title: Early somatosensory event-related potentials reveal attentional bias for internal stimuli in social anxiety.
abstract: The present study used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to investigate allocation of attentional resources to internal and external stimuli in individuals with social anxiety. High and low socially anxious individuals were presented with depictions of various facial expressions or household objects, followed by an internal (vibration presented to the finger) or external probe (the letter "E"). Participants were told that the vibration signals physiological changes and were asked to detect both probes. High socially anxious individuals showed larger front-central N140 amplitudes in response to vibratory internal probes as compared to non-anxious controls. ERPs elicited by picture stimuli and external probes and reaction times in response to both probe types did not differ between high and low social anxiety individuals. Early somatosensory ERPs reveal an attentional bias for internal stimuli that does not appear in overt behavior.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan. kanai51@izcc.tohoku-gakuin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kanai
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nittono
authors.forename: Kenta
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Shoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sasaki-Aoki
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwanaga
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D015982:Bias; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult