Neuroimaging has greatly improved our understanding of phobic mechanisms. To expand on these advancements, we present data on the heterogeneity of neural patterns in spider phobia combined with various psychological dimensions of spider phobia, using spider-relevant stimuli of various intensities. Specifically, we have created a database in which 49 spider-fearful individuals viewed 225 spider-relevant images in the fMRI scanner and performed behavioral avoidance tasks before and after the fMRI scan. For each participant, the database consists of the neuroimaging part, which includes an anatomical scan, 5 passive-viewing and 2 resting-state functional runs in both raw and preprocessed form, along with associated quality control reports. Additionally, a behavioral section includes self-report questionnaires and avoidance tasks collected in pre- and post-sessions. The dataset is well suited for investigating neural mechanisms of phobias, brain-behavior correlations, and also contributes to the existing phobic neuroimaging datasets with spider-fearful samples.
SpiDa-MRI, behavioral and (f)MRI data of adults with fear of spiders Mengfan Zhang, Alexander Karner, Kathrin Kostorz, Sophia Shea, David Steyrl, Filip Melinscak, Ronald Sladky, Cindy Sumaly Lor, Frank Scharnowski
bioRxiv 2024.02.07.578564; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.07.578564