Post-event processing and physiological arousal in social anxiety

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Post-event processing and physiological arousal in social anxiety Kiho Kim1* 1 Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea Individuals with social anxiety ruminate for hours or even day over their perceived social failures, a process known in the cognitive model of social phobia as post-event processing (PEP) (Clark & Wells, 1995). PEP is unproductive and theoretically maintains anxiety, possibly through the rehearsal and elaboration of negative social memories. Despite this theoretical emphasis, to date, PEP has not been studied extensively in the context of social anxiety. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between social anxiety and PEP. To examine this relationship, changes in skin conductance level of 19 individuals with high social anxiety (HSA) and 21 individuals with low social anxiety (LSA) were measured during a social anxiety-inducing task. The task consisted of a 4-min social interaction with two unknown confederates: ‘1-min self-introduction’, and ‘3-min conversation about ideal type’. Prior to the task, a baseline skin conductance level was assessed, and after the task, participants were given a five minutes recovery period. Also, PEP was measured using post-event rumination scales and memory bias tests after a recovery period. Results indicated that HSA shows significantly higher skin conductance level than LSA during the task and a recovery period. These findings suggest that compared to LSA, HSA may show not only increased physiological arousal levels during social anxiety-inducing period but also delayed recovery from it. Also, HSA shows a higher probability to PEP than LSA. These results provide an empirical support for the idea that PEP would play a crucial role in the development or maintenance of social anxiety. These findings may provide valuable information regarding the treatment of individuals with social anxiety. Keywords: Neuropsychiatry, social anxiety Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Neuropsychiatric Applications Citation: Kim K (2011). Post-event processing and physiological arousal in social anxiety. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00119 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 17 Nov 2011; Published Online: 25 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Kiho Kim, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Seoul, South Korea, kihohere@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Kiho Kim Google Kiho Kim Google Scholar Kiho Kim PubMed Kiho Kim Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.