Behavioral Avoidance Test in Virtual Reality (vr-BAT)

Seventy-five participants with varying degrees of fear for spiders participated in two experimental sessions (consisting of a vr-BAT in one session and of a real-BAT in the other): the parameters extractable from both procedures (e.g., the minimum distance kept from the spider) significantly correlated with the self-reported fear for spiders in both the real-BAT and the vr-BAT. Importantly, the vr-BAT allowed recording further parameters describing avoidant approach (e.g., number and duration of stops during the path) that revealed new nuances of this behavior – e.g., the existence of dynamic and static forms of avoidance.