Electrophysiological evidence of processing social threat words in social anxiety participants

These findings suggest that social anxiety modulates early-stage processing of social threat. While P2 reflects generalized early attentional sensitivity to threat, EPN is more selectively heightened in socially anxious individuals, capturing both attentional and perceptual enhancements in emotional processing. Attentional biases in social anxiety may thus emerge primarily during early perceptual encoding rather than sustained evaluative stages.