TY - JOUR
T1 - Behavioral and Neural Dissociation of Social Anxiety and Loneliness
AU - Lieberz, Jana
AU - Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G.
AU - Saporta, Nira
AU - Kanterman, Alisa
AU - Gorni, Jessica
AU - Esser, Timo
AU - Kuskova, Ekaterina
AU - Schultz, Johannes
AU - Hurlemann, René
AU - Scheele, Dirk
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 the authors
PY - 2022/3/23
Y1 - 2022/3/23
N2 - Loneliness is a public health concern with detrimental effects on physical and mental well-being. Given phenotypical overlaps between loneliness and social anxiety (SA), cognitive-behavioral interventions targeting SA might be adopted to reduce loneliness. However, whether SA and loneliness share the same underlying neurocognitive mechanisms is still an elusive question. The current study aimed at investigating to what extent known behavioral and neural correlates of social avoidance in SA are evident in loneliness. We used a prestratified approach involving 42 (21 females) participants with high loneliness (HL) and 40 (20 females) participants with low loneliness (LL) scores. During fMRI, participants completed a social gambling task to measure the subjective value of engaging in social situations and responses to social feedback. Univariate and multivariate analyses of behavioral and neural data replicated known task effects. However, although HL participants showed increased SA, loneliness was associated with a response pattern clearly distinct from SA. Specifically, contrary to expectations based on SA differences, Bayesian analyses revealed moderate evidence for equal subjective values of engaging in social situations and comparable amygdala responses to social decision-making and striatal responses to positive social feedback in both groups. Moreover, while explorative analyses revealed reduced pleasantness ratings, increased striatal activity, and decreased striatal-hippocampal connectivity in response to negative computer feedback in HL participants, these effects were diminished for negative social feedback. Our findings suggest that, unlike SA, loneliness is not associated with withdrawal from social interactions. Thus, established interventions for SA should be adjusted when targeting loneliness.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Loneliness can cause serious health problems. Adapting well-established cognitive-behavioral therapies targeting social anxiety might be promising to reduce chronic loneliness given a close link between both constructs. However, a better understanding of behavioral and neurobiological factors associated with loneliness is needed to identify which specific mechanisms of social anxiety are shared by lonely individuals. We found that lonely individuals show a consistently distinct pattern of behavioral and neural responsiveness to social decision-making and social feedback compared with previous findings for social anxiety. Our results indicate that loneliness is associated with a biased emotional reactivity to negative events rather than social avoidance. Our findings thus emphasize the distinctiveness of loneliness from social anxiety and the need for adjusted psychotherapeutic protocols.
AB - Loneliness is a public health concern with detrimental effects on physical and mental well-being. Given phenotypical overlaps between loneliness and social anxiety (SA), cognitive-behavioral interventions targeting SA might be adopted to reduce loneliness. However, whether SA and loneliness share the same underlying neurocognitive mechanisms is still an elusive question. The current study aimed at investigating to what extent known behavioral and neural correlates of social avoidance in SA are evident in loneliness. We used a prestratified approach involving 42 (21 females) participants with high loneliness (HL) and 40 (20 females) participants with low loneliness (LL) scores. During fMRI, participants completed a social gambling task to measure the subjective value of engaging in social situations and responses to social feedback. Univariate and multivariate analyses of behavioral and neural data replicated known task effects. However, although HL participants showed increased SA, loneliness was associated with a response pattern clearly distinct from SA. Specifically, contrary to expectations based on SA differences, Bayesian analyses revealed moderate evidence for equal subjective values of engaging in social situations and comparable amygdala responses to social decision-making and striatal responses to positive social feedback in both groups. Moreover, while explorative analyses revealed reduced pleasantness ratings, increased striatal activity, and decreased striatal-hippocampal connectivity in response to negative computer feedback in HL participants, these effects were diminished for negative social feedback. Our findings suggest that, unlike SA, loneliness is not associated with withdrawal from social interactions. Thus, established interventions for SA should be adjusted when targeting loneliness.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Loneliness can cause serious health problems. Adapting well-established cognitive-behavioral therapies targeting social anxiety might be promising to reduce chronic loneliness given a close link between both constructs. However, a better understanding of behavioral and neurobiological factors associated with loneliness is needed to identify which specific mechanisms of social anxiety are shared by lonely individuals. We found that lonely individuals show a consistently distinct pattern of behavioral and neural responsiveness to social decision-making and social feedback compared with previous findings for social anxiety. Our results indicate that loneliness is associated with a biased emotional reactivity to negative events rather than social avoidance. Our findings thus emphasize the distinctiveness of loneliness from social anxiety and the need for adjusted psychotherapeutic protocols.
KW - Anxiety/psychology
KW - Bayes Theorem
KW - Emotions
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Loneliness/psychology
KW - Male
KW - Social Behavior
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128000209&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2029-21.2022
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2029-21.2022
M3 - Article
C2 - 35165170
AN - SCOPUS:85128000209
SN - 0270-6474
VL - 42
SP - 2570
EP - 2583
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
IS - 12
ER -