Modulation of feedback processing by social context in social anxiety disorder (SAD)-an event-related potentials (ERPs) study.

The ability to learn from feedback, especially under social scrutiny, is an essential prerequisite for successful interaction with the environment. Patients suffering from social anxiety disorder (SAD) have been proposed to show altered processing of and learning from feedback, especially depending on social context. However, the neural basis and behavioral consequences of altered reinforcement learning in SAD are not clear yet. In the present event-related potentials (ERPs) study, 34 SAD patients and 30 healthy control subjects (HC) performed an adapted version of a probabilistic feedback learning task in two distinct social conditions. In the observation condition, participants were observed by a confederate; in the control condition, they performed the task without being observed. Patients as compared to healthy controls experienced more subjective discomfort under social observation. Moreover, they showed better learning from negative feedback in the control condition, but reduced learning from negative feedback in the observation condition. This effect correlated with reduced differentiation of positive and negative feedback in the time range of the feedback-related negativity (FRN) under high action-feedback contingency. In addition, SAD patients demonstrated increased FRN amplitudes in the first half of the observation condition, in particular to positive feedback. The present results demonstrate that processing of and learning from feedback are altered in SAD, especially under social scrutiny. In particular, it appears that SAD patients do not process positive information adequately on the neural level, which may impair their ability to differentiate between negative and positive outcomes.

It's not me, it's you - Differential neural processing of social and non-social nogo cues in joint action.

This study used a joint flanker task to investigate differences in processing of social and non-social nogo cues, i.e., between cues indicating that a co-actor should respond and cues signaling that neither actor nor co-actor should respond, using event-related potentials (ERPs) and trial-to-trial response times (RTs). It was hypothesized that a social co-actor's response should be reflected in stronger modulation (slower RTs on subsequent trials; augmented neural responses) for social compared to non-social nogo. RTs and ERPs replicated flanker compatibility effects, with faster responses and increased P3a on compatible trials. In line with the hypotheses, ERPs revealed distinct coding of social and non-social nogo in the conflict-sensitive N2 which showed a compatibility effect only for social nogo, and in the attention/memory-related P3b which was larger for social relative to non-social nogo. The P3a did not distinguish between social and non-social nogo, but was larger for compatible and smaller for go trials. Contrary to our hypotheses, RTs were faster after social relative to non-social nogo. Hence, the representation of the co-actor's response in joint action modulates conflict processing reflected in the N2 and response discrimination and evaluation reflected in the P3b and may facilitate subsequent responses in the context of social versus non-social nogo.

Electrophysiological correlates of performance monitoring under social observation in patients with social anxiety disorder and healthy controls.

Previous research suggests that electrophysiological correlates of performance monitoring, in particular the error-related negativity (ERN), vary according to psychopathology and context factors. The present study examined the effect of social context on behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of performance monitoring in healthy adult subjects and in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Participants performed two runs of a Go/NoGo flanker task in different social conditions: in the observation condition, they were observed by a confederate while performing the task, whereas there was no observation in the control condition. Behavioral data showed that accuracy and response times were not modulated by social observation and also did not systematically differ between groups. Post-error slowing was more pronounced in patients, independent of observation condition. ERN amplitudes were generally increased under social observation as compared to the control condition regardless of group (patients, controls). No effects of social context or group were found for PE, NoGo-N2, and NoGo-P3. Exploratory analysis revealed a late sustained parietal negativity to errors in patients as compared to controls. Taken together, the present findings emphasize the importance of social context for the processes underlying performance monitoring. However, the notion of altered error monitoring reflected in an altered ERN in SAD is not supported by our data.

Processing of fair and unfair offers in the ultimatum game under social observation.

Social context influences social decisions and outcome processing, partially depending on inter-individual differences. The present study investigated social context-dependent modulation of behavior and feedback processing in the ultimatum game (UG) in relation to inter-individual differences in social anxiety. Thirty-two healthy adults completed the UG both under social observation and without observation. Offers were allegedly either randomly generated by the computer or drawn from a pool of offers from previous human players. Overall, fewer unfair than fair offers were accepted. Observation decreased acceptance rates for unfair offers. The feedback-locked feedback-related negativity (FRN) but not the P3 was modulated by observation and fairness, with stronger differential coding of unfair/fair under observation. This effect was strongly correlated with individual levels of social anxiety, with higher levels associated with stronger differential fairness coding in the FRN under observation. Behavioral findings support negative reciprocity in the UG, suggesting that (implicit) social norms overwrite explicit task instructions even in the absence of (alleged) social interaction. Observation enhances this effect. Fairness coding in the FRN was modulated by observation as a function of social anxiety, supporting the notion that altered sensitivity to equality in a social context may contribute to social avoidance in socially anxious individuals.

Aberrant network connectivity during error processing in patients with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Neuroimaging methods have pointed to deficits in the interaction of large-scale brain networks in patients with schizophrenia. Abnormal connectivity of the right anterior insula (AI), a central hub of the salience network, is frequently reported and may underlie patients' deficits in adaptive salience processing and cognitive control. While most previous studies used resting state approaches, we examined right AI interactions in a task-based fMRI study. METHODS: Patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls performed an adaptive version of the Eriksen Flanker task that was specifically designed to ensure a comparable number of errors between groups. RESULTS: We included 27 patients with schizophrenia and 27 healthy controls in our study. The between-groups comparison replicated the classic finding of reduced activation in the midcingulate cortex (MCC) in patients with schizophrenia during the commission of errors while controlling for confounding factors, such as task performance and error frequency, which have been neglected in many previous studies. Subsequent psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed aberrant functional connectivity (FC) between the right AI and regions in the inferior frontal gyrus and temporoparietal junction. Additionally, FC between the MCC and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was reduced. LIMITATIONS: As we examined a sample of medicated patients, effects of antipsychotic medication may have influenced our results. CONCLUSION: Overall, it appears that schizophrenia is associated with impairment of networks associated with detection of errors, refocusing of attention, superordinate guiding of cognitive control and their respective coordination.