As they wait: Anticipatory neural response to evaluative peer feedback varies by pubertal status and social anxiety

Selin Topel,Stefon J.R Van Noordt,Cynthia J Willner,Barbara C Banz,Jia Wu,Peter Castagna,Elise D Kortink,Melle J.W Van Der Molen,Michael J Crowley

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2021.101004

Selin Topel, Stefon J.R Van Noordt + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2021.101004

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Abstract

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by substantial biological, neural, behavioral, and social changes. Learning to navigate the complex social world requires adaptive skills. Although anticipation of social situations can serve an adaptive function, providing opportunity to adjust behavior, socially anxious individuals may engage in maladaptive anticipatory processing. Importantly, elevated social anxiety often coincides with adolescence. This study investigated cortical electroencephalogram (EEG) responses during anticipation of evaluative feedback in 106 healthy adolescents aged 12–17 years. We examined differences in anticipatory event-related potentials (i.e., stimulus preceding negativity [SPN]) in relation to social anxiety levels and pubertal maturation. As expected, the right frontal SPN was more negative during feedback anticipation, particularly for adolescents with higher social anxiety and adolescents who were at a more advanced pubertal stage. Effects for the left posterior SPN were the opposite of those for the right frontal SPN consistent with a dipole. Anticipatory reactivity in adolescence was related to social anxiety symptom severity, especially in females, and pubertal maturation in a social evaluative situation. This study provides evidence for the development of social anticipatory processes in adolescence and potential mechanisms underlying maladaptive anticipation in social anxiety.

Highlights

Adolescence marks a period of heightened sensitivity to social con texts (Blakemore and Mills, 2014; Guyer et al, 2016; Schriber and Guyer, 2016), and is a common time for the onset of psychiatric con ditions, such as social anxiety disorder (Kessler et al, 2005, 2012)
For the stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN), we predicted that SPN amplitudes would correlate positively with self-reported levels of social anxiety, and there would be developmental differences in the SPN amplitudes which we investigated in relation to age and pubertal development
The objectives of this study were to (1) investigate social anticipatory processes in healthy adolescents as reflected in neural responses (i.e., SPN) during the anticipation of acceptance and rejection feedback from peers, and (2) examine how these neural responses related to individual differences in social anxiety and pubertal development

Summary

Introduction

Adolescence marks a period of heightened sensitivity to social con texts (Blakemore and Mills, 2014; Guyer et al, 2016; Schriber and Guyer, 2016), and is a common time for the onset of psychiatric con ditions, such as social anxiety disorder (Kessler et al, 2005, 2012). High socially anxious individuals show heightened anticipatory responses to uncertain social situations and perceive them as more negative (Hofmann, 2007). This could lead to avoidance of social situations and maintaining social impairments over time. Given the role of the PFC in cognitive control and emotion regulation, it is plausible to think of adolescents’

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