Intervention Cyberball: PloS

Raw Data: Loss of control as a violation of expectations: Testing the predictions of a common inconsistency compensation approach in an inclusionary cyberball game Abstract: Personal control relies on the expectation that events are contingent upon one’s own behavior. A common ‘inconsistency compensation approach’ posits that a violation of expectancies in social interaction triggers aversive arousal and compensatory effort. Following this approach, we tested the hypothesis that interventions affecting participants' decisions violate the expected personal control. In a modified version of the established cyberball paradigm, participants were not excluded, but consistently included. However, their decisions regarding the recipient of a ball throw in the virtual game were occasionally overruled (expectancy violation). We hypothesized that this intervention will trigger a P3 response in event-related brain potentials (ERP). Since this component is related to subjective expectancies, its amplitude was assumed to depend on the frequency of interventions (independent factor: loss of control). Further, we manipulated the vertical position of the participants’ avatar on the computer screen (independent factor: verticality). Building on research showing that verticality is related to the self-assigned power and influences the expected level of control, we hypothesized that the ERP effects of intervention should be more pronounced for participants with avatars in superior position. As predicted, both experimental factors interactively affected the expression of the ERP response: In case of low intervention frequency, P3 amplitudes were significantly pronounced if the participants’ avatar was positioned above as compared to below co-players (high > low self-assigned power). The effect of verticality could be traced back to a lack of adaptation of P3 amplitudes to recurring aversive events. By demonstrating that loss of control triggers ERP effects corresponding to those triggered by social exclusion, this study provides further evidence for a common cognitive mechanism in reactions to aversive events based on an inconsistency in expectancy states.

原始数据：作为预期违背的失控感——在包容性网络抛球游戏（cyberball）中检验通用不一致性补偿方法的预测
摘要：个体控制感依赖于“事件结果取决于自身行为”的预期。一种常见的“不一致性补偿理论”提出，社会互动中的预期违背会引发厌恶唤醒与补偿性认知努力。基于该理论框架，我们检验了如下假设：干预参与者的决策过程会违背其预期的个体控制感。在经过改良的经典网络抛球任务范式（cyberball paradigm）中，受试者并未被排斥，而是始终被纳入游戏。但受试者在虚拟游戏中针对抛球对象的决策会被偶尔打断（即预期违背）。我们假设，此类干预会触发事件相关脑电位（event-related potentials, ERP）中的P3成分响应。由于该脑电成分与主观预期相关，因此其振幅被认为取决于干预频率（自变量：失控感）。此外，我们对受试者虚拟化身（avatar）在电脑屏幕上的垂直位置进行了操控（自变量：垂直位置）。基于已有研究表明垂直位置与个体自赋权力相关，并会影响预期控制水平，我们假设：对于虚拟化身处于更高位置的受试者，干预带来的ERP效应会更为显著。正如预期，两个实验因素会交互影响ERP响应的表现：在低干预频率条件下，当受试者的虚拟化身位置高于其他玩家时，其P3振幅显著高于虚拟化身位置低于其他玩家的受试者（自赋权力高＞自赋权力低）。垂直位置的效应可归因于P3振幅未能对反复出现的厌恶事件产生适应。本研究证实失控感会触发与社会排斥所引发的同类ERP效应，从而为“基于预期状态不一致的厌恶事件反应存在通用认知机制”这一观点提供了进一步的实验证据。