E-ISSN : 2733-4538
This study examined Attention Bias Modification (ABM) training for college students’ with social anxiety tendencies and compared the degree of improvement of social anxiety symptoms and attention bias scores depending on the level of working memory capacity. Social avoidance and distress scale (SADS) was used to measure social anxiety symptoms, and scores above 64 in were considered as having social anxiety tendencies. Participants were divided into high, intermediate, and low working memory groups, depending on their working memory capacity. A total of 99 data points were used for analysis. The effects of ABM training were identified as changes in the attention bias scores (ABS) and the social anxiety symptom scales (SADS, SIAS, SPS, B-FNE). The ABM training was conducted in a single session, and the ABS and social anxiety symptoms were measured before and after the training. The results showed that ABS, SADS, SIAS, SPS, and B-FNE significantly decreased after training. This means that ABM training was effective in reducing social anxiety symptoms. In addition, after training, the higher the working memory capacity, the greater the decrease in SADS, SIAS, SPS, and B-FNE. This suggests that the effects of ABM training may vary depending on working memory capacity. Finally, the therapeutic implications and limitations of this study are discussed.
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