Contextual exclusion processing: an fMRI study of rejection in a performance-related context

Abstract

Social stress has a major detrimental impact on subjective well-being. Previous research mainly focused on two methods to induce and measure social stress: social exclusion and performance evaluation. For social exclusion researchers frequently focused on the Cyberball task, which in contrast to many psychosocial stress paradigms does not include a performance component. The aim of the current study was to establish an optimized psychosocial stress paradigm by combining both, social exclusion as well as performance evaluation within a single fMRI paradigm. We implemented a modification of the Cyberball task including a performance game (with exclusion and inclusion periods) in addition to the already established exclusion and inclusion periods. This indeed resulted in increased subjective stress in the performance game. Hence, the modified Cyberball version seems to be superior in mapping relevant neural social stress correlates more pronounced and reliably. Exclusion within the performance-related context contrasted to the unmodified exclusion was associated with higher activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula. Moreover, the modified exclusion reflected greater social processing in the precuneus, several temporo-parietal and medial prefrontal areas, as suggested by the additional task aspects of social evaluation and social perspective taking. The findings emphasize that public negative evaluation is effective in substantially enlarging and potentiating the distressing effect of exclusion on a subjective as well as on a neural level. This may have a great potential for further experimental research on social stress.

Alerted default mode: functional connectivity changes in the aftermath of social stress

“…With respect to behavioral effects, the present results corroborate previous findings: the cyberball task leads to lower positive affect, elevated anger during exclusion periods compared to inclusion2636. Positive and negative mood state dropped over time, which is a stress-like effect, that has been shown in previous studies37.…”

“…Our results however extend previous findings by indicating that also a relative, social stressor such as the cyberball task potentially induces the proposed reallocation of neural resources. Interestingly, DMN connectivity is mainly elevated in regions which have been shown to be responsive to social exclusion152426. Potentially, this is a result of ongoing evaluation of the stressful situation participants were exposed to during the cyberball task.…”

“…For the present study, we employed an adapted, MR suitable version of the cyberball task, which was originally developed by Williams19. Please note that data from a sub-group of the whole sample is subject to another separate publication, which does not focus on resting-state analyses but examines the neural and behavioral effects of the cyberball task itself26.…”

“…“Dieter” always started the game by throwing the ball to the participant, who was represented by a hand in the lower center of the screen. Details on the procedure are reported elsewhere26. After each inclusion and exclusion block, the participants rated their subjectively felt affective state (valence) and (for a subset only) their subjectively felt anger on a 9-point scale.…”

The predictive value of the early maladaptive schemas in social situations in anorexia nervosa

“…Being rejected or ignored generates pain and hurt in ways comparable with physical pain, which implies the activation of the anterior cingulate cortex, the prefrontal cortex, and the insula (Cacioppo et al, ; Eisenberger, ). These activation patterns can explain the effects that repeated social exclusion has on mood, anxiety, self‐esteem, and behavioural patterns (Wagels et al, ; Zadro, Williams, & Richardson, ). One reliable task used in the study of ostracism is the so called Cyberball task: a ball‐catching game that can reproduce an ostracizing environment and behaviour (Williams, Cheung, & Choi, ).…”