Social exclusion modulates dual mechanisms of cognitive control: Evidence from ERPs

Novelty modulates proactive and reactive cognitive control modes: Evidence from ERP and EEG data

Novelty refers to the quality of an idea or product that is new or unusual. It has been shown to influence a broad range of cognitive processes, such as increasing arousal and facilitating working memory. However, no studies have directly investigated the effects of novelty on cognitive control, particularly on the trade-off between proactive and reactive cognitive control. The present study employed an adapted AX Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) combined with electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the impact of novelty on proactive and reactive control modes. The behavioral results showed that reaction times in BX trials were longer under novel conditions than common conditions, indicating that participants may rely more on reactive control and/or rely less on proactive control when influenced by novelty. The EEG results showed smaller effects of cue-P3 and cue-locked theta-ERS under novelty, suggesting that novelty might decrease proactive control, including the decreased maintenance and utilization of contextual information. Moreover, in the novel conditions, the effect of probe-locked theta-ERS was greater, while the effect of probe-P3 was smaller. This indicates that novelty may enhance reactive control, including increased conflict monitoring and reduced response inhibition cost. The findings suggest that exposure to novelty can influence how individuals balance proactive and reactive control, potentially causing a bias towards reactive control.

Performing a task with a friend does not change semantic processes but preparation: a social N400 and CNV event-related potential study

The N400 event-related potential (ERP) indexes the semantic processing of words. Recently, social N400 effects were reported: N400 amplitudes were found to be larger in the presence of a confederate. We tested whether this increase would be even larger in participants with friends (Pwfs). This was not the case: whether the words were coherent, incoherent or equivocal, N400s were not larger in Pwfs than in alones. According to the N400 inhibition hypothesis, the social N400 effects previously reported with confederates could then be due to the automatic sidelining of information that occurs when building a common ground with a stranger. Interestingly, contingent negative variations (CNVs) developed as the words had to be classified at the occurrence of an imperative stimulus that followed. PwFs had larger CNVs than alones, suggesting heightened preparation to this imperative stimulus. Unexpectedly, the larger this effect, the less confident PwFs were in their classifications. Given their higher levels of state anxiety before and after the experiment, it thus seems that the presence of someone else completing the same task, even if it is a friend, induces performance pressure, enhances anxiety and preparation, and diminishes self-confidence.

Deficits of proactive control in individuals with test anxiety: Evidence from ERPs

Proactive control in cognitive control is characterized by an individual's ability to maintain representations of goal-relevant information prior to responding to prevent conflicts. Text anxiety is a situation-specific personality trait characterized by excessive fear and worry about exams, accompanied by emotional issues. Individuals with high test anxiety exhibit deficiencies in cognitive control capabilities, but whether there is a defect in proactive control remains unclear. In this study, ERP technology was used to record the brain electrical activity of participants with high and low test anxiety during the performance of the AX-CPT task, and the difference in proactive control ability between the two groups of participants was examined. Behaviorally, individuals with high test anxiety(HTA) exhibited significantly lower accuracy rates in all three conditions compared to those with low test anxiety, and also showed a lower d' Context index. In terms of neural indicators, participants with HTA showed a significantly lower CNV component in the BX pairs than those with low test anxiety, HTA individuals lack the ability to actively maintain cues. Additionally, higher amplitudes of the N2 and P3 were generated in the AY and BX pairs, high test anxiety individuals require more cognitive resources to inhibit cognitive conflict. Results suggests that individuals with HTA exhibit deficiencies in proactive control abilities. This study explores the relationship between such deficits and test anxiety.

