Reassessing the Neural Correlates of Social Exclusion: A Replication Study of the Cyberball Paradigm Using Arterial Spin Labelling

Abstract

The cyberball paradigm has been used in numerous neuroimaging studies to elicit activation in neural substrates of social exclusion. Using arterial spin labelling, an approach allowing quantitative estimates of blood perfusion, we replicate findings of meta-analyses of this paradigm in the inferior frontal gyrus and ventral cingular cortex, but show that these areas were also active in a watch condition (in which participants were not excluded), although less so. These findings relativize a simple interpretation of these areas as the neural substrates of social exclusion, as in previous studies. In a broader experimental context, similar activations have been reported by neuroimaging studies when semantic disambiguation and evaluation of action goals are required, an interpretation that may apply also to the cyberball effects.