Low Social Anxiety Group Research Articles

High- and low-social-anxiety individuals process the outcomes of ability comparisons differently: an event-related potential study.

Individuals engage in upward or downward comparisons with superiors or inferiors, respectively. Social comparison is associated with social anxiety. Utilizing event-related potentials, we investigated how individuals with high social anxiety (HSA) and low social anxiety (LSA) evaluate self- versus other-outcomes in upward and downward comparison contexts. We found significant valence effects of self- or other-outcomes on feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300 for both groups, with loss inducing larger FRN and smaller P300 than gain. In the early stage, the valence effect of other-outcomes was significant when LSA participants gained money, but not when they lost money, revealing a social comparison effect on FRN. Conversely, this valence effect was significant whether HSA participants gained or lost money. At the late stage, the valence effect of other-outcomes was significant when HSA or LSA participants gained money but not when they lost, revealing social comparison effects on the P300. Notably, only the social comparison effect in the LSA group was further moderated by comparison direction. These findings suggest that LSA participants engaged in social comparison throughout all evaluation stages, whereas HSA participants started at the late stage. Moreover, LSA participants were more sensitive to different comparison directions in the late stage.

Social anxiety modulating early processing for social threat words: an ERP study

ABSTRACT Even though some recent research revealed individuals with HSA typically display enhanced processing in the early stages of emotional information processing due to hypervigilance and vulnerability to negative stimuli, it is still unclear whether social anxiety affects the time course underlying processing bias for emotional stimuli. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the early stage of processing social threat stimuli in high social anxiety (HSA) individuals by recording RTs and EEG data in the emotional Stroop task. Behavioral data showed that the HSA group responded to the threat words faster than neutral words (i.e. negative bias), but no emotional effects in the low social anxiety (LSA) group. Although the P1 component did not show any early effects, ERP data exhibited an enhanced N170 for HSA than for LSA groups. Threat words elicited larger N170 than neutral words in the LSA group only; this emotion effect was not evident in the HSA group. These findings indicated that social anxiety modulates early processing for social threat words. This study revealed the neural mechanisms underlying early emotional processing in individuals with social anxiety, providing insights for the evaluation and intervention of social anxiety.

The effect of working memory load on selective attention to emotional faces for social anxiety individuals.

Research has confirmed that individuals with social anxiety (SA) show an attentional bias towards threat-related stimuli. However, the extent to which this attentional bias depends on top-down cognitive control processes remains controversial. The present study investigated the effect of working memory (WM) load on selective attention to emotional faces in both high social anxiety (HSA) and low social anxiety (LSA) groups by manipulating WM load through the inclusion of forward counting in multiples of two (low load) or backward counting in multiples of seven (high load) within a modified flanker task. In the flanker task, emotional faces (angry, happy, or neutral faces) were used as targets and distractors. A total of 70 participants (34 HSA participants; 36 LSA participants) completed the flanker task in the laboratory. The results showed that the HSA individuals performed worse when responding to angry targets. Relative to LSA individuals, HSA individuals showed interference from angry distractors in the flanker task, resulting in significantly lower accuracy in identifying angry targets compared to happy targets. These results were unaffected by the manipulation of WM load. The findings imply HSA individuals have impaired attentional control, and that their threat-related attentional bias relies more on the bottom-up automatic attentional process.

Social anxiety modulates emotion processing for social threat words: Evidence from ERP

The present study investigated whether the processing of social threat words was modulated by social anxiety used by recording electroencephalogram signals during the Stroop task. Behavioral results indicated that the High Social Anxiety (HSA) group exhibited slower RT than the Low Social Anxiety (LSA) group, and both groups had faster RTs when responding to threat words compared to neutral words. ERP data showed that threat words elicited more positive P2, compared with neutral words, in both groups. Neutral words elicited larger early posterior negativity (EPN) and social threat words elicited more positive LPP in the LSA group only. The HSA group did not exhibit the emotional effects of EPN and LPP. These data indicate that social anxiety can modulate the processing of social threat words.

Incongruent gestures slow the processing of facial expressions in university students with social anxiety.

