Electrophysiological and Behavioral Responses to Overinclusion Following Preexposure to Social Threat

Previous research demonstrated that experiencing a social threat can affect how individuals process subsequent social threats. This "preexposure effect" suggests that different social threats, such as loss of control and exclusion, interact within a common cognitive system. In this study, we extended the preexposure effect to examine how a prior social threat influences subsequent positive social interactions. Specifically, we investigated how the experience of a loss of control affects neural processing and retrospective evaluations of subsequent overinclusion. Our findings revealed that the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) previously related to the processing of exclusion and overinclusion (P3 effect) remained unaffected by the preexposure threat. However, the preexposure threat influenced the expression of frontal positivity (P2) which has been previously associated with the processing of social rewards. In addition, we observed that the expression of the perceived threat to belonging and negative mood depends on the continuation-or discontinuation-of the preexposure threat in the subsequent period of overinclusion. These results question the idea of a continuum of social participation ranging from exclusion to overinclusion. The latter appears to be more closely linked to the perceived valence of cues related to social inclusion.