| Objective: The cognitive operation in the process of imagery consists of four key components,namely image generation,examination,maintenance and transformation.Among them,image-generating ability and image-generating content may play an important role in the occurrence,maintenance and development of social anxiety disorder.Emotional imagery can be generated from immediate perceived working memory information.Some studies have shown that social anxiety individuals have impairment in generating neutral stimulus.However,the specific neural mechanism is still lacking empirical evidence.In order to clarify the impaired mechanism of image generation in social anxiety individuals,two studies were conducted.The behavioral experiment of study 1 explored the differences between the scores of social anxious individuals on three emotional dimensions(vividness,pleasantness and acceptance)of three valance social scene pictures after the generation of working memory imagery and those of the control group.In the second study,the electrophysiological mechanism of the generation of three kinds of social scene imagery under immediate perception and working memory imagery by social anxiety individuals and control groups was explored.Methods: In study 1,the differences in image vividness,pleasure and acceptance in working memory image generation of positive,negative and neutral social scenes between 44 socially anxious individuals and 40 control subjects were investigated by using retro-cued imagery generation paradigm.Study 2 also used retro-cued imagery generation paradigm combined with event-related potential technology,to investigate the neuroelectrophysiological mechanisms of 28 socially anxious individuals and 31 control subjects when viewing(perception)and imagining(imagery)pictures of different social scenes(positive,negative and neutral).Results:(1)Behavioral experiment results showed that the vividness score of social anxious individuals in positive social scenes was significantly higher than that in neutral social scenes.However,there was no significant difference in the vividness score of three kinds of social scenes in the control group.For the pleasantness score,only the valance main effect was significant,that is,the pleasantness score of positive social scene was significantly higher than that of negative social scene and neutral social scene and the pleasantness score of neutral social scene was significantly higher than that of negative social scene.In terms of the acceptance score of social scenes,the acceptance score of the social anxious group was significantly lower than that of the control group.In both the social anxiety group and the control group,the acceptance score of the positive social scene was significantly higher than that of the negative social scene and the neutral social scene,and the acceptance score of the neutral social scene was significantly higher than that of the negative social scene.(2)The ERP results of study 2 found that the valance main effect of N170 and LPP in the perceptual stage was significant.The average amplitude of N170 in the positive social scene condition was significantly larger than that in the negative social scene and the neutral social scene.The average amplitude of LPP in negative social scene was significantly larger than that in positive and neutral social scenarios.In the imagery stage,the average amplitude of P1 induced by the neutral social scene in the control group was significantly greater than that in the social anxiety group.Furthermore,there was a significant interaction between group and valance.Simple effect test showed that the mean N170 amplitude induced by social anxiety group under neutral social scene condition was significantly greater than that under positive social scene condition and negative social scene condition.There was no significant difference in the control group.In the social anxiety group,the mean VPP amplitude induced by the neutral social scene condition was significantly larger than that induced by the negative social scene condition.The average LPP amplitude of the social anxiety group was significantly larger than that of the control group.Furthermore,the interaction between valance and group was significant.For the social anxiety group,the average LPP amplitude of the neutral social scene was significantly larger than that of the negative social scene.For the control group,there was no significant difference in the mean amplitude of LPP under the three social scenarios.Conclusion:(1)There is a negative bias when imagery social scenes in the individuals of social anxiety for they have a higher vividness when image positive and negative social scenes than neutral social scenes and lower acceptance when imagery all kinds of social scenes.(2)Individuals with social anxiety may be impaired in the imagery generating of neutral social scene,requiring more attention and cognitive resources. |
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