Cyberball Game Research Articles

Social exclusion impairs distractor suppression but not target enhancement in selective attention

Social exclusion has been thought to weaken one's ability to exert inhibitory control. Existing studies have primarily focused on the relationship between exclusion and behavioral inhibition, and have reported that exclusion impairs behavioral inhibition. However, whether exclusion also affects selective attention, another important aspect of inhibitory control, remains unknown. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore whether social exclusion impairs selective attention, and to specifically examine its effect on two hypothesized mechanisms of selective attention: target enhancement and distractor suppression. The Cyberball game was used to manipulate social exclusion. Participants then performed a visual search task while event-related potentials were recorded. In the visual search task, target and salient distractor were either both presented laterally or one was presented on the vertical midline and the other laterally. Results showed that social exclusion differentially affected target and distractor processing. While exclusion impaired distractor suppression, reflected as smaller distractor-positivity (Pd) amplitudes for the exclusion group compared to the inclusion group, it did not affect target enhancement, reflected as similar target-negativity (Nt) amplitudes for both the exclusion and inclusion groups. Together, these results extend our understanding of the relationship between exclusion and inhibitory control, and suggest that social exclusion affects selective attention in a more complex manner than previously thought.

Social network sites influence recovery from social exclusion: Individual differences in social anxiety

Social network sites (SNSs) have been found to be closely associated with responses to social exclusion and to impact people with high or low levels of social anxiety in different ways. Our study tested whether social anxiety, an individual difference variable, affected the association between SNSs and responses to social exclusion. A Cyberball game was conducted to create social exclusion, followed by a waiting period during which participants were observed to see whether they would choose to use SNSs. Afterwards, recovery from participants' negative responses to exclusion was measured. Results showed that using SNSs benefited the highly socially anxious (HSA) group in terms of recovering from disconnection and feeling a sense of meaningful existence more than the low socially anxious (LSA) group. However, recovery from disconnection was lower for LSA individuals who used SNSs than those who did not use SNSs. Our research suggests that SNSs benefited HSA individuals after social exclusion, but hindered the recovery of LSA individuals.

Preliminary evidence for increased parasympathetic activity during social inclusion and exclusion in adolescents with functional abdominal pain

ObjectivePeer victimization (e.g. social exclusion) has been shown to be associated with physical health problems such as functional somatic complaints and especially symptoms of pain. To date, no study has investigated the mechanisms underlying this association in clinical pediatric samples. The aim of this study was to evaluate the parasympathetic activity during a social exclusion experience in adolescents with functional abdominal pain (FAP). MethodsTwenty adolecents with FAP and 21 matched healthy participants were compared regarding parameters of parasympathetic activation before, during, and after participating in the Cyberball-game, a well-established paradigm to induce social exclusion. ResultsAdolescents with FAP showed an increase in parasympathetic activation during both consecutive phases of the Cyberball game (inclusion as well as exclusion condition) whereas the healthy control group remained stable. There were no differences in subjective experience of in- and exclusion between the groups. ConclusionThe parasympathetic activation pattern may indicate altered processing of social stimuli in adolescents with FAP.

Neural patterns in ecological momentary assessment of social stressors

BackgroundSuicidal behaviors result from a complex interaction between social stressors and individual vulnerability. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) provides the opportunity to investigate the relationship between social stressors in daily life and the occurrence of negative thoughts leading to suicidal ideation. fMRI showed that a neural network supports the sensitivity to social stressors in suicide attempters.ObjectiveA joint fMRI/EMA study investigated whether individual differences in brain reactivity to scanner-based social rejection was related to social rejection during real-world social interactions.MethodSixty women were included: euthymic women with a history of depression with or without suicidal behavior and healthy controls. The Cyberball Game was used as a social exclusion paradigm. Following the fMRI, subjects used EMA for seven days, providing data on environmental, contextual and emotional factors.ResultsIn the fMRI study, in comparison to patients without any history of suicide attempt and healthy controls, suicide attempters showed decreased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex, insula and superior temporal gyrus during the exclusion vs. inclusion condition. In the EMA study, social stressors were specific predictors of suicidal ideation in suicide attempters. We will examine here if individuals who show greater activity in specific brain regions during scanner-based social rejection reported a greater social distress during their daily social interactions.Conclusionsthis study used a combined technique to assess whether neural reactivity to experimental social rejection in the scanner is related to real-world social experience, and if it may help to understand the sensitivity to social stress in suicidal behavior.Disclosure of interestThe authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Neural responses to social exclusion in adolescents: Effects of peer status

