A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Assessment of Small Animals’ Phobia Using Virtual Reality as a Stimulus

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To date, still images or videos of real animals have been used in functional magnetic resonance imaging protocols to evaluate the brain activations associated with small animals' phobia. OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to evaluate the brain activations associated with small animals' phobia through the use of virtual environments. This context will have the added benefit of allowing the subject to move and interact with the environment, giving the subject the illusion of being there. METHODS: We have analyzed the brain activation in a group of phobic people while they navigated in a virtual environment that included the small animals that were the object of their phobia. RESULTS: We have found brain activation mainly in the left occipital inferior lobe (P<.05 corrected, cluster size=36), related to the enhanced visual attention to the phobic stimuli; and in the superior frontal gyrus (P<.005 uncorrected, cluster size=13), which is an area that has been previously related to the feeling of self-awareness. CONCLUSIONS: In our opinion, these results demonstrate that virtual stimulus can enhance brain activations consistent with previous studies with still images, but in an environment closer to the real situation the subject would face in their daily lives.