Emotion Recognition Training for Young People

While it has been hypothesised that individuals who experience social anxiety are more likely to misread facial emotions as threatening or disapproving, researchers have proposed that the difficulty may lie in decoding ambiguous facial expressions rather than identifying emotions which are expressed with greater intensity. Emotion recognition (ER) training provides a promising new avenue of research which may be beneficial in altering emotion processing biases which maintain or increase symptoms of mental health disorders. This study will examine the effectiveness of ER training in a community-based sample of young people (15-18 years) who report high levels of social anxiety. The intervention aims to alter emotion processing biases through a training procedure designed to promote the perception of happiness over disgust in ambiguous facial expressions which we hypothesise will subsequently reduce symptoms of social anxiety. The study design consists of two phases. During Phase 1 participants will complete a screening questionnaire. This questionnaire will include a measure of the affective, cognitive, and behavioural components of social anxiety in adolescence. Depending on their suitability (i.e. scoring above a cut-off on a standardised measure of social anxiety in Phase 1 of the study), participants may then be invited to take part in a 4-day computer-based emotion recognition training programme (Phase 2). The purpose of this phase is to see if ER training will help young people feel less worried or nervous in social situations by training them to interpret ambiguous facial expressions as expressing a positive emotion (happy rather than disgusted). Participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention or placebo (inactive) group. Both groups will be asked to complete a 4-day programme involving one computer training session per day (each session takes approximately 20 minutes). Questionnaires will also be given to participants to complete before and after the intervention, along with a 2-week follow-up assessment. These will include questionnaires to measure social anxiety, depressive symptoms, and fear of negative evaluation. Each questionnaire will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Participants will not know whether they have received the intervention or placebo training until after the intervention.