TY - JOUR TI - A human subcortical network underlying social avoidance revealed by risky economic choices AU - Schultz, Johannes AU - Willems, Tom AU - Gädeke, Maria AU - Chakkour, Ghada AU - Franke, Alexander AU - Weber, Bernd AU - Hurlemann, Rene A2 - Büchel, Christian A2 - Frank, Michael J VL - 8 PY - 2019 DA - 2019/07/22 SP - e45249 C1 - eLife 2019;8:e45249 DO - 10.7554/eLife.45249 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.45249 AB - Social interactions have a major impact on well-being. While many individuals actively seek social situations, others avoid them, at great cost to their private and professional life. The neural mechanisms underlying individual differences in social approach or avoidance tendencies are poorly understood. Here we estimated people’s subjective value of engaging in a social situation. In each trial, more or less socially anxious participants chose between an interaction with a human partner providing social feedback and a monetary amount. With increasing social anxiety, the subjective value of social engagement decreased; amygdala BOLD response during decision-making and when experiencing social feedback increased; ventral striatum BOLD response to positive social feedback decreased; and connectivity between these regions during decision-making increased. Amygdala response was negatively related to the subjective value of social engagement. These findings suggest a relation between trait social anxiety/social avoidance and activity in a subcortical network during social decision-making. KW - social decision-making KW - amygdala KW - ventral striatum KW - neuroimaging KW - social anxiety KW - social avoidance JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -