Self-reported Emotional Experience Research Articles

Active vs. computer-based passive decision-making leads to discrepancies in outcome evaluation: evidence from self-reported emotional experience and brain activity.

People prefer active decision-making and induce greater emotional feelings than computer-based passive mode, yet the modulation of decision-making mode on outcome evaluation remains unknown. The present study adopted event-related potentials to investigate the discrepancies in active and computer-based passive mode on outcome evaluation using a card gambling task. The subjective rating results showed that active mode elicited more cognitive effort and stronger emotional feelings than passive mode. For received outcomes, we observed no significant Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) effect on difference waveshapes (d-FRN) between the 2 modes, but active decision-making elicited larger P300 amplitudes than the passive mode. For unchosen card outcomes, the results revealed larger d-FRN amplitudes of relative valences (Superior - Inferior) in responses to negative feedback in active mode than in passive mode. The averaged P300 results revealed an interplay among outcome feedback, decision-making mode, and relative valence, and the average P300 amplitude elicited by the received loss outcome in the active mode partially mediated the relationship between subjective cognitive effort and negative emotion ratings on loss. Our findings indicate discrepancies between active and computer-based passive modes, and cognitive effort and emotional experience involved in outcome evaluation.

Emotional scene processing in biotypes of psychosis

Social-emotional deficits in psychosis may be indexed by deviations in emotional scene processing, but event-related potential (ERP) studies indicate such deviations may not map cleanly to diagnostic categories. Neurobiologically defined psychosis subgroups offer an alternative that may better capture neurophysiological correlates of social-emotional deficits. The current study investigates emotional scene-elicited ERPs in Biotypes of psychosis in a large (N = 622), well-characterized sample. Electroencephalography was recorded in healthy persons (N = 129), Biotype-1 (N = 195), Biotype-2 (N = 131), and Biotype-3 (N = 167) psychosis cases. ERPs were measured from posterior and centroparietal scalp locations. Neural responses to emotional scenes were compared between healthy and psychosis groups. Multivariate group discrimination analyses resulted in two composite variates that differentiated groups. The first variate displayed large differences between low-cognition (Biotype-1, Biotype-2) and intact-cognition groups (Biotype-3, healthy persons). The second indicated a small-to-moderate distinction of Biotypes-2 and -3 from Biotype-1 and healthy persons. Two multivariate correlations were identified indicating associations between 1) self-reported emotional experience and generalized cognition and 2) socio-occupational functioning and late-stage emotional processing. Psychosis Biotypes displayed emotional processing deficits not apparent in DSM psychosis subgroups. Future translational research may benefit from exploring emotional scene processing in such neurobiologically-defined psychosis groups.

Youth pre-pandemic executive function relates to year one COVID-19 difficulties.

The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic presented a series of stressors that could relate to psychological difficulties in children and adolescents. Executive functioning (EF) supports goal achievement and is associated with life success, and better outcomes following early life adversity. EF is also strongly related to processing speed, another predictor of life outcomes. This longitudinal study examined 149 youths' pre-pandemic EF and processing speed abilities as predictors of self-reported emotional, cognitive, and social experiences during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. EF and processing speed were measured with a total of 11 behavioral tasks. The COVID-era data was collected during two timepoints, during early (May-July 2020) and mid- (January-March of 2021) pandemic. Better pre-pandemic EF skills and processing speed abilities predicted more mid-COVID-19 pandemic emotional and cognitive difficulties. On the other hand, better switching (a subcomponent of EF) and processing speed abilities predicted more mid-pandemic social interactions. EF and processing speed abilities did not relate to the well-being reports from the initial months of the pandemic. Our EF - but not processing speed - results were largely maintained when controlling for pre-pandemic mental health burden, socioeconomic status (SES), and gender. Better cognitive abilities may have contributed to worse mid-pandemic functioning by supporting the meta-cognition needed for attending to the chaotic and ever-changing pandemic news and advice, leading to higher stress-induced worry and rumination. Our study highlights a potential downside of higher EF - often largely viewed as a protective factor - in youth.

