Using the Musical Track From GC-MRT as a Treatment Booster in Stressful Situations

Using the Musical Track From Gaze-Contingent Music Reward Therapy as a Treatment Booster in Stressful Situations Among Highly Socially Anxious Participants

The study examines whether musical tracks played during gaze contingent music reward therapy (GC-MRT) for social anxiety could later be used as a booster to reduce anxiety before a stressful situation. To this end, highly socially anxious participants will undergo 4 GC-MRT sessions designed to train participants' attention away from threat and towards neutral social stimuli. Subsequently, participants will be asked to perform a socially stressful speech task. Prior to the speech, half of the participants will listen to a musical track the participants were trained with, and half of the participants will listen to a musical track the participants like but were not trained with during the GC-MRT sessions. The investigators expect that listening to musical track taken from the GC-MRT sessions will moderate the increase in anxiety levels prior to the speech and will improve performance during the speech compared to a non-trained musical track.

Gaze contingent music reward therapy (GC-MRT) is designed to modify threat-related attention biases through operational conditioning between beloved music and gaze patterns favoring neutral stimuli over threat-related stimuli. GC-MRT has shown efficacy in reducing social anxiety symptoms. The current study is designed to explore whether the musical tracks played during the GC-MRT conditioning could be later used as a treatment booster to reduce anxiety in a socially stressful situation. To this end, 60 high socially anxious participants will undergo four GC-MRT sessions and then will be asked to perform a stressful speech task. Prior to the speech, half of the participants (randomly determined) will listen to a musical track the participants were trained with, and half of the participants will listen to a musical track the participants like but were not trained with during GC-MRT sessions. The investigators expect that the listening to musical track taken from the GC-MRT sessions will moderate the increase in anxiety levels prior to the speech and will improve performance during the speech compared to a non-trained musical track.

Inclusion Criteria:

• a signed consent form
• an age of 18 years or above
• a score greater than 60 on LSAS

Exclusion Criteria:

• a self-reported history of neurological or psychiatric illness