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Perceptually Visible but Emotionally Subliminal Stimuli to Improve Exposure Therapies

Subliminal stimuli are gaining growing interest due to their capability to induce desensitization to pathologically feared (e.g., phobic) pictures without inducing exaggerated emotional reactions. However, unresolved methodological issues cast significant doubt on the reliability of these findings a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Frumento, Sergio, Gemignani, Angelo, Menicucci, Danilo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9313128/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35884675
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12070867
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author Frumento, Sergio
Gemignani, Angelo
Menicucci, Danilo
author_facet Frumento, Sergio
Gemignani, Angelo
Menicucci, Danilo
author_sort Frumento, Sergio
collection PubMed
description Subliminal stimuli are gaining growing interest due to their capability to induce desensitization to pathologically feared (e.g., phobic) pictures without inducing exaggerated emotional reactions. However, unresolved methodological issues cast significant doubt on the reliability of these findings and their interpretation. The studies most robustly assessing stimulus detection found that ~30% of the supposed-to-be-subliminal stimuli were, in fact, detected, suggesting that the beneficial effects attributed to subliminal stimuli may result from those actually seen. Nevertheless, a deeper analysis of the data underlying this misinterpretation unveils theoretical and clinical implications. Since the purpose of subliminal stimulation is to reduce the aversiveness of exposure therapies while maintaining their efficacy, researchers should measure the emotional relevance of supposed-to-be-subliminal stimuli that are, in fact, detected. A distinction is needed between perceptually- and emotionally-subliminal stimuli: the former is not consciously detected; the latter just fails to elicit emotional reactions. Emotionally-subliminal stimuli could represent an intermediate step of exposure in addition to those involving perceptually subliminal or supraliminal stimuli. Importantly, emotionally subliminal stimuli could make patients able to sustain a conscious exposure to feared stimuli without exaggeratedly reacting to them: if confirmed by empirical data, this unexpected disconfirmation of patients’ beliefs could pave the way for successful therapy while increasing their self-efficacy and compliance to treatment.
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spelling pubmed-93131282022-07-26 Perceptually Visible but Emotionally Subliminal Stimuli to Improve Exposure Therapies Frumento, Sergio Gemignani, Angelo Menicucci, Danilo Brain Sci Perspective Subliminal stimuli are gaining growing interest due to their capability to induce desensitization to pathologically feared (e.g., phobic) pictures without inducing exaggerated emotional reactions. However, unresolved methodological issues cast significant doubt on the reliability of these findings and their interpretation. The studies most robustly assessing stimulus detection found that ~30% of the supposed-to-be-subliminal stimuli were, in fact, detected, suggesting that the beneficial effects attributed to subliminal stimuli may result from those actually seen. Nevertheless, a deeper analysis of the data underlying this misinterpretation unveils theoretical and clinical implications. Since the purpose of subliminal stimulation is to reduce the aversiveness of exposure therapies while maintaining their efficacy, researchers should measure the emotional relevance of supposed-to-be-subliminal stimuli that are, in fact, detected. A distinction is needed between perceptually- and emotionally-subliminal stimuli: the former is not consciously detected; the latter just fails to elicit emotional reactions. Emotionally-subliminal stimuli could represent an intermediate step of exposure in addition to those involving perceptually subliminal or supraliminal stimuli. Importantly, emotionally subliminal stimuli could make patients able to sustain a conscious exposure to feared stimuli without exaggeratedly reacting to them: if confirmed by empirical data, this unexpected disconfirmation of patients’ beliefs could pave the way for successful therapy while increasing their self-efficacy and compliance to treatment. MDPI 2022-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9313128/ /pubmed/35884675 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12070867 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Perspective
Frumento, Sergio
Gemignani, Angelo
Menicucci, Danilo
Perceptually Visible but Emotionally Subliminal Stimuli to Improve Exposure Therapies
title Perceptually Visible but Emotionally Subliminal Stimuli to Improve Exposure Therapies
title_full Perceptually Visible but Emotionally Subliminal Stimuli to Improve Exposure Therapies
title_fullStr Perceptually Visible but Emotionally Subliminal Stimuli to Improve Exposure Therapies
title_full_unstemmed Perceptually Visible but Emotionally Subliminal Stimuli to Improve Exposure Therapies
title_short Perceptually Visible but Emotionally Subliminal Stimuli to Improve Exposure Therapies
title_sort perceptually visible but emotionally subliminal stimuli to improve exposure therapies
topic Perspective
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9313128/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35884675
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12070867
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