Does cognitive control mediate the relationship between peer presence and adolescent risk-taking? An ERP study

Peer presence influences risk-taking behavior, particularly in adolescence. Based on the dual system model, this event-related potential study examined whether and how the presence of a peer displayed a preference for risky behavior would increase adolescents' risk-taking by disrupting their cognitive control processes in either emotional or non-emotional contexts. A sample of 106 adolescents (17-19 years of age) completed two Stoop tasks and a Balloon Analog Risk Task under three peer presence conditions. Results revealed that compared to other conditions, the presence of a risk-averse peer caused adolescents to make safer decisions through improving their conflict monitoring (more negative N200-diff), whereas a risk-preference peer's presence led adolescents to more risky decisions through disrupting their conflict resolution (more positive N450-diff) but they were only observed on the Emotional Stroop task. These findings suggest that different peer presence contexts could increase or decrease adolescents' risk-taking behaviors by influencing their cognitive control under an emotional context rather than in a non-emotional context.

Influence of Betrayal on Emotional Modulation of Executive Control: Evidence From ERPs

Previous studies have found that betrayal increases negative attentional bias and hinders executive control. However, it remains unclear how betrayal influences emotional modulation of executive control. What's more, according to the dual mechanisms of control model, executive control can be divided into reactive and proactive control. It also requires clarification whether both aspects of executive control are affected equally by betrayal in emotional contexts. Thus, the present study aims to provide insight into how betrayal influences the emotional modulation of executive control. Betrayal was induced using a repeated trust game in two experiments. Eighty-two participants (40 for Experiment 1 and 42 for Experiment 2) completed emotional executive control tasks while event-related potentials were recorded. In Experiment 1, an emotional Go/No-go task was used to explore the impact of betrayal on the emotional modulation of executive control. The results indicated that betrayal resulted in inefficient top-down attention processing towards negative stimuli and impaired executive control over these stimuli. This was evidenced by higher N2a and N2b amplitudes in the angry Go condition, and smaller angry No-go P3 amplitudes in individuals who experienced betrayal compared to the control group. In Experiment 2, a modified emotional Stroop task was employed to measure proactive and reactive control in emotional contexts. The results indicated that betrayal impaired only reactive control towards negative stimuli and did not affect proactive control. This was evidenced by the betrayed group exhibiting smaller SP amplitudes under the happy incongruent condition in the most congruent context, with no significant difference observed in the most incongruent context. In summary, betrayal decreases the efficiency of top-down attentional processing directed towards negative stimuli and hampers executive control over negative stimuli. Moreover, this impairment appears to be confined to reactive control strategy.

Connection of social anxiety to impaired pattern of cognitive control and underlying motivational deficiencies: Evidence from event-related potentials

Numerous studies have established a correlation between social anxiety and poor cognitive control. However, little is known about the cognitive control pattern of individuals with high social anxiety (HSAs) and the underlying mechanisms. Based on the Dual Mechanisms of Control framework and the Expected Value of Control theory, this study explored whether HSAs have an impaired cognitive control pattern (Experiment 1) and whether motivational deficiencies underlie the impaired control pattern (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 21 individuals with low social anxiety (LSAs) and 21 HSAs completed an AX-Continuous Performance Task. Results showed that HSAs had a smaller P3b amplitude than LSAs, indicating their weakened proactive control in the cue processing stage, but a larger contingent negative variation (CNV) on cue B as compensation for the negative effects of anxiety in the response preparation stage. No group difference was found in N2 and P3a amplitude on probes, suggesting that reactive control in HSAs was not affected compared to LSAs. In Experiment 2, 21 LSAs and 21 HSAs completed a cued-flanker task, where the likelihood of proactive control engagement was manipulated. The results revealed that HSAs exhibited motivation deficiencies in engaging in proactive control, as evidenced by P3b, CNV amplitude, and response times. These findings shed light on the impaired cognitive control pattern of HSAs and suggest that motivational deficiencies may be the crucial underlying factor.