EEG measures of attention toward food-related stimuli vary with food neophobia

Humans differ strongly in their willingness to try novel foods. Hesitance to try new foods is referred to as food neophobia. Understanding food neophobia is important, as it can be a significant barrier to adopt a healthy, balanced or plant-based diet. We here use electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings to obtain insight in the early attentional processes towards food stimuli as a function of food neophobia. 43 Dutch participants completed the food neophobia scale after which they were presented with pictures of familiar and unfamiliar foods and a 15-minute movie about the origin and production of an unfamiliar food. We extracted two EEG-based metrics of attention: the late positive potential (LPP) amplitude in response to the food pictures, and inter-subject correlations (ISC-EEG) during the movie. The latter is a novel metric, based on similarities in EEG over time between individuals who are presented with the same stimulus, and suitable for examining attention towards continuous stimuli such as movies. Additionally, participants were asked to taste familiar and unfamiliar soups, and they were asked to rate the pictures and soups for valence and arousal. ISC-EEG and the LPP amplitude increased and sip size decreased with food neophobia, not only for unfamiliar food pictures, but also for familiar food pictures. Self-reported emotional experience was affected by food neophobia for unfamiliar food pictures or soups, but not for familiar ones. We conclude that food neophobia is associated with increased attentional processing and immediate implicit behavior, for all food stimuli and not only for unfamiliar food stimuli. This indicates that all food-related stimuli are of high importance to food neophobic individuals and that self-reported emotion does not capture the entire experience of food. The results also indicates that, unlike the name suggest, food neophobia does not only affect processing of novel foods, but of any food regardless of familiarity.

Incongruences Between Facial Expression and Self-Reported Emotional Reactivity in Frontotemporal Dementia and Related Disorders.

Emotional reactivity normally involves a synchronized coordination of subjective experience and facial expression. These aspects of emotional reactivity can be uncoupled by neurological illness and produce adverse consequences for patient and caregiver quality of life because of misunderstandings regarding the patient's presumed internal state. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is often associated with altered social and emotional functioning. FTD is a heterogeneous disease, and socioemotional changes in patients could result from altered internal experience, altered facial expressive ability, altered language skills, or other factors. The authors investigated how individuals with FTD subtypes differ from a healthy control group regarding the extent to which their facial expressivity aligns with their self-reported emotional experience. Using a compound measure of emotional reactivity to assess reactions to three emotionally provocative videos, the authors explored potential explanations for differences in alignment of facial expressivity with emotional experience, including parkinsonism, physiological reactivity, and nontarget verbal responses. Participants with the three main subtypes of FTD all tended to express less emotion on their faces than they did through self-report. Exploratory analyses suggest that reasons for this incongruence likely differ not only between but also within diagnostic subgroups.

The Relationship Between Self-Reported Misophonia Symptoms and Auditory Aversive Generalization Leaning: A Preliminary Report.

Misophonia is characterized by excessive aversive reactions to specific “trigger” sounds. Although this disorder is increasingly recognized in the literature, its etiological mechanisms and maintaining factors are currently unclear. Several etiological models propose a role of Pavlovian conditioning, an associative learning process heavily researched in similar fear and anxiety-related disorders. In addition, generalization of learned associations has been noted as a potential causal or contributory factor. Building upon this framework, we hypothesized that Misophonia symptoms arise as a consequence of overgeneralized associative learning, in which aversive responses to a noxious event also occur in response to similar events. Alternatively, heightened discrimination between conditioned threat and safety cues may be present in participants high in Misophonia symptoms, as predicted by associative learning models of Misophonia. This preliminary report (n = 34) examines auditory generalization learning using self-reported behavioral (i.e., valence and arousal ratings) and EEG alpha power reduction. Participants listened to three sine tones differing in pitch, with one pitch (i.e., CS+) paired with an aversive loud white noise blast, prompting aversive Pavlovian generalization learning. We assessed the extent to which overgeneralization versus heightened discrimination learning is associated with self-reported Misophonia symptoms, by comparing aversive responses to the CS+ and other tones similar in pitch. Behaviorally, all participants learned the contingencies between CS+ and noxious noise, with individuals endorsing elevated Misophonia showing heightened aversive sensitivity to all stimuli, regardless of conditioning and independent of hyperacusis status. Across participants, parieto-occipital EEG alpha-band power reduction was most pronounced in response to the CS+ tone, and this difference was greater in those with self-reported Misophonia symptoms. The current preliminary findings do not support the notion that overgeneralization is a feature of self-reported emotional experience in Misophonia, but that heightened sensitivity and discrimination learning may be present at the neural level.