In recent years, an increasing number of studies have examined the mechanisms underlying nonverbal emotional information processing in people with high social anxiety (HSA). However, most of these studies have focused on the processing of facial expressions, and there has been scarce research on gesture or even face-gesture combined processing in HSA individuals. The present study explored the processing characteristics and mechanism of the interaction between gestures and facial expressions in people with HSA and low social anxiety (LSA). The present study recruited university students as participants and used the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale scores to distinguish the HSA and LSA groups. We used a 2 (group: HSA and LSA) × 2 (emotion valence: positive, negative) × 2 (task: face, gesture) multifactor mixed design, and videos of a single face or gesture and combined face-gesture cues were used as stimuli. We found that (1) there is a distinction in the processing of faces and gestures, with individuals recognizing gestures faster than faces; (2) there is an attentional enhancement in the processing of gestures, particularly for negative gestures; and (3) when the emotional valence of faces and gestures align, it facilitates the recognition of both. However, incongruent gestures have a stronger impact on the processing of facial expressions compared to facial expressions themselves, suggesting that the processing of facial emotions is more influenced by environmental cues provided by gestures. These findings indicated that gestures played an important role in emotional processing, and facial emotional processing was more dependent on the environmental cues derived from gestures, which helps to clarify the reasons for biases in the interpretation of emotional information in people with HSA.

Эффект социальной тревоги и стыда в развитии голосов: метакогнитивная обработка неблагоприятного опыта отношений и бдительность к социальным угрозам

<p style="text-align: justify;">Contemporary representations of auditory hallucinations have intensified the assessment of voices as meaningful representations of the stress of interpersonal traumatic experiences. The aim of the study was to verify the relationship between social anxiety, voices, shame, and metacognitive strategies and to examine the features of attention distortion and cognitive activity in a conflict task using social-emotional stimuli and feedback in social anxiety. The total sample consisted of 122 individuals (32 males and 90 females; M<sub>age</sub>=26.11, SD<sub>age</sub>=8.60). The clinical group consisted of 49 persons with subpsychotic (n=28; 7 men and 21 women, M<sub>age</sub>=24.54, SD<sub>age</sub>=5.59) and psychotic symptoms (n=21, 12 men and 9 women, M<sub>age</sub>=28.64, SD<sub>age</sub>=11.14). The nonclinical group consisted of 73 subjects (13 men and 60 women, M<sub>age</sub>=25.58, SD<sub>age</sub>=8.51). In both groups, subjects reliably reported thinking objectification, dissociative phenomena, and voices. A subgroup (n=31, 10 men and 21 women, M<sub>age</sub>=19.87, SD<sub>age</sub>=1.22) was selected to participate in the experiment, divided by the level of social anxiety: high (n=16, 4 men and 12 women, M<sub>age</sub>=19.96, SD<sub>age</sub>=1.14) and low (n=15, 6 men and 9 women, M<sub>age</sub>=19.34, SD<sub>age</sub>=1.05). The following techniques were used: Russian-language versions of the Thought Suppression and Rumination Scale (adapted by Dorosheva, Knyazev, 2017); the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (adapted by Grigorieva, Enikolopov, 2016); author's Psychotic Experiences Questionnaire (2023), Social Anxiety and Social Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (2016) and Self-Focused Attention Questionnaire (2016). After the diagnosis of psychological parameters, an eye-tracking experiment was conducted using a modified flanking Ericksen task. It was found that thought suppression (F<sub>(1;120)</sub>=11.11; p=0.001), rumination (F<sub>(1;120)</sub>=7.43; p=0.01), self-focused attention (F<sub>(1;120)</sub>=3.85; p=0.05), social anxiety (F<sub>(1;120)</sub>=7.30; p=0.01), and shame (F<sub>(1;120)</sub>=21.62; p<0.001) than in the absence of such experiences. We obtained a two-factor solution (each factor explains 30% of the variance) reflecting metacognitive pathways of voice formation: 1) self-focus supports social anxiety, shame, a tendency to suppress thoughts, and the emergence of voices; 2) pronounced thought suppression and rumination associated with shame increase the likelihood of voices, with the detectability of social anxiety attenuated. Significant differences (p<0.001) were found between the high and low social anxiety groups in the parameters of eye-movement and behavioral activity in the eye-tracking experiment (e.g., total test passage time, total number of fixations, response time after a mistaken decision, number of fixations of the off-target stimulus — the central face — and the target stimulus). The conclusion is that further research is needed to clarify the direction of the relationship between psychological parameters and voice experience.</p>

