An international team of researchers led by the University of Maryland have looked at the potential root of childhood social anxiety and found that others noticing their mistakes could play a role. The study is published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
The study gave 107 children aged 12 the flanker task, which tests their ability to focus on information while disregarding distractions. They took the test twice: once when they were told they were being observed by peers and once when they were told they weren’t being observed. The team measured reaction times in both these cases and looked at the children's brain activity using an electroencephalogram.
Based on the children's post-error response times and brain activity, the team found a connection between social anxiety and a fear of making errors when under observation.