Mediating effects of peer experiences between children's emotionality and academic functioning

We examined how children's peer experiences mediated the association between dispositional emotionality and academic functioning. One hundred and ninety-nine children (104 girls, Mage = 10 years) participated in a two-year study. The predictors (self-reported emotional experience, peer-nominations of emotional expressivity) and the mediators (self-reported positive and negative peer experiences) were assessed at Time 1; outcome variables (academic achievement and teacher-rated engagement) were assessed at Time 2. The effect of emotional expressivity (happiness, anger) on academic functioning was direct. The effect of emotional experience (sadness, anger) on academic functioning was indirect via negative peer experiences. The specific dimensions of emotionality (experience, expressivity) warrant consideration in the assessment of children's emotionality because they appear to have unique interpersonal mechanisms that lead to academic functioning. Beyond overt emotional expressivity, educators and caregivers should carefully attend to children's covert emotional experience in efforts to promote adaptive peer relationships and academic outcomes for children.

The role of psychopathic traits, social anxiety and cortisol in social approach avoidance tendencies

Social anxiety and psychopathy have conceptually been linked to nearly opposite emotional, behavioral and endocrinological endophenotypes, representing social fearfulness and fearlessness, respectively. Although such a dimensional view has theoretical and practical implications, no study has directly compared social anxiety and psychopathy in terms of emotional experiences, relevant hormones (i.e. cortisol, testosterone) and behavioral tendencies (i.e. social approach-avoidance). Therefore, the present study examined 1) whether self-reported social anxiety and psychopathic traits are indeed anticorrelated, and 2) whether social anxiety, psychopathic traits, cortisol, testosterone and their interplay are differentially linked to social approach-avoidance tendencies. In a well-powered study, a sample of 196 healthy female participants, we assessed self-reported emotional and behavioral tendencies of social fear (i.e. social anxiety and social avoidance) and psychopathic traits (i.e. Factor I [interpersonal-affective deficit] and Factor II [impulsive behavior]). Furthermore, hormone levels were assessed, and approach-avoidance tendencies towards emotional (angry, happy) facial expressions were measured by means of a joystick reaction time task. Results confirmed that self-reported emotional tendencies of social anxiety and psychopathy Factor I (interpersonal-affective deficit) correlated negatively, but self-reported behavioral tendencies (social avoidance and psychopathy Factor II [impulsive behavior]) correlated positively. Furthermore, Structural Equation Modelling demonstrated that participants with higher social anxiety and higher cortisol levels showed an avoidance tendency towards happy faces, while participants with higher psychopathic traits showed an approach tendency towards angry faces. In sum, the notion that social anxiety and psychopathic traits are opposing ends of one dimension was supported only in terms of self-reported emotional experiences, but a comparable relationship with regard to behavioral and endocrinological aspects is debatable. The current findings stress the necessity to study emotional, endocrinological and behavioral factors in unison in order to better understand the shared and distinctive mechanisms of social anxiety and psychopathic traits.

An analysis of conscious fear and automatic threat response in psychopathy.

A lack of fear has been proposed to be one of the driving forces behind the callous and antisocial behavior of psychopathic individuals. However, the term fear has taken on many different meanings and has been operationalized in many different ways. On one hand, fear can be described as the subjective and conscious experience of fear (e.g., "I feel afraid"). On the other hand, fear is often equated with an automatic bodily response to threat (e.g., physiological responses to threatening stimuli). The present study sought to clarify whether psychopathy is associated with each of these types of "fear." In a sample of 64 male and female inmates in a county jail, threat detection and the ability to recognize threat directed toward others were assessed using threatening images along with measures of skin conductance and heart rate. The conscious experience of fear was measured via self-reported emotional experience in response to fear-inducing stimuli, as well as through the peripheral processes of interoception and alexithymia. In a departure from previous literature, almost no significant relationships were found between total psychopathy and measures for the conscious experience of fear and automatic threat response. These findings raise questions about the notion that psychopathic traits are associated with fearlessness. In particular, the failure to replicate previous studies regarding automatic threat detection raises questions about the generalizability of previous findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Self-reported Emotional Experience Among Police Personnel Before and After Attending a Mindfulness Based Intervention (Mindful Life Management-MLM)-an Observational Study

