TY - JOUR
T1 - Will they like me? Neural and behavioral responses to social-evaluative peer feedback in socially and non-socially anxious females
AU - van der Molen, Melle J.W.
AU - Harrewijn, Anita
AU - Westenberg, P. Michiel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2018/5
Y1 - 2018/5
N2 - The current study examined neural and behavioral responses to social-evaluative feedback processing in social anxiety. Twenty-two non-socially and 17 socially anxious females (mean age = 19.57 years) participated in a Social Judgment Paradigm in which they received peer acceptance/rejection feedback that was either congruent or incongruent with their prior predictions. Results indicated that socially anxious participants believed they would receive less social acceptance feedback than non-socially anxious participants. EEG results demonstrated that unexpected social rejection feedback elicited a significant increase in theta (4–8 Hz) power relative to other feedback conditions. This theta response was only observed in non-socially anxious individuals. Together, results corroborate cognitive-behavioral studies demonstrating a negative expectancy bias in socially anxiety with respect to social evaluation. Furthermore, the present findings highlight a functional role for theta oscillatory dynamics in processing cues that convey social-evaluative threat, and this social threat-monitoring mechanism seems less sensitive in socially anxious females.
AB - The current study examined neural and behavioral responses to social-evaluative feedback processing in social anxiety. Twenty-two non-socially and 17 socially anxious females (mean age = 19.57 years) participated in a Social Judgment Paradigm in which they received peer acceptance/rejection feedback that was either congruent or incongruent with their prior predictions. Results indicated that socially anxious participants believed they would receive less social acceptance feedback than non-socially anxious participants. EEG results demonstrated that unexpected social rejection feedback elicited a significant increase in theta (4–8 Hz) power relative to other feedback conditions. This theta response was only observed in non-socially anxious individuals. Together, results corroborate cognitive-behavioral studies demonstrating a negative expectancy bias in socially anxiety with respect to social evaluation. Furthermore, the present findings highlight a functional role for theta oscillatory dynamics in processing cues that convey social-evaluative threat, and this social threat-monitoring mechanism seems less sensitive in socially anxious females.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85043356529&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.02.016
DO - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.02.016
M3 - Article
C2 - 29524466
AN - SCOPUS:85043356529
SN - 0301-0511
VL - 135
SP - 18
EP - 28
JO - Biological Psychology
JF - Biological Psychology
ER -