The impact of social exclusion on impulsive buying behaviour of consumers on online platforms: Samples from China

Social exclusion is a common phenomenon in modern social life that has significant negative effects on those who were excluded. The excluded may adopt strategic impulsive consumption behaviors in order to gain a sense of belonging and repair social relations, and the rapid development of online shopping platforms has intensified the occurrence of impulsive purchasing behaviors. Therefore, the internal mechanism between the two needs to be clarified. This study utilised SPSS 26.0, Mplus8.0 and HLM6.08 to analyse the data from 417 questionnaires, focused on exploring the internal mechanism between social exclusion and impulsive buying behaviour, and yielded the following conclusions. (1) Social exclusion is positively correlated with impulsive purchasing behaviour. (2) Relative deprivation plays a mediating role between social exclusion and impulsive buying behaviour. (3) The need to belong plays an intermediary role between social exclusion and impulsive buying behaviour. (4) Self-control plays a moderating role between social exclusion and impulsive buying behaviour. These conclusions could provide a basis for enterprises to formulate rational marketing strategies and create consumer demand.

Cognitive control impairment in ax-continuous performance test in patients with schizophrenia: A pilot EEG study

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to investigate the mechanism of cognitive control impairment in patients with schizophrenia (SPs) using electroencephalogram (EEG).

METHODS

A total of 17 SPs and 17 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. We measured the EEG activity, whereas they performed the AX-continuous performance test which consisted of the preparatory phase and the response phase. The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) was used for cognitive function, and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used for clinical symptom assessment. A univariate linear regression model was used to explore the relationships among behavioral index, event-related potentials (ERPs), rhythmic oscillation power, and score of MCCB and PANSS.

RESULTS

A significant difference was found in response accuracy and reaction time (RT) during the preparatory phase between patients and HCs (p < .05). During the response phase, the SPs exhibited longer RT than the HCs (p < .05). Analysis of the ERPs revealed that the amplitude of P3a on BX clues was significantly smaller in SPs than in HCs (p < .05). Additionally, the midline frontal theta power of neural oscillation was significantly lower in the SPs than in NCs both during the preparatory and response phases. The accuracies on BX clues (r = .694, p = .002) and d'context (r = .698, p = .002) were positively correlated with MCCB scores.

CONCLUSION

The present study revealed that patients with schizophrenia have deficits both in proactive and reactive cognitive control, with a greater reliance on reactive control during conflict resolution. The neural mechanisms of the cognitive control impairment may involve the inability to engage additional neural resources for proactive control, and a reduction in frontal midline theta power during both proactive and reactive control. The severity of proactive control impairment is positively correlated with an increased tendency to rely on reactive control.

Excluded and myopic: Social exclusion increases temporal discounting

Social exclusion is a painful yet ubiquitous experience that modulates affect, behavior, and cognition. Decision-making is an essential cognitive ability that some forms of it are altered following social exclusion. However, how intertemporal decision-making is influenced by social exclusion is scarcely studied. Here, using Future Life Alone paradigm we demonstrated that experiencing social exclusion increases temporal discounting. We further tested whether the increased temporal discounting is mediated by either time perception or risk-taking. Our results revealed that although time perception is influenced by social exclusion, neither time perception nor risk-taking mediated the changes in temporal discounting. Our results are providing further evidence corroborating that social exclusion evokes cognitive deconstruction and therefore alters temporal discounting.

Social Rejection but Not Ostracism Increases Cognitive Effort Avoidance

Purpose

Social exclusion has been found to have a significant impact on cognitive control processing. However, the existing research on this topic has yielded inconsistent findings, possibly due to variations in the type of exclusion and individuals' cognitive effort. Two studies were conducted to explore the influence of social rejection and ostracism on cognitive effort avoidance.

Participants and Methods

Study 1 involved forty-six adults who were randomly divided into a rejection group and a control group using a get-acquainted paradigm. The demand selection task (DST) was used to measure cognitive effort avoidance. In Study 2, forty-eight adults were recruited, Cyberball and DST paradigms were used to evoke ostracism and test cognitive effort avoidance, respectively.