Background: Stress has been proven to be hazardous, resulting in significant physical, emotional, social and cognitive disturbances which are unpleasant. Police officers have elevated rates of cardiovascular diseases, sleep disorders, anxiety disorders, depression and PRSD. Kerala Police has implemented several programs for management of stress among its members. Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) have been shown to enhance emotional intelligence, reduce negative emotions and health outcomes in police officers. Objective: The objective of the current study is to study the effectiveness of an MBI in reducing the negative emotions among police officers Methods: The present study is an observational study which attempts to assess and compare the subjectively reported emotion and Mindfulness level among police personnel before and six weeks after attending the Mindful Life Management (MLM) workshop. Results: Results of the present study suggests a statistically significant association between subjective emotional experience and the MBIs. Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) scores also were found to be significant statistically. FFMQ scores before and after the MLM workshop were found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: Results of the present study points to the fact that MLM can be thought of as a method of intervention to manage emotional turmoil among police personnel of our state. The relationship between the change in emotion and change in FFMQ score has to be further explored with adequate sample size. This ongoing study comparing the stress and emotional levels of the police force in the State of Kerala before and after MLM course will help to strengthen further the effects of MBIs in recognizing their emotional state.

Effects of Therapeutic Intervention on Parentally Bereaved Children's Emotion Reactivity and Regulation 15Years Later.

The Family Bereavement Program (FBP) is a family-based intervention for parentally bereaved children and surviving caregivers. Results are reported of a randomized controlled trial, examining intervention effects on emotional reactivity and regulation of young adults who participated in the program 15years earlier. Participants (N = 152) completed four emotion challenge tasks: reactivity to negative images, detached reappraisal while viewing negative images, positive reappraisal while viewing negative images, and reengagement with positive images. Outcomes included cardiac interbeat interval (IBI), pre-ejection period (PEP), and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as well as self-reported emotional experience and regulation effectiveness. Direct intervention effects and effects mediated through improved parenting were estimated. Several significant effects were observed in primary analyses; however, none remained significant after correction for familywise Type I error. Parentingmediated FBP effects on IBI during negative reactivity (b = 15.04), and on RSA during positive reengagement (b = 0.35); the latter effect was accounted for by changes in breathing. Intervention condition was a direct predictor of self-reported detached reappraisal effectiveness (b = 1.00). Intervention and gender interacted in predicting self-reported negative emotion during the negative reactivity (b = 1.04) and positive reappraisal tasks (b = 1.31) such that intervention-conditionmen reported more negative emotions during those tasks. Although these findings should be considered preliminary given the limited power of the corrected statistical tests, they suggest long-term effects of family intervention following the death of a parent on offspring's emotional reactivity and regulation ability that should be pursued further in future research.

Socio-emotional interaction in collaborative learning: Combining individual emotional experiences and group-level emotion regulation

This study explores how groups’ negative socio-emotional interactions and related emotion regulation during a collaborative physics task are interconnected with 12-year-old primary school students’ (N = 37) situated individual emotional experiences. To accomplish this, the study relates group-level video data analysis with students’ self-reported emotional experiences. The results indicate that students’ negative emotional experiences related to the task prior to collaborative working increase the group’s emotion regulation during the collaboration and that negative group interactions negatively affect students’ emotional experiences after the task. The study also shows that even though group-level regulation is more likely to change the valence of the group’s interaction from negative to positive, regulation does not always succeed in making a difference to the students’ overall emotional experiences.

Late electrophysiological potentials and emotion in schizophrenia: A meta-analytic review

IntroductionThere is mixed evidence about emotional processing abnormalities in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, with self-reports and clinician ratings indicating significant differences between patients and controls, but studies of in-the-moment, self-reported emotional experience finding only small differences between these groups. The current meta-analysis synthesizes statistics from studies measuring the P3 and LPP, two event-related potential (ERP) components sensitive to attentional allocation, to examine whether patients exhibit ERP response abnormalities to neutral and valenced visual stimuli. MethodsStandardized mean amplitudes and standard errors of P3 and/or LPP waveforms (300–2000 ms) in response to neutral and valenced images were calculated for 13 studies (total n = 339 individuals with schizophrenia, 331 healthy controls). ResultsIn response to neutral images, there were very small, non-significant differences in ERP amplitudes between patient and control groups (k = 9; Hedges' g = −0.06, 95% CI: −055, 0.43, p = 0.81). In contrast, patients showed a small, significant reduction in ERP amplitudes compared to controls in response to negative images (k = 13; Hedges' g = −0.32, 95% CI: −0.59, −0.05, p = 0.02) and a small, but nonsignificant, reduction in amplitudes in response to positive images (k = 7; Hedges' g = −0.27, 95% CI: −0.71, 0.18, p = 0.24). Conclusions and implicationsThe current review indicates that compared to controls, patients have slightly diminished P3 and LPP amplitudes in response to positive and negative stimuli. This small reduction may reflect decreased attention allocation, possibly indicating an abnormality during a distinct stage of early processing related to evaluating the motivational salience of a stimulus.