Facial infrared thermography as an index of social anxiety

ABSTRACTPrevious research on physiological indices of social anxiety has offered unclear results. In this study, participants with low and high social anxiety performed five social interaction tasks while being recorded with a thermal camera. Each task was associated with a dimension assessed by the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults (1 = Interactions with strangers. 2 = Speaking in public/Talking with people in authority, 3 = Criticism and embarrassment, 4 = Assertive expression of annoyance, disgust or displeasure, 5 = Interactions with the opposite sex). Mixed-effects models revealed that the temperature of the tip of the nose decreased significantly in participants with low (vs. high) social anxiety (p < 0.001), while no significant differences were found in other facial regions of interest: forehead (p = 0.999) and cheeks (p = 0.999). Furthermore, task 1 was the most effective at discriminating between the thermal change of the nose tip and social anxiety, with a trend for a higher nose temperature in participants with high social anxiety and a lower nose temperature for the low social anxiety group. We emphasize the importance of corroborating thermography with specific tasks as an ecological method, and tip of the nose thermal change as a psychophysiological index associated with social anxiety.

Effects of Social Anxiety Level on Negative Interpretation Bias in Ambiguous Social Situations: Focused on Relational Intimacy

Background: This study aimed to examine the differences in negative interpretation bias in ambiguous social situations according to social anxiety level and then confirm the degree of negative interpretation bias according to the relational intimacy with the interacting partner.Methods: A total of 405 adults in their 20s completed the surveys that measured the levels of social interaction anxiety, and the highest 10% (n=30) and lowest 10% (n=30) scorers finally participated in the study. This study used a 2 (high/low social anxiety)×3 (relational intimacy: a stranger/a moderately intimate person/a very intimate person) factorial design. The study provided participants with 15 randomized scenarios with the same social context but different interacting partners and confirmed the degree of agreement with the negative interpretation presented in each situation.Results: The high social anxiety group showed more negative interpretation bias in ambiguous social situations compared to the low social anxiety group. Regarding the negative interpretation biases according to relational intimacy, the high social anxiety group showed the most negative interpretation bias in social interactions with a moderately intimate person than they did with a stranger or very intimate person.Conclusions: Social anxiety may have different effects on the degree of negative interpretation bias depending on intimacy in social interactions, suggesting that differentiated therapeutic interventions are needed.

The relationship between three subtypes of safety behaviors and social anxiety: Serial mediating effects of state and trait post-event processing

The cognitive model for social anxiety disorder (SAD) highlights the role of safety behaviors and post-event processing (PEP). We identify the serial mediating effect of state and trait PEP between three types of safety behaviors (impression management, avoidance behavior, and anxiety-symptom control) and social anxiety. Given that the associations between the three subtypes of safety behaviors and two perspectives of PEP have not yet been examined, we aimed to investigate these relationships according to the level of social anxiety. A total of 487 participants participated in an online survey. Participants were classified into two groups, high and low, based on their social anxiety scores. We used Social Behavior Questionnaire to distinguish three types of safety behaviors and the State and Trait versions of the Post-Event Processing Inventory to identify two perspectives of PEP. We used descriptive statistics and an independent t-test to compare the high and low social anxiety groups. Mediation effects were examined using mediation analysis and bootstrapping with 5,000 replications. The results showed that the three safety behaviors had different effects on social anxiety via PEP. In the high social anxiety group, avoidance behavior and anxiety-symptom control predicted social anxiety positively, whereas impression management did not. However, with state PEP and trait PEP as mediators, impression management and avoidance behavior positively predicted social anxiety but not anxiety-symptom control. In the low social anxiety group, only avoidance behavior was significantly related to social anxiety, but when the state and trait PEP were mediated, the effect disappeared. These results indicated that impression management could affect social anxiety only when mediated by PEP in people with high social anxiety. A better understanding of the content and processes underpinning safety behavior and PEPs might have important implications for the prevention and treatment of social anxiety disorder.

