Automatic Neural Processing of Disorder-Related Stimuli in Social Anxiety Disorder: Faces and More

Schulz C, Mothes-Lasch M, Straube T

Abstract

It has been proposed that social anxiety disorder (SAD) is associated with automatic informationprocessing biases resulting in hypersensitivity to signals of social threat such asnegative facial expressions. However, the nature and extent of automatic processes in SADon the behavioral and neural level is not entirely clear yet. The present review summarizesneuroscientific findings on automatic processing of facial threat but also other disorderrelatedstimuli such as emotional prosody or negative words in SAD. We review initialevidence for automatic activation of the amygdala, insula, and sensory cortices as well asfor automatic early electrophysiological components. However, findings vary dependingon tasks, stimuli, and neuroscientific methods. Only few studies set out to examine automaticneural processes directly and systematic attempts are as yet lacking. We suggestthat future studies should: (1) use different stimulus modalities, (2) examine different emotionalexpressions, (3) compare findings in SAD with other anxiety disorders, (4) use moresophisticated experimental designs to investigate features of automaticity systematically,and (5) combine different neuroscientific methods (such as functional neuroimaging andelectrophysiology). Finally, the understanding of neural automatic processes could alsoprovide hints for therapeutic approaches.