Smoking Status Matters: A Direct Comparison of Smokers’ and Nonsmokers’ Psychophysiological and Self-Report Responses to Secondhand Smoke Anti-Tobacco PSAs

ABSTRACT Extensive research demonstrates that exposure to threatening anti-tobacco messages can lead to defensive message processing which reduces message effectiveness. However, research investigating whether this effect is moderated by the smoking status of the message viewer is lacking. In this study, participants (N = 48 smokers and N = 51 non-smokers) viewed and rated secondhand smoke anti-tobacco messages depicting both smoking cues and threat content, or messages depicting neither while heart rate, skin conductance, and facial EMG were recorded. Post viewing, self-reported emotional experience, level of counterarguing, and recognition memory were measured. In support of the LC4MP, there were no differences between smokers and non-smokers’ responses for non-threatening messages absent in smoking cues. However, messages that contained both smoking cues and threat content were defensively processed by smokers – but not non-smokers – as indicated by significantly faster heart rate, lower recognition memory and higher self-reported negativity, arousal, and counterarguments. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Primary Biological Motivators in Food Advertisements: Energy Density and Sexual Appeals Compete for Appetitive Motivational Activation

Energy density of food potentiates appetitive responses due to biologically driven behaviors that encourage energy conservation. Sexual stimuli potentiate appetitive responses due to biologically imperative needs to pass on genetic information. This article examined how these primary biological motivators, when presented together, influenced individuals’ responses to food advertisements. Competing hypotheses were developed using communication and behavioral ecology theory and tested in two studies. Young adults viewed food advertisements that varied in presence of sex appeal and the energy density level of the food advertised. Psychophysiological responses, recognition memory, and self-reported emotional experience data were obtained. In general, results support an ecological interpretation in which these motivators can be viewed as competing rather than additive. Furthermore, sex of the viewer plays a role in response to these motivators that may be attributable to differences in the costs of procreative activities for males and females.

Reasons, Years and Frequency of Yoga Practice: Effect on Emotion Response Reactivity.

Yoga practice, even in the short term, is supposed to enhance wellbeing and counteract psychopathology through modification of emotion reactivity. Yoga teaches that emotional responses may be less pronounced with longer and more frequent practice, and potentially when people perform yoga for mental rather than physical reasons. We tested 36 yoga practitioners of varying experience (between 6 months and 11 years of practice). We assessed participants’ self-reported emotional experience and peripheral physiological reactions (heart rate, skin conductance, respiration) when seeing positive and negative pictures. Results were analyzed as a function of the years of, frequency of, and reasons for yoga practice. We found a heart rate increase with the degree participants performed yoga for mental reasons. In addition, years of yoga practice were significantly associated with reduced abdominal respiratory rate when facing negative pictures, speaking in favor of reduced arousal with yoga experience. Finally, regarding frequency of practice, a higher frequency in the last month was linked to less negative and positive experiences as well as a reduced abdominal respiratory amplitude when viewing positive pictures. Altogether, these results demonstrate that intense short-term yoga practice might relate to a (i) decrease in the intensity of self-reported emotional experiences and (ii) deepened respiration. Short-term effects might be shaped by what participants expect as practice benefits. However, several years of practice might be needed to decrease respiratory arousal in the face of negative situations, which likely is a manifestation of an evolution in the emotion regulation process.

Emotional Differences in Young and Older Adults: Films as Mood Induction Procedure.

