Self-Other Neural Representational Distinction is Associated with Distorted Social Predictions in Social Anxiety

Higher trait social anxiety is linked to greater self–other representational distinction in the left pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC), alongside stronger precuneus tracking of self-negative predictions.

• Why it matters: Social anxiety involves distorted future expectations, but it is unclear whether these predictions reflect a fundamental disruption in how the brain represents self versus others.
• What they did: In two experiments, participants rated future likelihoods for themselves versus a protagonist (Experiment 1: n=52 high SA, n=51 low SA; Experiment 2: 35 adults) and fMRI MVPA quantified self–other distinction while a parametric GLM tracked likelihood sensitivity.
• The result: Self–other distinction in pgACC during positive outcome processing significantly mediated the association between social anxiety severity and heightened precuneus prediction-tracking, supporting a circuit-level mechanism for risk-sensitive social forecasts.

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