Social intelligence mediates the protective role of resting-state brain activity in the social cognition network against social anxiety

Abstract

Background: Social intelligence refers to an important psychosocial skill set encompassing an array of abilities, including effective self-expression, understanding of social contexts, and acting wisely in social interactions. While there is ample evidence of its importance in various mental health outcomes, particularly social anxiety, little is known on the brain correlates underlying social intelligence and how it can mitigate social anxiety.

Objective: This research aims to investigate the functional neural markers of social intelligence and their relations to social anxiety.

Methods: Data of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and behavioral measures were collected from 231 normal students aged 16 to 20 years (48% male). Whole-brain voxel-wise correlation analysis was conducted to detect the functional brain clusters related to social intelligence. Correlation and mediation analyses explored the potential role of social intelligence in the linkage of resting-state brain activities to social anxiety.

Results: Social intelligence was correlated with neural activities (assessed as the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, fALFF) among two key brain clusters in the social cognition networks: negatively correlated in left superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and positively correlated in right middle temporal gyrus. Further, the left SFG fALFF was positively correlated with social anxiety; brain-personality-symptom analysis revealed that this relationship was mediated by social intelligence.

Conclusion: These results indicate that resting-state activities in the social cognition networks might influence a person's social anxiety via social intelligence: lower left SFG activity → higher social intelligence → lower social anxiety. These may have implication for developing neurobehavioral interventions to mitigate social anxiety.

Keywords

amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations / social intelligence / social anxiety / resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging / social cognition network

Author contributions

Yingqiao Ma (Methodology, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review and editing), Yuhan Zou (Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing), Xiqin Liu (Methodology, Software, Writing - review and editing), Taolin Chen (Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - review and editing), Graham J. Kemp (Writing - review and editing), Qiyong Gong (Funding acquisition, Resources, Supervision), and Song Wang (Funding acquisition, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing - review and editing)

Conflict of interest

One of the authors, Qiyong Gong, is also the editor-in-chief of Psychoradiology. He was blinded from reviewing or making decisions on the manuscript.

Acknowledgement

The authors thank all the students who participated in this study. This work was supported by the Key Research and Development Program of Sichuan Province (Grant Nos. 2023YFS0084 and 2023YFS0076). The funding had no involvement in the study design, data collection and analysis, results interpretation, writing or decision to publish of the paper. Dr Taolin Chen also plays the role of correspondence author in this study.

Data and code availability

To get access to the data and comply with the terms of our research ethics committee approval an application to the corresponding author should be required. West China Hospital has an institutional commitment to data-sharing.

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