We examined whether adolescents' neural responses to social exclusion and inclusion are influenced by their own popularity and acceptance and by the popularity of their excluders and includers. Accepted adolescents are highly prosocial. In contrast, popular adolescents, who are central and influential, show prosocial as well as antisocial behaviors, such as peer exclusion. Fifty-two 12–16 year-old adolescents underwent an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan while playing the ball-tossing game Cyberball in which they received or did not receive the ball from other virtual players. The other virtual players were described as either highly popular or average in popularity. Participants' own popularity and acceptance were assessed with peer nominations at school (n = 31). Participants' acceptance was positively correlated with activity of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during exclusion. Participants' popularity was positively associated with ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex activity during exclusion, but only when the excluders were popular virtual players. Participants showed increased rostral ACC activation to inclusion by players who were average in popularity. These findings indicate that peer status plays an important role in adolescents' neural processing of social exclusion and inclusion. Moreover, these findings underscore that popularity and acceptance are distinct types of high peer status in adolescence, with not only distinct behavioral correlates, but also distinct neural correlates.

When Silence Is Not Golden: Why Acknowledgment Matters Even When Being Excluded

Following ostracism, individuals are highly sensitive to social cues. Here we investigate whether and when minimal acknowledgment can improve need satisfaction following an ostracism experience. In four studies, participants were either ostracized during Cyberball (Studies 1 and 2) or through a novel apartment-application paradigm (Studies 3 and 4). To signal acknowledgment following ostracism, participants were either thrown a ball a few times at the end of the Cyberball game, or received a message that was either friendly, neutral, or hostile in the apartment-application paradigm. Both forms of acknowledgment increased need satisfaction, even when the acknowledgment was hostile (Study 4), emphasizing the beneficial effect of any kind of acknowledgment following ostracism. Reinclusion buffered threat immediately, whereas acknowledgment without reinclusion primarily aided recovery. Our results suggest that minimal acknowledgment such as a few ball throws or even an unfriendly message can reduce the sting of ostracism.

The experience of social exclusion in women with a history of suicidal acts: a neuroimaging study

Suicidal behaviors result from a complex interaction between social stressors and individual vulnerability. However, little is known of the specific neural network supporting the sensitivity to social stressors in patients at risk of suicidal acts. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, we investigated brain processing of social rejection in suicide attempters. Thirty-six euthymic women with a history of depression and suicidal behavior were compared to 41 euthymic women with a history of depression but no suicidal attempt, and 28 healthy controls. The Cyberball Game was used as a validated social exclusion paradigm. Relative to healthy controls, both patient groups reported higher levels of social distress related to the task, without significant differences according to suicidal status. Compared to patients without any history of suicide attempt and healthy controls, suicide attempters showed decreased contrast in the left insula and supramarginal gyrus during the exclusion vs. inclusion condition, after controlling for number of depressive episodes, medication, mood disorder type or social phobia. Our study highlights impaired brain response to social exclusion in euthymic female suicide attempters in regions previously implicated in pain tolerance and social cognition. These findings suggest sustained brain dysfunctions related to social perception in suicide attempters.

102. The Cognitive Costs of Social Exclusion in Schizophrenia

Background: Social exclusion is a particularly poignant and impairing social experience that can lead to affective and cognitive impairments in clinical populations. Various psychiatric disorders, (e.g., depression, social anxiety, and schizophrenia) are associated with hyper-responsivity to social exclusion. Social exclusion is exceedingly common in schizophrenia (e.g., most have very few friends, few get married, and many are estranged from family members). The most extensively validated paradigm for social exclusion is the Cyberball task, in which participants believe they are interacting with peers, and being excluded from an online ball-tossing game. For individuals with depression and anxiety, social exclusion leads to slowed processing speed, deficits in social self-regulation, and impaired cognitive control, memory, attention, and motivation. Despite the relevance to schizophrenia, no studies have examined the cognitive consequences of social exclusion in individuals with schizophrenia. Methods: Data collection is ongoing, and data are available on 35 patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls. Social exclusion and social inclusion conditions were counterbalanced such that all participants were administered the Cyberball game (exclusion condition) and an online ball-passing game (inclusion condition) during 2 separate visits to our laboratory. Additionally, participants completed measures of neurocognition, defeatist beliefs, and emotional reactivity following both social exclusion and social inclusion. Results: There was a significant interaction such that the 2 groups showed different patterns in neurocognitive performance following social exclusion—patients get worse after being excluded and were less able to perform tasks requiring working memory and processing speed, while controls’ performance actually improved after they are socially excluded, compared to when they are included. Results indicate that patients had significantly higher levels of defeatist beliefs than controls, and both groups showed a significant increase in defeatist beliefs after social exclusion, compared to inclusion. Conclusion: This is the first study to directly examine the consequences of social exclusion on individuals with schizophrenia. The results suggest that individuals with schizophrenia may experience increases in neurocognitive impairment and in defeatist beliefs, when they feel socially excluded. The present data support the notion that social and environmental factors may contribute to impaired neurocognitive functioning in schizophrenia.

