Psychophysiological evidence for cortisol-induced reduction in early bias for implicit social threat in social phobia.

The stress hormone cortisol is important for the regulation of social motivational processes. High cortisol levels have been associated with social fear and avoidance, which play an important role in social anxiety disorder (SAD), as does hypervigilant processing of social threat. However, causal effects of cortisol on threat processing in SAD remain unclear.

Cortisol-induced enhancement of emotional face processing in social phobia depends on symptom severity and motivational context.

We investigated the effects of cortisol administration on approach and avoidance tendencies in 20 patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured during a reaction time task, in which patients evaluated the emotional expression of photographs of happy and angry faces by making an approaching (flexion) or avoiding (extension) arm movement. Patients showed significant avoidance tendencies for angry but not for happy faces, both in the placebo and cortisol condition.

Cortisol administration enhances the coupling of midfrontal delta and beta oscillations.

There is increasing evidence that the strength of the relation between slow (SW) and fast (FW) wave activity in the EEG is associated with specific motivational states and their corresponding neuroendocrine patterns. Enhanced correlations between SW and FW have been related to anxiety, behavioral inhibition and high basal cortisol levels. However, the direct effects of cortisol on SW-FW coupling have not been experimentally studied yet.

The effects of cortisol administration on approach-avoidance behavior: an event-related potential study.

We investigated the effects of cortisol administration (50 mg) on approach and avoidance tendencies in low and high trait avoidant healthy young men. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured during a reaction time task, in which participants evaluated the emotional expression of photographs of happy and angry faces by making an approaching (flexion) or avoiding (extension) arm movement. The task consisted of an affect-congruent (approach happy faces and avoid angry faces) and an affect-incongruent (reversed instruction) condition.