Error-related memory biases are specific to social stimuli for socially anxious individuals.

Abstract

Social anxiety (SA) is associated with enhanced error monitoring, yet underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Consistent with cognitive models of SA, we propose that stronger error monitoring contributes to SA by strengthening memory encoding of errors (including relevant social cues), negatively biasing what is remembered. Supporting this hypothesis, our prior work demonstrated that high SA individuals exhibit better memory for faces presented during error (vs. correct) trials. To test whether this Memory Bias for Error Events is specific to social stimuli, 140 participants completed a Flanker task with trial-unique faces (social) or objects (nonsocial) as background images, followed by a surprise memory test. Results revealed that higher SA symptoms were associated with enhanced memory for faces on error (vs. correct) trials, but not for objects. These findings replicate and extend our prior work, demonstrating that SA-related memory biases for errors are specific to social stimuli, rather than reflecting general encoding biases.