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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 12, 2026

Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker

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Published on: December 18, 2014

Frontal Midline Theta Promotes Context-dependent Aversive Learning in Social Anxiety.

Selin Topel¹, Elise D Kortink¹, Hanjie Liu¹

¹Leiden University.

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

|October 30, 2025

Summary

Social anxiety is linked to avoidance and aversive learning. This study found that frontal midline theta (FM-theta) brain activity in socially anxious individuals promotes reactive avoidance, impacting decision-making.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychology
Cognitive Science

Background:

Social anxiety is characterized by avoidance and aversive learning biases.
Understanding the neurocomputational basis of these biases is crucial for developing interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neurocomputational processes underlying avoidance and aversive learning in social anxiety.
To examine if these biases persist across different social contexts (alone vs. social scrutiny).

Main Methods:

154 participants with varying levels of social anxiety completed a probabilistic selection task.
Electroencephalography (EEG) measured frontal midline theta (FM-theta) activity.
Task performance was analyzed in solitary and socially scrutinized conditions.

Main Results:

Social anxiety increased the use of win-stay and lose-switch strategies.
Frontal midline theta power predicted post-error slowing, especially in socially anxious individuals.
Punishment-based learning was amplified by social anxiety, particularly when alone.

Conclusions:

Social anxiety modulates FM-theta activity, promoting reactive avoidance in decision-making.
Findings link social anxiety to biases in attention, control, and learning.
FM-theta may be a neural target for interventions to reduce avoidance and improve learning.