Mutual eye gaze and vocal pitch in relation to social anxiety and depression: A virtual interaction task.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with high social interaction anxiety (SIA) and depression often behave submissively in social settings. Few studies have simultaneously examined the associations between objectively assessed submissive behaviors and SIA or depression, despite their high comorbidity and unknown mechanisms regarding submissiveness. METHODS: A sample of 45 young adults self-reported trait SIA and depression, state positive/negative affect (PA/NA) before and after a virtual social interaction. Participants engaged in a four-minute conversation with a confederate who was trained to behave neutrally. Mutual eye gaze, via eye-tracking, and vocal pitch were assessed throughout the interaction. RESULTS: Depression and SIA were positively correlated with NA, poorer self-rated performance, and vocal pitch. Highly socially anxious women engaged in less mutual eye gaze than highly socially anxious men. Also, vocal pitch was inversely associated with mutual eye gaze and positively related to NA and (nonsignificantly) to self-ratings of poor performance. Finally, our data partially replicated past research on the use of vocal pitch during social stress to detect social anxiety disorder. LIMITATIONS: The current sample is relatively homogenous in educational attainment, age, and race. All research confederates were women. Future research should examine whether these archival data replicate with the latest telecommunication technologies. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight nuanced relationships among SIA, depression, emotions, self-perceptions, and biobehavioral indicators of submissive behavior-in response to an ambiguously negative/positive social interaction. Sex/gender may interact with these effects, emphasizing considerations for research method designs.

Therapeutic Potential of Myricetin in the Treatment of Neurological, Neuropsychiatric, and Neurodegenerative Disorders.

Myricetin (MC), 3,5,7,3',4',5'-hexahydroxyflavone, chemically belongs to a flavonoid category known to confer antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, and neuroprotective effects. MC is known to suppress the generation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), lipid peroxidation (MDA), and inflammatory markers. It has been reported to improve insulin function in the human brain and periphery. Besides this, it modulates several neurochemicals including glutamate, GABA, serotonin, etc. MC has been shown to reduce the expression of the enzyme Mono Amine Oxidase (MAO), which is responsible for the metabolism of monoamines. MC treatment reduces levels of plasma corticosterone and restores hippocampal BDNF (full form) protein in stressed animals. Further, MC has shown its protective effect against amyloid-beta, MPTP, rotenone, 6-OHDA, etc. suggesting its potential role against neurodegenerative disorders. The aim of the present review is to highlight the therapeutic potential of MC in the treatment of several neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorders.

Dimensions of unhealthy exercise and their associations with restrictive eating and binge eating.

Unhealthy exercise is a core symptom of eating disorders that predicts greater chronicity and risk of relapse. A detailed conceptualization of unhealthy exercise in the context of eating disorders is only beginning to emerge, and associations between specific dimensions of unhealthy exercise and eating disorder symptoms have received little attention. The aim of the current study was to examine associations between three key dimensions of unhealthy exercise - compulsive exercise (i.e., rule-driven exercise to avoid negative affect), exercise to control weight/shape, and exercise to compensate for recent food intake - with restrictive eating and binge eating. Participants were 239 women drawn from two separate studies of emotions and eating behavior; 126 (52.7%) endorsed restrictive eating and/or objective binge eating episodes in the past three months. Unhealthy exercise dimensions were measured using the Compulsive Exercise Test and investigator-designed items, and eating disorder symptoms were assessed using the Eating Pathology Symptoms Inventory. Restrictive eating was only associated with avoidance and rule-driven exercise, whereas binge eating was significantly correlated with all unhealthy exercise variables. Multiple regression results revealed that only compensatory exercise was uniquely associated with binge eating. Unhealthy exercise consists of partially distinct dimensions with differential relations to core eating disorder symptoms. Future research should examine unhealthy exercise dimensions in patients with eating disorder diagnoses and consider whether treatments for specific unhealthy exercise forms might be beneficial.

"Fear guides the eyes of the beholder": Assessing gaze avoidance in social anxiety disorder via covert eye tracking of dynamic social stimuli.

Gaze avoidance is an important feature of social anxiety disorder (SAD) and may serve as a biobehavioral marker of SAD. The purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend findings on gaze avoidance in SAD via eye tracking during a computerized social simulation. Patients with SAD (n = 27) and a (sub)sample of demographically-matched healthy controls (HC; n = 22) completed a computerized, dynamic social simulation task involving video clips of actors giving positive and negative social feedback to the participant. All participants were unknowingly eye tracked during the simulation, and post-study consent was obtained to examine responses. Consistent with the bivalent fear of evaluation (BFOE) model of social anxiety, fear of positive evaluation related systematically to state anxiety in response to positive social feedback, and fear of negative evaluation related systematically to state anxiety in response to negative social feedback. Moreover, compared to HCs, SAD patients exhibited significantly greater global gaze avoidance in response to both the positive and negative video clips. Our results provide strong additional support for gaze avoidance as a biobehavioral marker of SAD, as well as additional support for the BFOE model. Implications for the assessment and treatment of SAD are discussed.

Relations among Social Anxiety, Eye Contact Avoidance, State Anxiety, and Perception of Interaction Performance during a Live Conversation.

There is building evidence that highly socially anxious (HSA) individuals frequently avoid making eye contact, which may contribute to less meaningful social interactions and maintenance of social anxiety symptoms. However, research to date is lacking in ecological validity due to the usage of either static or pre-recorded facial stimuli or subjective coding of eye contact. The current study examined the relationships among trait social anxiety, eye contact avoidance, state anxiety, and participants' self-perceptions of interaction performance during a live, four-minute conversation with a confederate via webcam, and while being covertly eye-tracked. Participants included undergraduate women who conversed with same-sex confederates. Results indicated that trait social anxiety was inversely related to eye contact duration and frequency averaged across the four minutes, and positively related to state social anxiety and negative self-ratings. In addition, greater anticipatory state anxiety was associated with reduced eye contact throughout the first minute of the conversation. Eye contact was not related to post-task state anxiety or self-perception of poor performance; although, trends emerged in which these relations may be positive for HSA individuals. The current findings provide enhanced support for the notion that eye contact avoidance is an important feature of social anxiety.