Hosseini Kianoosh, Pettit Jeremy W, Soto Fabian A, Mattfeld Aaron T, Buzzell George A
Department of Psychology, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th St, Miami, FL, USA.
Center for Children and Families, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th St, Miami, FL, USA.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2024 Oct;24(5):948-963. doi: 10.3758/s13415-024-01198-5. Epub 2024 Jun 5.
Cognitive models state that social anxiety (SA) involves biased cognitive processing that impacts what is learned and remembered within social situations, leading to the maintenance of SA. Neuroscience work links SA to enhanced error monitoring, reflected in error-related neural responses arising from mediofrontal cortex (MFC). Yet, the role of error monitoring in SA remains unclear, as it is unknown whether error monitoring can drive changes in memory, biasing what is learned or remembered about social situations. Motivated by the longer-term goal of identifying mechanisms implicated in SA, in the current study we developed and validated a novel paradigm for probing the role of error-related MFC theta oscillations (associated with error monitoring) and incidental memory biases in SA. Electroencephalography (EEG) data were collected while participants completed a novel Face-Flanker task, involving presentation of task-unrelated, trial-unique faces behind target/flanker arrows on each trial. A subsequent incidental memory assessment evaluated memory biases for error events. Severity of SA symptoms were associated with greater error-related theta synchrony over MFC, as well as between MFC and sensory cortex. Social anxiety also was positively associated with incidental memory biases for error events. Moreover, greater error-related MFC-sensory theta synchrony during the Face-Flanker predicted subsequent incidental memory biases for error events. Collectively, the results demonstrate the potential of a novel paradigm to elucidate mechanisms underlying relations between error monitoring and SA.
认知模型表明，社交焦虑（SA）涉及有偏差的认知加工，这种加工会影响在社交情境中所学和所记的内容，从而导致社交焦虑持续存在。神经科学研究将社交焦虑与增强的错误监测联系起来，这体现在内侧前额叶皮质（MFC）产生的与错误相关的神经反应中。然而，错误监测在社交焦虑中的作用仍不明确，因为尚不清楚错误监测是否会驱动记忆变化，从而影响对社交情境的学习或记忆。出于确定与社交焦虑相关机制这一长期目标的推动，在当前研究中，我们开发并验证了一种新的范式，用于探究与错误相关的MFC θ振荡（与错误监测相关）和社交焦虑中偶然记忆偏差的作用。在参与者完成一项新颖的面部侧翼任务时收集脑电图（EEG）数据，该任务包括在每次试验中，在目标/侧翼箭头后面呈现与任务无关、每次试验都不同的面孔。随后的偶然记忆评估评估了对错误事件的记忆偏差。社交焦虑症状的严重程度与MFC以及MFC与感觉皮层之间更大的与错误相关的θ同步性有关。社交焦虑也与对错误事件的偶然记忆偏差呈正相关。此外，在面部侧翼任务期间，与错误相关的MFC-感觉θ同步性越强，对错误事件的后续偶然记忆偏差就越大。总体而言，这些结果证明了一种新范式在阐明错误监测与社交焦虑之间关系的潜在机制方面的潜力。
