We examined the electrophysiological correlates of the processing of social exclusion and inclusion by using a modified version of the Cyberball paradigm. Exclusion was found to be associated with a significant increase in the P3 complex. The frontal-central P3a was primarily related to the affective processing of rejection, whereas the late parietal P3b was associated with its perceived intensity. The expression of P3a and negative mood did also depend on the earlier experience; earlier inclusion affected the processing of exclusion, and vice versa. In conclusion, our data indicate that the complex process of social rejection can be tracked by using event-related brain potentials.

Background: Impulsivity is a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, previous clinical and experimental studies investigating impulsivity in BPD rendered mixed results. In this study, impulsivity was assessed by self-report scales and behavioral inhibition tasks to compare different data levels. Sampling and Methods: Fifteen women with BPD and 15 matched healthy control subjects (HC) completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Eysenck’s Impulsivity Questionnaire and the UPPS (Urgency, Lack of Perseverance, Lack of Premeditation and Sensation Seeking) scale, and participated in a Stroop task, an antisaccade task and a stop signal task. Results: Patients with BPD scored significantly higher on self-report measures as compared to HC, but not in behavioral tests. In BPD patients, but not in HC, behavioral inhibition errors were correlated with more intense emotional state. Conclusion: We found a discrepancy between self-report and behavioral data. Further studies need to assess additional possible mechanisms underlying increased impulsivity, their relation to emotional instability, and their neurobiological underpinnings.

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) are known to be highly sensitive to social rejection. Social information processing is assumed to play a key role for this shared psychopathological phenomenon. The first steps in social information processing are to encode social cues and to create a mental representation of the social situation. The aim of the current study was to test whether the perception of social participation in patients with BPD and patients with SAD is biased in this initial stage of social processing. Focus was on the P3b, a brain potential related to stimulus evaluation that has been shown to be a sensitive indicator for the processes of interest. Twenty five unmedicated patients with BPD, 25 unmedicated patients with SAD and 25 healthy controls (HC) played an EEG-compatible version of Cyberball, a virtual ball-tossing paradigm that experimentally induces social inclusion and exclusion. All participants showed a pronounced P3b when excluded. Only patients with BPD showed an enhanced P3b also during the inclusion condition, indicating altered processing of social inclusion. The EEG results for the BPD group were consistent with their self-report data. Patients with BPD felt more excluded during the inclusion condition of Cyberball than both HC and patients with SAD. Furthermore, heightened rejection expectancy (subscale of the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire) was associated with a smaller difference in the P3b amplitude between inclusion and exclusion. Results indicate a negatively biased perception of social inclusion in BPD already during the initial stage of social processing.

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