Effects of holding soft objects during Cyberball tasks under frequent positive feedback

• Published in: Experimental brain research Vol. 239; no. 2; pp. 667 - 674
• Main Authors: Ikeda, Toshiki, Takeda, Yuji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Contingent Negative Variation; Cushions; Electroencephalography; Emotions; Event-related potentials; Evoked Potentials; Feedback; Humans; Neurology; Neurosciences; Pain; Praise; Psychological aspects; Research Article; Video games; Japan; Cyberball task; Social over-inclusion; expectation; contingent negative variation (CNV); Soft objects
• ISSN: 0014-4819; 1432-1106
• DOI: 10.1007/s00221-020-06000-9

A previous study suggested that holding soft objects enhanced expectations of uncertain events and increased social pain under frequent negative feedback; i.e., higher expectations might have induced more disappointment. The present study examined the effects of holding a soft cushion under frequent positive feedback. Participants ( n  = 42) performed fair-play and over-inclusion blocks in the Cyberball task. Amplitudes of the contingent negative variation (CNV) of event-related brain potentials and subjective ratings of social pain were measured to estimate participants’ expectations and emotions, respectively. CNV amplitudes were higher in the over-inclusion block when participants held the soft than the hard cushion. There was a statistically marginal trend ( p  = .095) for lower social pain scores in the soft cushion condition than the hard cushion condition in contrast to previous findings. These results suggest that holding a soft object does not directly modulate emotions but instead acts through the mediation of enhanced expectations.