Looking Fear in the Eye: Gamified Virtual Reality Exposure towards Spiders for Children Using Attention Based Feedback (Updated June 20, 2024).

A recent study explored the use of gamified virtual reality exposure therapy to treat spider phobia in children. The researchers developed an application that allowed children to interact with virtual spiders and make them change in positive ways through eye tracking. The study found that this approach induced more positive than negative emotions in children, and significantly reduced fear of spiders in those who were initially fearful. The findings suggest that this method could be effective in treating spider phobia in children and should be further evaluated. [Extracted from the article]