Film clips are proven to be one of the most efficient techniques in emotional induction. However, there is scant literature on the effect of this procedure in older adults and, specifically, the effect of using different positive stimuli. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine emotional differences between young and older adults and to know how a set of film clips works as mood induction procedure in older adults, especially, when trying to elicit attachment-related emotions. To this end, we use this procedure to analyze differences in subjective emotional response between young and older adults. A sample of 57 older adults and 83 young adults watched a film set previously validated in young population. Their responses were studied in an individual laboratory session to elicit 6 target emotions (disgust, fear, sadness, anger, amusement and tenderness) and neutral state. Self-reported emotional experience was measured using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). Our results show that film clips are capable of evoking positive and negative emotions in older adults. Furthermore, older adults experienced more intensely negative emotions than young adults, especially in response to disgust and fear clips. They also reported higher arousal than young adults, especially in the case of sadness, anger and tenderness clips. Nevertheless, the older adults recovered more easily from the effects of the emotion induction. The young adults reported higher arousal ratings than older adults in response to amusement film clips. On the other hand, this study reflects the importance of controlling the baseline state to study the real strength of mood induction. Overall, current data suggests significant differences occur in emotional response in adult age and that film clips are an effective tool for studying positive and negative emotions in aging research.

Children's prototypic facial expressions during emotion-eliciting conversations with their mothers.

Despite theoretical claims that emotions are primarily communicated through prototypic facial expressions, empirical evidence is surprisingly scarce. This study aimed to (a) test whether children produced more components of a prototypic emotional facial expression during situations judged or self-reported to involve the corresponding emotion than situations involving other emotions (termed "intersituational specificity"), (b) test whether children produced more components of the prototypic expression corresponding to a situation's judged or self-reported emotion than components of other emotional expressions (termed "intrasituational specificity"), and (c) examine coherence between children's self-reported emotional experience and observers' judgments of children's emotions. One hundred and 20 children (ages 7-9) were video-recorded during a discussion with their mothers. Emotion ratings were obtained for children in 441 episodes. Children's nonverbal behaviors were judged by observers and coded by FACS-trained researchers. Children's self-reported emotion corresponded significantly to observers' judgments of joy, anger, fear, and sadness but not surprise. Multilevel modeling results revealed that children produced joy facial expressions more in joy episodes than nonjoy episodes (supporting intersituational specificity for joy) and more joy and surprise expressions than other emotional expressions in joy and surprise episodes (supporting intrasituational specificity for joy and surprise). However, children produced anger, fear, and sadness expressions more in noncorresponding episodes and produced these expressions less than other expressions in corresponding episodes. Findings suggest that communication of negative emotion during social interactions-as indexed by agreement between self-report and observer judgments-may rely less on prototypic facial expressions than is often theoretically assumed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Matching Your Face or Appraising the Situation: Two Paths to Emotional Contagion.

Emotions are believed to converge both through emotional mimicry and social appraisal. The present study compared contagion of anger and happiness. In Experiment 1, participants viewed dynamic angry and happy faces, with facial electromyography recorded from the zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii as emotional mimicry. Self-reported emotional experiences were analyzed as emotional contagion. Experiment 2 manipulated social appraisal as the gaze of expression toward the target. The results showed that there was emotional contagion for angry and happy expressions both in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2. Experiment 1 indicated an overt mimicry pattern for happy faces, but not for angry faces. Experiment 2 found an influence of social appraisal on angry contagion but not on happy diffusion. The two experiments suggest that the underlying processes of emotional mimicry and social appraisal are differentially relevant for different emotional contagion, with happiness processing following a mimicry-based path to emotional contagion, and anger processing requiring social appraisal.

Ostracism and physiological arousal following traumatic brain injury

ABSTRACTPrimary objective: This study aimed to examine the psychological and physiological effects of ostracism in adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI).Research design: A within-subject, counterbalanced design was used. The two conditions, inclusion and ostracism, were examined across two groups (between subjects).Methods and procedures: A group of 21 adults with TBI and 17 matched controls participated in the Cyberball paradigm. This task is a computerised task that exposes participants to a game of catch and throw. In the inclusion condition they are included fairly in the game, while in the ostracism condition they are excluded from the game following the first few throws. Skin conductance levels (SCLs) were measured throughout the game as a proxy for social stress.Main outcomes: Results showed that people with TBI were cognitively aware of when they are being ostracised, but that their self-reported emotional experience to social exclusion was different to that of the control group. Differences in SCLs between groups and between conditions did not reach significance nor did they correlate with behavioural responses.Conclusions: These findings are discussed in terms of the consequences of dissociation between psychological and physiological responses and the implications for motivating behaviours associated with re-inclusion.