Emotional mimicry of older adults’ expressions: effects of partial inclusion in a Cyberball paradigm

ABSTRACTAs intergenerational interactions increase due to an ageing population, the study of emotion-related responses to the elderly is increasingly relevant. Previous research found mixed results regarding affective mimicry – a measure related to liking and affiliation. In the current study, we investigated emotional mimicry to younger and older actors following an encounter with a younger and older player in a Cyberball game. In a complete exclusion condition, in which both younger and older players excluded the participant, we expected emotional mimicry to be stronger for younger vs. older actors. In a partial inclusion condition, in which the younger player excluded while the older player included the participant, we predicted that the difference in player behaviour would lead to a difference in liking. This increased liking of the older interaction partner should reduce the difference in emotional mimicry towards the two different age groups. Results revealed more mimicry for older actors following partial inclusion especially for negative emotions, suggesting inclusive behaviour by an older person in an interaction as a possible means to increase mimicry and affiliation to the elderly.

How children’s victimization relates to distorted versus sensitive social cognition: Perception, mood, and need fulfillment in response to Cyberball inclusion and exclusion

This study examined whether victimization is associated with negatively distorted social cognition (bias), or with a specific increased sensitivity to social negative cues, by assessing the perception of social exclusion and the consequences for psychological well-being (moods and fundamental needs). Both self-reported and peer-reported victimization of 564 participants (Mage=9.9years, SD=1.04; 49.1% girls) were measured, and social exclusion was manipulated through inclusion versus exclusion in a virtual ball-tossing game (Cyberball). Children’s perceptions and psychological well-being were in general more negative after exclusion than after inclusion. Moreover, self-reported—but not peer-reported—victimization was associated with the perception of being excluded more and receiving the ball less, as well as more negative moods and less fulfillment of fundamental needs, regardless of being excluded or included during the Cyberball game. In contrast, peer-reported victimization was associated with more negative mood and lower need fulfillment in the exclusion condition only. Together, these results suggest that children who themselves indicate being victimized have negatively distorted social cognition, whereas children who are being victimized according to their peers experience increased sensitivity to negative social situations. The results stress the importance of distinguishing between self-reported and peer-reported victimization and have implications for interventions aimed at victimized children’s social cognition.

Past racial discrimination exacerbates the effects of racial exclusion on negative affect, perceived control, and alcohol-risk cognitions among Black young adults.

Racial discrimination is associated with alcohol use and risky sex cognitions and behaviors, which are risk factors for negative health outcomes, including human immunodeficiency virus infection. The current study investigated the causal impact of racial discrimination on alcohol and sexual-risk cognitions while exploring potential mediators that might help explain this relation: negative affect, perceived control, and meaningful existence. We also examined if past discrimination impacts the strength of (moderates) these effects. Participants were 287 Black/African American young adults aged 18-25. They were randomly assigned to be excluded or included by White peers via the game Cyberball. Racial exclusion (vs. inclusion) predicted greater: perceived racial discrimination, negative affect, alcohol use willingness, and reduced perceived control and meaningful existence. Furthermore, excluded participants who experienced more past racial discrimination reported the lowest perceived control, and greatest negative affect and alcohol-risk cognitions. The findings suggest that past racial discrimination exacerbates the harmful health effects of immediate experiences of discrimination.

Social exclusion modulates priorities of attention allocation in cognitive control.

