No effect of very brief exposure to masked food pictures on fear of food in anorexia nervosa.

Objective: Very brief exposure to masked images of spider stimuli can facilitate approach behaviour towards spiders in fearful subjects. We hypothesized that a similar effect might occur for fear of food in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), possibly offering a new treatment approach, with advantages over other methods of food exposure.

Methods: Patients with AN (n = 60) were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions and received a single session of exposure to either masked and very briefly presented food images, clearly visible food images, or masked non-food images (i.e. household items). Effects of the three exposure conditions on fear of food and food avoidance were examined.

Results: Contrary to our expectations, very brief food cue exposure was not superior to the control conditions regarding fear of food and approach behaviour towards food immediately after the intervention and body mass index four weeks later.

Conclusion: This finding suggests important differences between fear of food in AN and specific phobias such as fear of spiders. The absence of an effect reveals limitations of the very brief exposure method, which might be better suited for evolutionarily relevant threat stimuli.