Results

The results of study 1 showed that individuals who were socially rejected by their partners exhibited impaired response accuracy of cognitive control and increased cognitive effort avoidance. This indicates that social rejection has a negative impact on cognitive control processing and that individuals may be more likely to avoid cognitive effort when experiencing social rejection. The results of study 2 showed that ostracism had an impact on both response speed and accuracy, but it did not significantly affect cognitive effort avoidance. This indicates that social rejection affects cognitive control processing differently than ostracism, and individuals are more likely to avoid cognitive effort when experiencing social rejection.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that social rejection and ostracism have different effects on cognitive effort, which may contribute to the inconsistent cognitive performance during social exclusion. Future research may explore the underlying mechanisms that lead to these differences and examine how individuals can mitigate the negative effects of social exclusion on cognitive control processing.

From Loss of Control to Social Exclusion: ERP Effects of Preexposure to a Social Threat in the Cyberball Paradigm

Previous studies indicated that the onsets of different social threats, such as threats to ”belonging” and “control”, are inconsistent with the subjective beliefs of social participation and require readjustment of expectations. Because a common cognitive system is assumed to be involved, the adjustment triggered by the experience of a single social threat should affect the processing of subsequent social interactions. We examined how preexposure to a loss of control affected social exclusion processing by using the Cyberball paradigm. An event-related brain component (P3) served as a probe for the state of the expectancy system, and self-reports reflected the subjective evaluations of the social threats. In the control group (n = 23), the transition to exclusion elicited a significant P3 effect and a high threat to belonging in the self-reports. Both effects were significantly reduced when the exclusion was preceded by preexposure to a loss of control (EG1_disc, n = 23). These effects, however, depend on the offset of the preexposure. In case of a continuation (EG2_cont, n = 24), the P3 effect was further reduced, but the threat to belonging was restored. We conclude that the P3 data are consistent with predictions of a common expectancy violation account, whereas self-reports are supposed to be affected by additional processes.

Social exclusion modulates neural dynamics of monetary and social reward processing in young adult females

Evidence suggests that social exclusion increases one's sensitivity to monetary and social rewards. However, whether and how social exclusion modulates the neural dynamics of reward processing remains unknown. The current study aimed to address this gap by systematically investigating the differential influences of social exclusion on various stages of monetary and social reward processing. Forty-five female participants were recruited, and the Cyberball game was used to manipulate social exclusion. To disentangle the anticipatory and consummatory stages of monetary and social reward processing, we recorded event-related potentials during two incentive delay tasks, one with a monetary reward and one with a social reward. The results showed that during the anticipatory stage, a larger contingent negative variation was observed for the exclusion group than for the inclusion group, regardless of reward type. During the consummatory stage, although the reward-related positivity was larger in the exclusion group than in the inclusion group, this difference was only observed for the social, and not monetary, reward feedback. These findings advance our understanding of the relationship between social exclusion and reward processing and suggest that while social exclusion might exert comparable enhancement effect for monetary and social reward processing during the anticipatory stage, it exerts a specific enhancement effect for social reward processing during the consummatory stage.

Social exclusion modulates dual mechanisms of cognitive control: Evidence from ERPs

Many studies have investigated how social exclusion influences cognitive control but reported inconsistent findings. Based on the dual mechanisms of control framework, this study investigated how social exclusion influences proactive and reactive modes of control (Experiment 1) and the underlying mechanisms (Experiment 2). The Cyberball game was used to manipulate social exclusion. Eighty-six female participants (about 40 for each experiment) performed cognitive control tasks while event-related potentials were recorded. In Experiment 1, an AX Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) was adopted to differentiate between proactive and reactive control. Results showed that social exclusion weakened proactive control but enhanced reactive control, as reflected by the weaker proactive control indicators (i.e., P3b and CNV), but strengthened reactive control indicators (accuracy and N2) in excluded individuals. More importantly, in Experiment 2, through varying in whether task cues were available before or after target onset in a cued-flanker task, we further manipulated the possibility of engaging proactive control, and found the weakened proactive control could be attributed to both impaired cognitive ability and lowered motivation to engage proactive control in excluded individuals. Together, these results provide insight on how social exclusion influences cognitive control and suggest promising implications for designing effective interventions to relieve the negative impact of social exclusion.