At the time of writing (December, 2013), a search for cognitive bias modification (CBM) in SCOPUS yields 113 results. Tellingly, the earliest of the articles found by this rather crude search appear in 2009, clustering around the special issue on CBM in the
Journal of Abnormal Psychology that year (Koster et al.
2009). While the term CBM had been used in the literature prior to this, and in fact research into CBM (albeit not always using this exact term) had been steadily gathering momentum since the first studies were published in 2000, there has clearly been an explosion in research on CBM in the years since. What has happened in this period? Over the past 4 years, CBM research has been on an exciting journey, with many twists and turns, ups and downs. This special issue seeks to provide an overview of this journey, and a glimpse of the road-or roads-ahead. But where to begin? The journey did not start in 2009, nor even a decade earlier when the dominant CBM paradigms were first described. To fully make sense of this journey, and all the twists in this travellers’ tale, we must go back further still. …