Electrocortical signatures of attentional bias toward subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words in social anxiety
BackgroundPrevious research has demonstrated that abnormal attentional bias toward social threats at different processing stages is pivotal for the development and maintenance of social anxiety. However, the temporal property and the neural indicators of this bias are still open to clarification. Th...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1506516/full |
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| author | Shuzhen Gan Shuzhen Gan Yanglong Cai Weijun Li Weijun Li |
| author_facet | Shuzhen Gan Shuzhen Gan Yanglong Cai Weijun Li Weijun Li |
| author_sort | Shuzhen Gan |
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| description | BackgroundPrevious research has demonstrated that abnormal attentional bias toward social threats at different processing stages is pivotal for the development and maintenance of social anxiety. However, the temporal property and the neural indicators of this bias are still open to clarification. The present study employed event-related potential (ERP) methodology to investigate the attentional bias toward social threats at the early preconscious and later controlled processing stages, along with associated electrocortical indicators.MethodsSocially or non-socially negative words paired with neutral ones were presented subliminally and supraliminally in two dot-probe tasks, respectively. Twenty-six participants with high level of social anxiety (high SA) and twenty-four participants with low level of social anxiety (low SA) completed the tasks.ResultsThe results revealed that, compared to the low SA group, the high SA group specifically showed a significant N2pc in response to subliminal socially negative words, and the amplitude tended to correlate with anxious severity. Additionally, the high SA group exhibited greater amplitudes of parietal P3 in response to incongruent probes than congruent ones following both subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words.ConclusionThese results indicate that abnormal attentional bias of social anxiety includes both early preconscious attentional orienting to social threats and subsequent difficulty disengaging from conscious and unconscious social threats, as indexed by N2pc and parietal P3 components, respectively. Our study may hold clinical significance by providing electrophysiological markers for assessing the cognitive symptoms of social anxiety. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5691cabe85144b748bd6a34fdf5e99eb |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1664-0640 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj-art-5691cabe85144b748bd6a34fdf5e99eb2025-08-20T02:13:36ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402025-02-011610.3389/fpsyt.2025.15065161506516Electrocortical signatures of attentional bias toward subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words in social anxietyShuzhen Gan0Shuzhen Gan1Yanglong Cai2Weijun Li3Weijun Li4Shanghai Changning Mental Health Center, Affiliated Mental Health Center of East China Normal University, Shanghai, ChinaShanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai, ChinaThe School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, ChinaResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, Liaoning, ChinaKey Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian, Liaoning, ChinaBackgroundPrevious research has demonstrated that abnormal attentional bias toward social threats at different processing stages is pivotal for the development and maintenance of social anxiety. However, the temporal property and the neural indicators of this bias are still open to clarification. The present study employed event-related potential (ERP) methodology to investigate the attentional bias toward social threats at the early preconscious and later controlled processing stages, along with associated electrocortical indicators.MethodsSocially or non-socially negative words paired with neutral ones were presented subliminally and supraliminally in two dot-probe tasks, respectively. Twenty-six participants with high level of social anxiety (high SA) and twenty-four participants with low level of social anxiety (low SA) completed the tasks.ResultsThe results revealed that, compared to the low SA group, the high SA group specifically showed a significant N2pc in response to subliminal socially negative words, and the amplitude tended to correlate with anxious severity. Additionally, the high SA group exhibited greater amplitudes of parietal P3 in response to incongruent probes than congruent ones following both subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words.ConclusionThese results indicate that abnormal attentional bias of social anxiety includes both early preconscious attentional orienting to social threats and subsequent difficulty disengaging from conscious and unconscious social threats, as indexed by N2pc and parietal P3 components, respectively. Our study may hold clinical significance by providing electrophysiological markers for assessing the cognitive symptoms of social anxiety.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1506516/fullsocial anxietyattentional biasattentional orientingattentional disengagementN2pcparietal P3 |
| spellingShingle | Shuzhen Gan Shuzhen Gan Yanglong Cai Weijun Li Weijun Li Electrocortical signatures of attentional bias toward subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words in social anxiety Frontiers in Psychiatry social anxiety attentional bias attentional orienting attentional disengagement N2pc parietal P3 |
| title | Electrocortical signatures of attentional bias toward subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words in social anxiety |
| title_full | Electrocortical signatures of attentional bias toward subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words in social anxiety |
| title_fullStr | Electrocortical signatures of attentional bias toward subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words in social anxiety |
| title_full_unstemmed | Electrocortical signatures of attentional bias toward subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words in social anxiety |
| title_short | Electrocortical signatures of attentional bias toward subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words in social anxiety |
| title_sort | electrocortical signatures of attentional bias toward subliminal and supraliminal socially negative words in social anxiety |
| topic | social anxiety attentional bias attentional orienting attentional disengagement N2pc parietal P3 |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1506516/full |
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