Reinforcement learning allows people to maximize their gains by seeking rewards and minimize losses by avoiding punishments. However, the ability to appropriately learn from positive and negative...Show moreReinforcement learning allows people to maximize their gains by seeking rewards and minimize losses by avoiding punishments. However, the ability to appropriately learn from positive and negative feedback is altered in individuals with social anxiety, particularly dependent on the social context. While high socially anxious individuals are more responsive to negative compared to positive feedback in non-social contexts, there is a lack of consensus on their feedback learning pattern when being under social scrutiny. Our study investigated the relationship between different levels of social anxiety and learning from positive versus negative feedback in social versus non-social contexts by using the SELF-Symbol paradigm, a probabilistic learning task. Participants with different levels of subclinical social anxiety (N = 123) had to learn the differing probabilistic accuracy contingencies of Japanese symbols through negative and positive feedback. In the standard condition, participants were alone in a room, while in the social condition, participants were observed by an examiner. The results did not yield any significant findings, indicating no difference between different levels of subclinical social anxiety in learning more accurately from positive versus negative feedback in the non-social as compared to social condition. The results are discussed with reference to the continuous nature of social anxiety symptoms and the representativeness and research design of the current study. Addressing current limitations can lead to more hopeful future research and advancements in recognising social anxiety also in non-clinical samples.Show less