Many studies have investigated how exclusion affects cognitive control and have reported inconsistent results. However, these studies usually treated cognitive control as a unitary concept, whereas it actually involved two main sub-processes: conflict detection and response implementation. Furthermore, existing studies have focused primarily on exclusion’s effects on conscious cognitive control, while recent studies have shown the existence of unconscious cognitive control. Therefore, the present study investigated whether and how exclusion affects the sub-processes underlying conscious and unconscious cognitive control differently. The Cyberball game was used to manipulate social exclusion and participants subsequently performed a masked Go/No-Go task during which event-related potentials were measured. For conscious cognitive control, excluded participants showed a larger N2 but smaller P3 effects than included participants, suggesting that excluded people invest more attention in conscious conflict detection, but less in conscious inhibition of impulsive responses. However, for unconscious cognitive control, excluded participants showed a smaller N2 but larger P3 effects than included participants, suggesting that excluded people invest less attention in unconscious conflict detection, but more in unconscious inhibition of impulsive responses. Together, these results suggest that exclusion causes people to rebalance attention allocation priorities for cognitive control according to a more flexible and adaptive strategy.

The Prosocial Cyberball Game: Compensating for social exclusion and its associations with empathic concern and bullying in adolescents

In this study we examined prosocial compensating behavior towards socially excluded ingroup and outgroup members by using a ‘Prosocial Cyberball Game’ in 9–17 year old Dutch adolescents (N = 133). Results showed that adolescents compensated for the social exclusion of an unknown peer in a virtual ball tossing game, by tossing the ball more often to that player in compensation conditions compared to the fair play condition. The proportion of tosses towards the excluded player did not significantly differ as a function of the group status of that player. Although compensating behavior towards ingroup versus outgroup members did not differ, the underlying motivation for this behavior may vary. More empathic concern was associated with more prosocial tosses towards an ingroup member, while more self-reported bullying behavior was associated with less compensating behavior in the outgroup condition. These findings may have practical implications for programs intending to change bystander behavior in bullying situations.

Construct validity of Williams' ostracism needs threat scale

Much recent work on ostracism has used the online game Cyberball paired with an un-validated 12-item scale that purportedly measures four needs. Thus, the present paper examined convergent and discriminant validity for the needs threat scale compared to the Sheldon Needs Scale, a more established measure of ten psychological needs. Two samples, containing 192 participants, completed inclusion or exclusion manipulations via Cyberball. Convergent validity correlations were higher than divergent correlations, but within-scale correlations were higher still, suggesting the sub-scales are not perfectly distinct. This was further supported by the poor fit to a four-factor model in confirmatory factor analysis and the existence of a two-factor structure in exploratory factor analysis.

It is More than Thought that Counts: the Role of Readiness for Aggression in the Relationship Between Ostracism and Displaced Aggression

Research has shown that ostracism results in aggressive behavior towards the ostracising other, but also causes displaced aggression—aggression directed towards an innocent person. Our study investigated whether displaced aggressive responses to ostracism were increased by three types of aggression proneness (readiness for aggression) based on different mechanisms: emotional-impulsive, habitual-cognitive or personality-immanent. Participants (n = 118) played a Cyberball game in which they were either excluded or included, next prepared a hot sauce sample for another person as an indicator of aggression and completed the Readiness for Interpersonal Aggression Inventory. Results showed that ostracism evoked more aggression in participants with high rather than with low emotional-impulsive readiness for aggression. Only this type of readiness moderated the ostracism-aggression relationship indicating that mostly affective mechanisms induce displaced aggressive responses to exclusion.

Genetic and neural correlates of romantic relationship satisfaction.

Romantic relationship satisfaction (RRS) is important for mental/physical health but varies greatly across individuals. To date, we have known little about the biological (genetic and neural) correlates of RRS. We tested the hypothesis that the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR), the promoter region of the gene SLC6A4 that codes for the serotonin transporter protein, is associated with individuals' RRS. Moreover, we investigated neural activity that mediates 5-HTTLPR association with RRS by scanning short-short (s/s) and long-long (l/l) homozygotes of 5-HTTLPR, using functional MRI, during a Cyberball game that resulted in social exclusion. l/l compared with s/s allele carriers reported higher RRS but lower social interaction anxiety. l/l compared with s/s carriers showed stronger activity in the right ventral prefrontal cortex (RVPFC) and stronger functional connectivity between the dorsal and rostral ACC when being excluded from the Cyberball game. Moreover, the 5-HTTLPR association with RRS was mediated by the RVPFC activity and the 5-HTTLPR association with social interaction anxiety was mediated by both the dorsal-rostral ACC connectivity and RVPFC activity. Our findings suggest that 5-HTTLPR is associated with satisfaction of one's own romantic relationships and this association is mediated by the neural activity in the brain region related to emotion regulation.

