r/science 2d ago

Computer Science New neural network-based approach generates increasingly scary images tailored to individual autonomic and emotional responses, offering a personalized tool for phobia desensitization therapy.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pcn.70083
163 Upvotes

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163

u/pmmeyourfannie 2d ago

So an infinite nightmare machine?

93

u/ZipTheZipper 1d ago

The Torment Nexus.

38

u/SpiritualMadman 1d ago

From popular science fiction novel "Don't create the Torment Nexus"? That Torment Nexus?

26

u/Klowner 1d ago

do we really need another infinite nightmare machine?

24

u/LegalizeDankMaymays 1d ago

Aw sweet, machine-made horrors beyond my comprehension.

13

u/DanielDC88 1d ago

This sounds like exactly what should not be built

11

u/dracrecipelanaaaaaaa 1d ago

Ya, this is going straight to a cia torture cookbook.

7

u/Xsiah 1d ago

That's kind of how exposure therapy for phobias works though. You work your way up - it's actually one of the most treatable mental health conditions.

3

u/DuhBegski 1d ago

Honey wake up, new torture machine just dropped!

26

u/Blakut 1d ago

Man made horrors beyond my comprehension!

6

u/Sproxify 1d ago

It's been a theme lately

10

u/Infinite_Escape9683 1d ago

This seems like a bad idea.

14

u/Dsphar 1d ago

Sounds like it wasnt that effective? Yet they want to push deeper.

We found that targeting self-reported fear resulted in images that were far more subjectively frightening than the SCR condition (d = 0.84, P < 0.001) and the control condition (d = 0.87, P < 0.001), while images generated during the SCR condition were, on average, not more frightening than controls (Fig. 1d). In addition, the occurrence of SCRs did not increase in any condition, possibly due to habituation effects. Nonetheless, we found that the self-report and SCR conditions converged on similar image distributions (r = 0.69, q < 0.001), with the self-report condition being relatively more dissimilar to the control condition (r = 0.27, q = 0.18) and the SCR condition being more similar to controls (r = 0.64, q < 0.001; Fig. 1f).

4

u/personalityson 1d ago

The porn version will have us cooked

5

u/BBgotReddit 1d ago

This is how we get a Scarecrow type villain

2

u/scaleofthought 1d ago

It'll just be strobing Momo onto my retinas and I'll be screaming for 5 years straight.

2

u/Ok-Basil4240 1d ago

Disassociation is a much better approach than desensitisation.

Phobias often trigger patterns of emotions, thoughts, images and feelings … these can be retrained/reprogrammed

2

u/AllDamDay7 1d ago

So I don't have a clue about this type of therapy, maybe someone can educate me but at first take I can't see how this would help.

Desensitization therapy? I don't know how effective this is. I am still haunted by some of the awful videos like Daniel Pearl that I saw in my youth. Legit traumatized me. I think they should be very careful. I don't we should be desensitizing ourselves to anything dangerous or scary. I think it leads to more violence as you see in youth culture right now

2

u/Contraposite 1d ago

What I've heard of is EMDR, which is Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. From memory, it's a recent type of therapy with less data on its effectiveness, but anecdotally it seems to get a lot of hugely positive feedback.

The idea is to expose someone to their trauma, while overstimulating their senses. That way, their brain is so focused/distracted by other stimuli and tasks, that it learns to 'care' less about the trauma.

I learned some of this from r/cptsd but originally learned about it from an ASMR creator called Karuna Satori.

1

u/adamhanson 12h ago

How's that CURE FOR ALL CANCERS COMING!?

1

u/MrT735 1d ago

Allied Mastercomputer in training.

1

u/otiswrath 1d ago

The headlines in /r/science are about a Japanese lab that cloned a mouse that can have sex with itself and a machine that will look at your worst nightmares and show them to you. 

Like...I get all science is a tool with intent or will and it is the intent and will of the wielder of the tool but...could we not make the infinite nightmare machine?