Putting on your best face: investigating social anxiety in Instagram users

ABSTRACT Objective Socially anxious individuals may prefer social media platforms over in-person interactions. For those with high social anxiety (SA), Facebook-related tasks have been associated with anxiety, negative thoughts, and safety behaviours. However, Instagram-related research remains limited. The present study aimed to assess Instagram use alongside cognitive and behavioural processes among participants with low, medium, and high SA. We hypothesised that when using Instagram, individuals with higher SA would (1) experience more negative social cognitions, (2) report higher body image concerns, (3) endorse more safety behaviours when posting pictures, and (4) engage in more photo manipulation. Method A sample of 213 Instagram users completed an online survey and were divided into groups based on SA severity. Results The high SA group reported comparing themselves to others and being more anxious on Instagram than the low and medium SA groups. Four 3 (SA groups) x 2 (gender) ANOVAs revealed support for the first three hypotheses and that there was no interaction effect between SA and gender for all outcomes. Conclusions Results expand our understanding of how specific social media platforms may be aversive for individuals with high SA, which has important implications for conceptualising the role of safety behaviours in online interactions. KEY POINTS What is already known on this topic: Individuals with high social anxiety may prefer online social interactions. Clark and Wells’ cognitive model of social anxiety can be extended to the online social media platforms. Social anxiety may be underpinned by body image concerns. What this paper adds: Instagram users with social anxiety experienced more negative social media cognitions and reported more safety behaviours. Instagram users with social anxiety also experienced more body image concerns. Despite gender differences in photo manipulation, an associated relationship with social anxiety was not supported.

Relationship between social anxiety and coping profile in adults who stutter

IntroductionStuttering is a condition that can be severely disabling in the workplace and socially. Although many stuttering cases resolve, some adults who stutter (AWS) continue to be affected not only by dysfluent speech, but also by other social and psychological conditions that may develop as a result of stuttering. The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between severity of stuttering, severity of social anxiety, and coping profile. MethodsWe objectively assessed adults who stutter (n = 44; mean age = 27.5 years) and age-matched non-stuttering control subjects on four variables: stuttering frequency, communication attitude, social anxiety, and coping profile. Stuttering frequency was calculated as the percentage stuttered morae in the Kitsuon-kensa-ho test. All subjects were assessed on the Japanese versions of the Modified Erickson's Communication Attitude Scale (S-24-J), Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS-J), and the Brief Scale for Coping Profile (BSCP). ResultsCompared to the non-stuttering group, the stuttering group had a higher average score on the S-24-J and LSAS-J, and tended to "avoid and suppress" instead of "seek help for resolution" on the BSCP. Comparison of individual stutterers’ S-24-J scores whose LSAS-J scores were above or below the LSAS-J cutoff score revealed that their the S-24-J scores tended to be higher. Also, BSCP participants tended to engage in "proactive resolution" and "emotional venting involving others," not "seeking help for resolution." The stuttering group (vs. the non-stuttering group) and the high social-anxiety group (vs. the low social-anxiety group) adopted non-adaptive coping strategies. ConclusionsThis suggests that the coping profile of AWS may contribute to the cycle of social anxiety and stuttering to a greater or lesser extent. Thus, therapy that reduces anxiety and helps AWS to adopt more adaptive coping strategies may improve stuttering.

Recall, response bias and recognition are differentially impacted by social anxiety irrespective of feedback modality

Background and objectivesThis study replicates and extends Houle-Johnson et al.’s (2019) findings to better understand the role of feedback modality, ambiguity and social anxiety in the recognition and recall of self-relevant feedback. MethodsParticipants gave a speech and were provided with positive, negative, and ambiguous feedback via written text, (n = 33) or recorded sentences (n = 31) and later completed a recognition and recall task for the feedback. ResultsRecognition (p = .80, ηp2 = 0) and recall (p = .09, ηp2 = 0.08) did not differ between written or recorded feedback. All participants demonstrated a negative response bias (p < .001, ηp2 = 0.22) and recalled more negative than positive feedback (p = .02, ηp2 = 0.10) but were no more accurate in recognizing negative compared to positive feedback (p = .08, ηp2 = 0). Although social anxiety did not impact recognition accuracy (p = .94, ηp2 = 0), participants with high social anxiety demonstrated a more pronounced negative response bias (p < .01, ηp2 = 0.11) and negative recall bias (p = .02, SE = 1.12) than low social anxiety participants. Moreover, the more negatively ambiguous items were perceived, the more likely they were identified old in the high social anxiety group, whereas the opposite was true for the low social anxiety group (B = .13, p < .10). LimitationsTask believability was relatively low across all participants. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that modality does not influence memory for feedback. Moreover, social anxiety might be characterized by a negative bias in recall and response bias, but not necessarily increased accuracy in recognition of negative feedback.

