A recent Cyberball study has indicated that the experience of loss of control can affect how people process subsequent social exclusion. This “preexposure effect” supports the idea of a common cognitive system involved in the processing of different types of social threats. To test the validity of this assumption in the current study, we reversed the sequence of the preexposure setup. We measured the effects of social exclusion on the subsequent processing of loss of control utilizing event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and self-reports. In the control group (CG, n = 26), the transition to loss of control elicited significant increases in both the P3 amplitude and the self-reported negative mood. Replicating the results of the previous preexposure study, these effects were significantly reduced by the preexposure to an independent social threat (here: social exclusion). In contrast to previous findings, these effects were not modulated by the discontinuation (EG1_disc, n = 25) or continuation (EG2_cont, n = 24) of the preexposure threat. Given that the P3 effect is related to the violation of subjective expectations, these results support the notion that preexposure to a specific social threat has widespread effects on the individuals’ expectancy of upcoming social participation and control.

最近的一项网络球研究表明，失去控制的经历会影响人们如何处理随后的社会排斥。这种“暴露前效应”支持了处理不同类型社会威胁的共同认知系统的想法。为了测试当前研究中这一假设的有效性，我们颠倒了预曝光设置的顺序。我们利用事件相关脑电位（ERP）和自我报告测量了社会排斥对失控的后续处理的影响。在对照组（CG，n = 26）中，向失控的转变导致 P3 幅度和自我报告的负面情绪显着增加。重复之前暴露前研究的结果，这些影响因暴露于独立的社会威胁（此处：社会排斥）而显着减少。与之前的研究结果相反，这些影响不受暴露前威胁的终止（EG1_盘，n = 25）或继续（EG2_继续，n = 24）的影响。鉴于 P3 效应与违反主观期望有关，这些结果支持这样的观点，即预先暴露于特定的社会威胁对个人对即将到来的社会参与和控制的期望具有广泛的影响。