Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of MentalHealth, Bethesda, Maryland.
Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Depress Anxiety. 2019 Aug;36(8):701-711. doi: 10.1002/da.22937.
Clinical researchers face challenges when trying to quantify diverse processes engaged during social interactions. We report results from two studies, each demonstrating the potential utility of tools for examining processes engaged during social interactions.
In the first study, youth (n = 57) used a smartphone-based tool to rate mood and responses to social events. A subset (n = 20) completed the second, functional magnetic resonance imaging study. This second study related anxiety to error-evoked brain responses in two social conditions-while being observed and when alone. We also combined these tools to bridge clinical, social-contextual, and neural levels of measurement.
Results from the first study showed an association between negatively-perceived social experiences and a range of negative emotions. In the second study there was a positive correlation during error monitoring between social-anxiety severity and context-specific activation of the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. Finally, during imaging, the perceived quality of peer interactions as assessed using the smartphone-based tool, interacted with social context to predict levels of activation in the hippocampus and superior frontal gyrus.
By improving measurement, enhanced tools may provide new means for studying relationships among anxiety, brain function, and social interactions.
临床研究人员在尝试量化社交互动中涉及的各种过程时面临挑战。我们报告了两项研究的结果，每项研究都展示了用于检查社交互动中涉及的过程的工具的潜在效用。
在第一项研究中，年轻人（n=57）使用基于智能手机的工具来评估情绪和对社交事件的反应。其中一小部分（n=20）完成了第二项功能性磁共振成像研究。第二项研究将焦虑与两种社交情境下的错误诱发脑反应相关联——在被观察和独处时。我们还将这些工具结合起来，以弥合临床、社会背景和神经测量层面。
第一项研究的结果表明，负面的社交体验与一系列负面情绪之间存在关联。在第二项研究中，在错误监测过程中，社交焦虑严重程度与前扣带回皮质下额前区的特定于上下文的激活之间存在正相关。最后，在成像过程中，使用基于智能手机的工具评估的同伴互动的感知质量与社交情境相互作用，预测海马体和额上回的激活水平。
通过改进测量方法，增强的工具可能为研究焦虑、大脑功能和社交互动之间的关系提供新的手段。