ERP evidence for emotional sensitivity in social anxiety

BackgroundEmotional sensitivity involves the ability to recognize and interpret facial expressions. This is very important for interpersonal communication. Previous studies found differences in emotional sensitivity between high social anxiety (HSA) individuals and low social anxiety (LSA) individuals. However, the underlying neural mechanisms are still unclear. The present study explored the effects of expression intensity and social anxiety on emotional sensitivity and their neural mechanisms. MethodsThe HSA group (n = 20) and the LSA group (n = 20) were asked to recognize anger expressions with different intensities in an emotion recognition task. The hit rate, reaction time, early time window (P1, N170), and late time window (LPP) were recorded. ResultsThe results showed that individuals with HSA had a significantly higher hit rate and shorter reaction time than individuals with LSA (p < 0.01). Event-related potential (ERP) results showed that, compared to the LSA group, the HSA group exhibited significantly enhanced N170 and LPP amplitude (p < 0.01). However, the difference in P1 amplitude was not significant (p > 0.05). LimitationsThe participants in this study were a subclinical social anxiety sample, and the effects of other mood disorders were not excluded, partially limiting the generalizability of the results. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that, compared to LSA individuals, HSA individuals are more sensitive to all presented faces. The ERP results indicated that HSA individuals’ high sensitivity to threatening expressions is related to stronger structural encoding and fine processing.

Neural correlates of negative expectancy and impaired social feedback processing in social anxiety.

Social anxiety has been associated with abnormalities in cognitive processing in the literature, manifesting as various cognitive biases. To what extent these biases interrupt social interactions remains largely unclear. This study used the Social Judgment Paradigm that could separate the expectation and experience stages of social feedback processing. Event-related potentials (ERPs) in these two stages were recorded to detect the effect of social anxiety that might not be reflected by behavioral data. Participants were divided into two groups according to their social anxiety level. Participants in the high social anxiety (HSA) group were more likely to predict that they would be socially rejected by peers than did their low social anxiety (LSA) counterparts (i.e. the control group). Compared to the ERP data of the LSA group, the HSA group showed: (a) a larger P1 component to social cues (peer faces) prior to social feedback presentation, possibly indicating an attention bias; (b) a difference in feedback-related negativity amplitude between unexpected social acceptance and unexpected social rejection, possibly indicating an expectancy bias; and (c) a diminished sensitivity of the P3 amplitude to social feedback valence (be accepted/be rejected), possibly indicating an experience bias. These results could help understand the cognitive mechanisms that comprise and maintain social anxiety.

Context Matters for the Socially Anxious: Moderating Role of Drinking Context on Alcohol Outcome Expectancies

Background: Moderating effects of alcohol outcome expectancies (AOE) on the social anxiety (SA)-alcohol misuse relationship are mixed. This may be explained by differential relationships between SA and context-specific AOE. Gender may further moderate these associations, as it influences SA, AOE, and drinking behaviors. Objectives: To examine the moderating role of drinking context (i.e. convivial, negative coping, or personal-intimate) and gender on the relationships between SA and three AOE (i.e. tension reduction, sociability, and sexuality). Methods: Participants (n = 436, Mage=19.32, 72% female, 85.8% White) were 218 undergraduates with elevated SA (high SA group) and a gender-matched low SA group (n = 218) drawn from a larger undergraduate sample (N = 1,015). Participants completed three versions of an AOE measure, differing by drinking context considered. Results: A significant SA group x context x gender interaction was found for tension reduction AOE; compared to men, women in the low SA group reported greater tension reduction AOE in negative coping contexts. Significant SA group and context main effects suggest that sociability and sexuality AOE are endorsed more in the high (vs. low) SA group, and in convivial and personal-intimate compared to negative coping contexts. Conclusions/Importance: Tension reduction AOE vary depending on the drinking context, SA, and gender. Assessment of AOE in specific drinking contexts may help to identify which individuals may be at greatest risk for alcohol misuse and help inform treatment of SA-related problem drinking.

Altered working memory capacity for social threat words in high versus low social anxiety

ABSTRACTBackground and objectives: Differences in working memory capacity (WMC) have been suggested in individuals with high levels of social anxiety (SA). Specifically, these individuals may preferentially maintain socially threatening material in working memory.Design and methods: We adapted the digit span task to a series of word span tasks. We assessed WMC for lists of words that varied in terms of their threat-relatedness, in individuals either high or low in SA.Results: Experiment 1 revealed reduced WMC for socially threatening words in those with high compared to low SA. Importantly, this relative reduction in WMC was driven by the low SA group showing expanded capacity for socially threatening words relative to neutral or generally threatening words. Furthermore, reductions in WMC for social threat were uniquely predicted by SA, and not by other theoretically related constructs such as state general anxiety, trait general anxiety, or depression. Experiment 2 showed that the semantic similarity of the words within each list was not responsible for the differences in WMC between list type or SA group.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that individuals high in SA may fail to upregulate WMC for social information due to the activation of, or rumination upon, socially threatening concepts.

