Abstract
Functional near-infrared (fNIR) spectroscopy is a promising new technology that has demonstrated utility in the study of normal human cognition. We utilized fNIR spectroscopy to examine the effect of social anxiety and performance on hemodynamic activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Socially phobic participants and non-clinical participants with varying levels of social anxiety completed a public speaking task in front of a small virtual audience while the DLPFC was being monitored by the fNIR device. The relationship between anxiety and both blood volume (BV) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (Hb) varied significantly as a function of speech performance, such that individuals with low social anxiety who performed well showed an increase in DLPFC activation relative to those who did not perform well. This result suggests that effortful thinking and/or efficient top-down inhibitory control may have been required to complete an impromptu speech task with good performance. In contrast, good performers who were highly socially anxious showed lower DLPFC activation relative to good performers who were low in social anxiety, suggesting autopilot thinking or less-effortful thinking. In poor performers, slight increases in DLPFC activation were observed from low to highly anxious individuals, which may reflect a shift from effortless thinking to heightened self-focused attention. Heightened self-focused attention, poor inhibitory control resulting in excessive fear or anxiety, or low motivation may lower performance. These results suggest that there can be different underlying mechanisms in the brain that affect the level of speech performance in individuals with varying degrees of social anxiety. This study highlights the utility of the fNIR device in the assessment of changes in DLPFC in response to exposure to realistic phobic stimuli, and further supports the potential utility of this technology in the study of the neurophysiology of anxiety disorders.
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The imaging device used in this study is manufactured by fNIR Devices, LLC. This company is associated with Drexel and the technology and software development have been disclosed and protected by the University. Meltem Izzetoglu (our fifth author) has an ownership interest in this company.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11682-017-9740-9.
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Glassman, L.H., Kuster, A.T., Shaw, J.A. et al. The relationship between dorsolateral prefrontal activation and speech performance-based social anxiety using functional near infrared spectroscopy. Brain Imaging and Behavior 11, 797–807 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-016-9554-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-016-9554-1