Center for Basic Research in Psychology, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Instituto de Psicología Clínica, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Psychophysiology. 2024 Nov;61(11):e14643. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14643. Epub 2024 Jul 5.
Social comparison is central in human life and can be especially challenging in depression and social anxiety. We assessed event-related potentials and emotions using a social comparison task in which participants received feedback on both their own and a co-player's performance, in participants with depression and/or social anxiety (n = 63) and healthy controls (n = 72). Participants reported more negative emotions for downward (being better than the co-player [participant correct, co-player wrong]) and upward (being worse than the co-player [participant wrong, co-player correct]) comparisons versus even outcomes, with these effects being stronger in depression and social anxiety. At the Medial Frontal Negativity, both controls and depressed participants showed a more negative amplitude for upward comparison versus both the participant and co-player performing wrong. Socially anxious subjects showed the opposite effect, possibly due to greater expectations about being worse than others. The P300 decreased for downward and upward comparisons compared to even outcomes, which may relate to the higher levels of conflict of social inequality. Depressed and socially anxious subjects showed a blunted P300 increase over time in response to the task outcomes, suggesting deficits in allocating resources for the attention of incoming social information. The LPP showed increased amplitude for downward and upward comparison versus the even outcomes and no group effect. Emotional findings suggest that social comparisons are more difficult for depressed and socially anxious individuals. Event-related potentials findings may shed light on the neural substrates of these difficulties.
社会比较是人类生活的核心，在抑郁症和社交焦虑症中尤其具有挑战性。我们使用社会比较任务评估了事件相关电位和情绪，在抑郁症和/或社交焦虑症患者（n=63）和健康对照组（n=72）中，参与者收到了自己和同伴表现的反馈。与均等结果相比，参与者报告在向下（比同伴表现好[参与者正确，同伴错误]）和向上（比同伴表现差[参与者错误，同伴正确]）比较中情绪更为消极，这些影响在抑郁症和社交焦虑症中更为强烈。在中额负向偏斜（Medial Frontal Negativity，MFN）中，与参与者和同伴都表现错误相比，对照组和抑郁组的参与者在向上比较中表现出更负的振幅。社交焦虑的受试者表现出相反的效果，可能是因为对自己比别人差的期望更高。与均等结果相比，向下和向上比较的 P300 减少，这可能与社会不平等的冲突水平较高有关。与任务结果相比，抑郁和社交焦虑的受试者在响应任务时 P300 的增加幅度减弱，表明他们在分配资源以关注传入的社交信息方面存在缺陷。LPP（晚正成分）在向下和向上比较与均等结果相比表现出更高的振幅，且没有组间效应。情绪发现表明，社会比较对抑郁和社交焦虑的个体来说更为困难。事件相关电位的发现可能揭示了这些困难的神经基础。
