) 53 High anxious students 19.55 40 Yes Double Neutral Face 500 Top-Bottom 160 1 Speech Task STAI-S -0.06 0.36 -
Schmidt et al. (2009) 36 Patients with GAD 23 44 Yes Double Neutral Face 500 Top-Bottom 160 8 None BSPS 1.22 ** - 1.91 ***
LSAS 1.84 *** - 2.68 ***
SPAI 1.46 *** - 1.98 ***
STAI-T 3.98 *** - 8.68 ***
BDI-II 1.12 ** - 1.77 ***
See et al. (2009) 40 Nonselected students 21.55 60 Yes Semi Neutral Word 500 Left-Right 192 15 Moving to a foreign country STAI-S - 0.60 -
STAI-T - 0.79 * -
Hazen et al. (2009) 24 High anxious students 19.3 65 Yes Double Neutral Word 500 Top-Bottom 1080 5 None PSWQ 1.10 - -
STAI-T 0.79 - -
BDI 1.00 - -
Amir et al. (2009) 29 Patients with GAD 25.5 48 Yes Double Neutral Word 500 Top-Bottom 280 8 None STAI-T 1.06 ** - -
STAI-S 1.63 *** - -
BDI-II 0.09 - -
WDQ 0.72 - -
PSWQ 0.44 - -
HRSA 0.99 * - -
HAM-D 0.43 - -
Amir et al. (2008) High anxious adults 94 19 51 Double Neutral Face 500 Top-Bottom 128 1 Public speaking STAI-S 0.11 1.07 *** -
Mathews & MacLeod (2002) Exp7 High anxious adults 29 N/P 55 Semi Neutral Word 16 (as a mask, 50%) + 500 (50%) Top-Bottom 750 10 Exam STAI-T 5.76 *** - -
Mathews & MacLeod (2002) Exp8 High anxious adults 30 N/P 57 Semi Neutral Word 16 (as a mask, 50%) + 500 (50%) Top-Bottom 750 8 None STAI-T 2.60 *** - -
Comparison between a group trained toward happy stimulus and control group: Positive vs Control
Li et al. (2008) High anxious adults 24 20.54 42 Semi Happy Face 500 Left-Right 480 7 None SIAS 0.94 * - -
SPS -0.18 - -
FNES 0.48 - -

GSP, generalized social phobia; STAI-T, state-trait anxiety inventory-trait; LSAS, Liebowitz social anxiety scale (clinician-administered); SPAI, social phobia and anxiety scale; BDI-II, Beck depression inventory-II; HAM-D, Hamilton rating scale of depression (clinician-administered); SDS, Sheelan disability scale; STAI-S, state-trait anxiety inventory-state; GAD, generalized anxiety disorder; BSPS, brief social phobia scale (clinician-administered); PSWQ, Penn state worry questionnaire; WDQ, worry domains questionnaire; HRSA, Hamilton rating scale of anxiety (clinician-administered); SIAS, social interaction anxiety scale; SPS, social phobia scale; FNES, fear of negative evaluation scale; N/P, not provided.

a

Definition of categories for d: no effect (0 –.2), low effect (.2–.5), medium effect (.5–.8), and high effect (> .8).

b

Control groups got through a normal dot-probe task (i.e., probe appears in either location of two different stimuli with equal frequency).

c

Significant at p < .001.

d

Significant at p < .01.

e

Significant at p < .05.