Social anxiety modulates memory processing of social threat words, study finds

An experimental study in China used electroencephalographic imaging and brain activity patterns (known as event-related potentials) to compare the memory processes related to certain words in high- and low-anxiety students. Results indicated that social anxiety modulates the effect of recognition memory for social threat words. The study was published in Biological Psychology. Social anxiety involves fear and avoidance of scrutiny from others in social interactions. After events where they were scrutinized by others, persons high in social anxiety spend a lot of time thinking about the event a...