Neural responses associated with attentional engagement and disengagement from threat in high socially anxious children: Evidence from temporal-spatial PCA

Abstract

Background Cognitive models indicated that social anxiety disorder (SAD) would be caused and maintained by a biased attentional processing of threatening information. This study investigates whether socially anxious children may present impaired attentional engagement and disengagement from negative emotional faces, as well as their underlying event-related potential responses. Methods and findings Fifteen children with high levels of social anxiety (HSA; 9 boys; mean age = 9.99y; SD = 1.14) and twenty low socially anxious children (LSA; 16 boys; mean age = 10.47y; SD = 1.17) participated in a spatial cueing task in which they had to detect targets following neutral/disgusted faces in a valid or invalid location. No group effect was reported on reaction times [p>.05]. However, electrophysiological data showed lower P3a amplitude in HSA children compared with the LSA group when processing facial stimuli. They also reported larger N2 amplitudes for valid-disgusted targets and a larger P3a amplitude for the invalid-disgusted ones. Conclusion In terms of electrophysiological data, our results validated, the hypothesis of attentional disengagement difficulties in SAD children. We also confirm the idea that high levels of social anxiety are associated with cognitive control impairments and have a greater impact on the processing efficiency than on the performance effectiveness.

Associations between disordered eating, internalizing symptoms, and behavioral and neural correlates of response inhibition in preadolescence

“…In line with our hypothesis, we found associations between increased anxiety and depression and attenuated P3 amplitudes, indicative of suboptimal evaluation of environmental inconsistency or conflict (e.g., a NoGo trial; Bruin et al., 2001). Our findings are consistent with P3 amplitude reduction reported in people with diagnosed depression (Houston et al., 2003; Klawohn et al., 2020; Nan et al., 2018; Santopetro et al., 2022, 2020) and anxiety (Bechor et al., 2019; Éismont et al., 2009; Wauthia et al., 2022; Xu et al., 2014) compared to unaffected comparators. Atypical ACC activation is characteristic of people with internalizing disorders (Blair et al., 2012; Lichenstein et al., 2016; Shang et al., 2014).…”

“…NoGo trial; Bruin et al, 2001). Our findings are consistent with P3 amplitude reduction reported in people with diagnosed depression (Houston et al, 2003;Klawohn et al, 2020;Nan et al, 2018;Santopetro et al, 2022Santopetro et al, , 2020 and anxiety (Bechor et al, 2019;Éismont et al, 2009;Wauthia et al, 2022;Xu et al, 2014) compared to unaffected comparators. Atypical ACC activation is characteristic of people with internalizing disorders (Blair et al, 2012;Lichenstein et al, 2016;Shang et al, 2014).…”

“…For example, greater N2 amplitudes are observed in anxiety (Hoyniak & Petersen, 2019;Valadez et al, 2021;Yu et al, 2018), whereas attenuated P3 amplitudes have been reported in depression (Houston et al, 2003;Nan et al, 2018;Santopetro et al, 2022Santopetro et al, , 2020. In addition, both enhanced and attenuated P3 amplitudes are found in anxiety (Bechor et al, 2019;Éismont et al, 2009;Sehlmeyer et al, 2010;Wauthia et al, 2022;Xia et al, 2020;Xu et al, 2014). Although ERP studies examining the association between DE and N2/P3 components are limited, findings from children with obesity (Reyes et al, 2015;Tascilar et al, 2011;Walk et al, 2020) and adults with anorexia nervosa (Yue et al, 2020) demonstrate consistent attenuation of the P3; however, investigations of the N2 report no effects.…”

Maternal attachment security modulates the relationship between vulnerability to anxiety and attentional bias to threat in healthy children

“…The latter findings reflect a heightened tendency for threatening stimuli to captivate selective attention 9 . An electroencephalogram study conducted on children (aged between 8 to 12 years old) showed that those with high levels of social phobia exhibited increased N2 amplitudes in response to the presentation of disgusted faces compared to their healthy counterparts 76 . This finding is noteworthy given that this neurophysiological pattern is typical of difficulties in attentional disengagement from the threat 76 .…”

“…An electroencephalogram study conducted on children (aged between 8 to 12 years old) showed that those with high levels of social phobia exhibited increased N2 amplitudes in response to the presentation of disgusted faces compared to their healthy counterparts 76 . This finding is noteworthy given that this neurophysiological pattern is typical of difficulties in attentional disengagement from the threat 76 . Interestingly, no behavioral differences (reaction times) were detected between groups in this study 76 .…”