Michael Vasey, professor of psychology, is the lead author of a new study on how a phobia affects perception of feared objects.

"When it comes to phobias, it is all about avoidance as a primary means of keeping oneself safe. As long as you avoid, you can't discover that you're wrong. And you're stuck," said Vasey.

Participants in the study who feared spiders were asked to undergo five encounters with live spiders - tarantulas, in fact - and then provide size estimates of the spiders after those encounters ended.

"The extent that perceiving spiders as bigger than they really are fosters fear and avoidance, it then potentially is part of this cycle that feeds the phobia that leads to its persistence," said Vasey.

A better understanding of how a phobia affects the perception of feared objects can help clinicians design more effective treatments for people who seek to overcome their fears, according to the researchers.

"We're trying to understand why phobias persist so we can better target treatments to change those reasons they persist," concluded Vasey.

The study is published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Read the press release courtesy of Emily Caldwell, assistant director, Research Communications, http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/sizebias.htm