Summary: A new study finds that brief isolation increases threat sensitivity in teens, even if they remain connected online. Adolescents isolated in a room for several hours showed heightened physiological stress and anxious responses to potential threats, regardless of whether they had access to smartphones.
This persistent alertness to threats may contribute to anxiety disorders, which are increasingly prevalent among young people worldwide.
The findings reveal that virtual connections may not fully counteract the psychological effects of isolation in adolescence, a period marked by intense social needs. The study suggests that physical isolation impacts mental health in ways that digital communication may not fully address.
Key Facts:
- Isolation heightened threat responses in teens, even with online access.
- Teens experienced 70% higher stress responses after isolation, regardless of digital connectivity.
- Adolescents showed increased threat sensitivity, which may heighten anxiety risk.
Source: University of Cambridge
People in their late teens experience an increased sensitivity to threats after just a few hours left in a room on their own—an effect that endures even if they are interacting online with friends and family.
This is according to the latest findings from a cognitive neuroscience experiment conducted at the University of Cambridge, which saw 40 young people aged 16–19 undergo testing before and after several hours alone—both with and without their smartphones.
Many countries have declared an epidemic of loneliness. The researchers set out to “induce” loneliness in teenagers and study the effects through a series of tests, from a Pavlovian task to electrodes that measure sweat.
Scientists found that periods of isolation, including those in which participants could use their phones, led to an increased threat response—the sensing of and reacting to potential dangers. This alertness can cause people to feel anxious and uneasy.
The authors of the study say that isolation and loneliness might lead to excessive “threat vigilance,” even when plugged in online, which could negatively impact adolescent mental health over time.
They say it could contribute to the persistent and exaggerated fear responses typical of anxiety disorders on the rise among young people around the world.
While previous studies show isolation leads to anxious behavior and threat responses in rodents, this is believed to be the first study to demonstrate these effects through experiments involving humans.
The findings are published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
“We detected signs of heightened threat vigilance after a few hours of isolation, even when the adolescents had been connected through smartphones and social media,” said Emily Towner, study lead author from Cambridge’s Department of Psychology.
“This alertness to perceived threats might be the same mechanism that leads to the excessive worry and inability to feel safe which characterizes anxiety,” said Towner, a Gates Cambridge Scholar.
“It makes evolutionary sense that being alone increases our vigilance to potential threats. These threat response mechanisms undergo a lot of changes in adolescence, a stage of life marked by increasing independence and social sensitivity.”
“Our experiment suggests that periods of isolation in adolescents might increase their vulnerability to the development of anxiety, even when they are connected virtually.”
Researchers recruited young people from the local area in Cambridge, UK, conducting extensive screening to create a pool of 18 boys and 22 girls who had good social connections and no history of mental health issues.
Participants were given initial tests and questionnaires to establish a “baseline.” These included the Pavlovian threat test, in which they were shown a series of shapes on a screen, one of which was paired with a harsh noise played through headphones, so the shape became associated with a feeling of apprehension.
Electrodes attached to fingers monitored “electrodermal activity”—a physiological marker of stress—throughout this test.
Each participant returned for two separate stints of around four hours isolated in a room in Cambridge University’s Psychology Department, after which the tests were completed again. There was around a month, on average, between sessions.
All participants underwent two isolation sessions. One was spent with a few puzzles to pass the time, but no connection to the outside world. For the other, participants were allowed smartphones and given wi-fi codes, as well as music and novels. The only major rule in both sessions was they had to stay awake.
“We set out to replicate behavior in humans that previous animal studies had found after isolation,” said Towner. “We wanted to know about the experience of loneliness, and you can’t ask animals how lonely they feel.”
Self-reported loneliness increased from baseline after both sessions. It was lower on average after isolation with social media, compared to full isolation.
However, participants found the threat cue—the shape paired with a jarring sound—more anxiety-inducing and unpleasant after both isolation sessions, with electrodes also measuring elevated stress activity.
On average across the study, threat responses were 70% higher after the isolation sessions compared to the baseline, regardless of whether participants had been interacting digitally.
“Although virtual social interactions helped our participants feel less lonely compared to total isolation, their heightened threat response remained,” said Towner.
Previous studies have found a link between chronic loneliness and alertness to threats. The latest findings support the idea that social isolation may directly contribute to heightened fear responses, say researchers.
Dr. Livia Tomova, co-senior author and lecturer in Psychology at Cardiff University, who conducted the work while at Cambridge, added, “Loneliness among adolescents around the world has nearly doubled in recent years.
“The need for social interaction is especially intense during adolescence, but it is not clear whether online socializing can fulfill this need.
“This study has shown that digital interactions might not mitigate some of the deep-rooted effects that isolation appears to have on teenagers.”
About this psychology and neurodevelopment research news
Author: Emily Towner
Source: University of Cambridge
Contact: Emily Towner – University of Cambridge
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Increased threat learning after social isolation in human adolescents” by Emily Towner et al. Royal Society Open Science
Abstract
Increased threat learning after social isolation in human adolescents
In animal models, social isolation impacts threat responding and threat learning, especially during development.
This study examined the effects of acute social isolation on threat learning in human adolescents using an experimental, within-participant design.
Participants aged 16–19 years underwent a session of complete isolation and a separate session of isolation with virtual social interactions, counterbalanced between participants, as well as a baseline session.
At baseline and following each isolation session, participants reported their psychological state and completed a threat learning task in which self-report ratings and physiological responses to learned threat and safety cues were measured. Threat learning increased after both isolation sessions in two ways.
First, participants found the learned threat cue more anxiety-inducing and unpleasant after isolation compared with baseline. Second, during threat extinction, electrodermal activity was partially elevated after isolation compared with baseline.
Further, the results suggested that isolation influenced threat learning through state loneliness.
Threat learning is central to threat-related disorders including anxiety, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and our findings suggest that isolation and loneliness in adolescence might increase vulnerability to the emergence o