Effects of ostracism and sex on alcohol consumption in a clinical laboratory setting.

Drinking to cope with negative affect is a drinking pattern that leads to problematic alcohol use both in college and after graduation. Despite theory and correlational evidence to this effect, establishing a link between stress and alcohol consumption among college students in the laboratory has yielded both a limited number of studies and, at times, inconsistent results. The present study attempts to resolve these issues through investigating the effects of an ecologically relevant stressor-ostracism-on alcohol consumption in a clinical laboratory setting. Social drinking college students (N = 40; 55% female) completed a 5-min game of Cyberball and were randomly assigned either to be included or excluded in the virtual ball-toss game. The amount (in ml) of beer consumed in a subsequent mock taste test served as our primary dependent variable, with breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) as a secondary dependent variable. Results indicated that excluded participants reported a trend toward an increase in negative affect from pre- to post-Cyberball, and endorsed significantly lower self-esteem, belonging, control, and belief in a meaningful existence compared to included participants. A significant Sex × Condition effect indicated that excluded women consumed less beer than both included women and excluded men, supported by a nonsignificant trend in BrAC. Men did not differ in their consumption of beer as a result of Cyberball condition. Implications of sex and social context on alcohol use are discussed, as well as ostracism as a method for investigating relationships between social stress and alcohol use.

Ostracizing for a Reason: A Novel Source Paradigm for Examining the Nature and Consequences of Motivated Ostracism

ABSTRACTOstracism, a complex social phenomenon, involves both targets (ostracized individuals) and sources (ostracizers). The current experiment redressed a gap in the ostracism literature by devising a novel, three-phase paradigm to investigate motivated ostracizing. In the current study, 83 females were assigned to one of four conditions during a Cyberball game: motivated sources chose to ostracize an obnoxious fellow player, induced sources ostracized a fellow player at the behest of the experimenter, targets were ostracized, and included participants received the ball proportionately. Analysis of participants’ primary needs, emotions, ratings of their co-players, and behavior toward their co-players indicated that being the target of ostracism was a robustly aversive experience. Both motivated and induced sources reported fortified control. Moreover, a motive for ostracizing influenced source experience: induced sources experienced greater levels of negative moral emotion and behaved more prosocially toward their target than motivated sources. The flexibility and demonstrated impact of this novel paradigm adds to the toolkit available to researchers interested in expanding insight into the psychological processes underlying, and the motivational and behavioral outcomes of being, a source of ostracism.

Ostracism and attachment orientation: Avoidants are less affected in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures.

Ostracism--being excluded and ignored--is painful and threatens needs for belonging, self-esteem, control and meaningful existence. Many studies have shown that immediate responses to ostracism tend to be resistant to moderation. Once ostracized individuals are able to reflect on the experience, however, personality and situational factors moderate recovery speed and behavioural responses. Because attachment orientation is grounded in perceptions of belonging, we hypothesized that attachment orientation would moderate both immediate and delayed reactions to laboratory-induced ostracism. Participants from individualistic or collectivistic cultures were either included or ostracized in a game of Cyberball, a virtual ball-toss game. In both cultures, we found that compared to more securely attached individuals, more avoidant participants were less distressed by ostracism, but more distressed by inclusion. It is suggested that over and beyond differences in culture, individuals who avoid meaningful attachment may be less affected by ostracism.

Need to Belong, Not Rejection Sensitivity, Moderates Cortisol Response, Self-Reported Stress, and Negative Affect Following Social Exclusion

ABSTRACTThe present study examined if the traits need to belong (NTB) and rejection sensitivity (RS) differentially moderate the impact of experimentally manipulated social exclusion on stress and affect. Participants (N = 132) completed a survey measuring NTB and RS, and then were randomly assigned to be included or excluded during a game of Cyberball. A second survey then assessed perceived stress and negative affect, and a cortisol sample was taken. Controlling for gender and baseline cortisol levels, excluded participants high (vs. low) in NTB had significantly higher postexclusion cortisol levels, and reported greater perceived stress and negative affect. The moderating effect for RS was not found, however, and NTB and RS were not correlated. Findings suggest that the NTB moderates psychological and physiological responses to exclusion.