title: Processing of task-irrelevant natural scenes in social anxiety.
abstract: In this study, by manipulating perceptual load, we investigated whether socially anxious people process task-irrelevant, non-emotional, natural scenes. When attention was directed to letters and perceptual load was low, task-irrelevant natural scenes were processed, as evidenced by repetition priming effects, in both high and low socially anxious people. In the high perceptual load condition, repetition-priming effects decreased in participants with low social anxiety, but not in those with high social anxiety. The results were the same when attention was directed to pictures of animals: even in the high perceptual load condition, high socially anxious participants processed task-irrelevant natural scenes, as evidenced by flanker effects. However, when attention was directed to pictures of people, task-irrelevant natural scenes were not processed by participants in either anxiety group, regardless of perceptual load. These results suggest that high socially anxious individuals could not inhibit task-irrelevant natural scenes under conditions of high perceptual load, except when attention was focused on people.
authors.affiliation: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan; Hiroshima University, Japan. Jun.Moriya@UGent.be
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moriya
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanno
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D060865:Repetition Priming / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult