Reacting to changing environment: Updating patterns in social anxiety

Social anxiety (SA) was associated with biases in the updating of self-related information. Whether and under which conditions such biases emerge with respect to other-related information remains under-explored. In a pre-registered study, online participants (n = 590) were randomly assigned to one of two structurally identical reversal-learning tasks with social (faces) or non-social (shapes) stimuli. In the initial phase of this task, stimulus-outcome associations were learned by trial and error. Next, in the updating phase of the task, these associations were modified. SA was associated with reduced negative-to-positive updating and enhanced positive-tonegative updating of social, but not non-social, information. The results extend previous studies suggesting that SA is associated not only with biased updating of selfrelated information but also with biased updating of other-related information. This bias is specific to social information and may contribute, along with other information processing biases, to the maintenance of SA. •Social anxiety (SA) was associated with biased updating of social information.•This SA-related updating bias was absent in non-social information.•SA was associated with reduced positive updating of social information.•SA was associated with enhanced negative updating of social information.