Accessing social media: Help or hindrance for people with social anxiety?

Despite increasing use of social media and the potential benefits for people with social anxiety (SA) disorder, little is known about the online experience of people with SA. Our study aimed to investigate the occurrence of cognitive and behavioral processes during a series of online and off-line Facebook (FB)-based tasks among individuals with high and low levels of SA. Sixty-one undergraduates with low or high SA were asked to use FB in a laboratory setting, to make an FB post, and to imagine three ambiguous FB scenarios. Participants with high SA reported higher anxiety throughout the study with an interaction effect, indicating greater relative increases in anxiety for those with high SA over low SA across tasks. The high SA group were more likely to negatively interpret the ambiguous FB scenarios than the low SA group. They also reported using more safety-seeking behaviors and having more negative thoughts. The findings suggest that the cognitive and behavioral processes that characterize socially anxious face-to-face interaction are also evident in online communication. Suggestions are made for the clinical implications of such findings.

Sympathetic and Self-Reported Threat Reactivity in Social Anxiety: Modulation by Threat Certainty and Avoidance Behavior

Social anxiety is characterized by maladaptive anticipation, avoidance, and post-avoidance processes in response to perceived threats. Exaggerated sympathetic activation to threats is proposed to play a key role in social anxiety, but has received inconsistent empirical support. To clarify this issue, we characterized social anxiety-related differences in the time course of sympathetic activation as a function of threat certainty and threat avoidance. While skin conductance was measured, adults (18–30 years old) reporting clinically elevated (n = 34) or low (n = 33) social anxiety symptoms completed a behavioral paradigm involving threat anticipation and the opportunity to avoid conditioned threat and non-threats. During threat anticipation, both groups exhibited increasing conditioned sympathetic activation when threat was certain; however, the high social anxiety group exhibited less conditioned sympathetic activation to threats vs. non-threats compared to the low social anxiety group, irrespective of threat certainty. Following threat anticipation, the high social anxiety group exhibited greater avoidance of both threats and non-threats. Following threat avoidance, the high social anxiety group exhibited comparatively smaller and slower sympathetic recovery. Taken together, our results suggest that social anxiety is characterized by indiscriminate sympathetic activation to both threat and safety cues, which facilitates maladaptive avoidance behaviors and impairs sympathetic recovery.

Post-event Processing and Alcohol Intoxication: The Moderating Role of Social Anxiety

To resolve the mixed findings on the link between social anxiety (SA) and alcohol use, studies have examined the role of post-event processing (PEP), i.e., negative thinking about past social events. In a sample of 18–30 year olds (82% female) high (n = 40) and low (n = 49) in SA, the current 21-day study assessed the effect of PEP after social drinking events on subjective intoxication at the next social event. The moderating role of SA severity was tested. Compared to the low SA group, the high SA group reported overall more PEP but similar intoxication levels. Multilevel models supported a SA by PEP interactive effect on next-event intoxication, but for the high SA group only. Conditioned slopes revealed that within the high SA group, at − 1 SD elevated PEP predicted increased next-event intoxication. Thus, for those ‘moderate/high’ in SA, PEP after social drinking may increase risk for alcohol misuse.

Post-event processing in social anxiety: Investigation using Attentional Control Theory

Post-event processing has been identified as a maladaptive maintaining feature of social anxiety occurring after a social-evaluative event; however, the cognitive mechanisms thought to underlie post-event processing are still unclear. Poor attentional control may serve to maintain this thought process in social anxiety disorder. A total of 92 undergraduates were pre-screened and categorised into either high or low social anxiety groups and then randomly assigned to either a post-event processing (following a speech task) or a control condition (four groups in total). Participants completed a series of self-report questionnaires and then performed the mixed emotional saccade task whereby participants completed pro-saccades and antisaccades in response to facial expressions in either single-task or mixed-task blocks. The results showed that high socially anxious participants in the post-event processing condition did not display attentional control impairments compared to high socially anxious participants in the control condition or low socially anxious participants in either condition. Conversely, low socially anxious participants in the post-event processing condition showed improved attentional control abilities compared to low socially anxious participants in the control condition. These findings suggest that post-event processing may facilitate attentional control abilities for low socially anxious individuals.