Examining the neural basis of socially anxious behaviors

by Society for Neuroscience

edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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People with social anxiety are especially sensitive to unpleasant outcomes, and this sensitivity contributes to their tendency to avoid social situations. Previous research has linked this learning bias to activity in specific brain regions. Hanjie Liu and Melle van der Molen of Leiden University extended this work by examining how communication between brain regions coordinates learning behavior in people with varying levels of social anxiety.

As presented in their JNeurosci paper, the researchers assessed the brain activity of 146 people with different levels of social anxiety as they performed a task either alone or under scrutiny. People with greater social anxiety had stronger communication between brain regions that was sensitive to the learning context. This increased communication supported performance when learning demands were relatively low but hindered performance when the task became more demanding.

Liu said, "These findings suggest that social anxiety may be accompanied by a heightened sensitivity to the social context when learning. This sensitivity may be helpful when learning is relatively easy, but could become disadvantageous as learning demands increase, potentially disrupting how different brain regions communicate and work together."

Publication details

The Cost of Scrutiny: Subclinical Social Anxiety and Performance Context Reshape Frontal–Midline Theta Network Reconfigurations During Probabilistic Learning, JNeurosci (2026). DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2161-25.2026

Journal information: Journal of Neuroscience

Key medical concepts

Anxieties, Socialbrain activity

Clinical categories

PsychiatryPsychology & Mental healthNeurology Provided by Society for Neuroscience Who's behind this story?

Gaby Clark

MA in English, copy editor since 2021 with experience in higher education and health content. Dedicated to trustworthy science news. Full profile →

Andrew Zinin

Master's in physics with research experience. Long-time science news enthusiast. Plays key role in Science X's editorial success. Full profile →

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