Opening the Pandora box: Neural processing of self-relevant negative social information

Abstract

Curiosity is a powerful motivator of information-seeking behavior. People seek not only positive, but also aversive social information about others. However, whether people also seek unfavorable social information about themselves, as well as the neural mechanisms that may drive such seemingly counterintuitive behavior remain unclear. To address this gap, we developed a novel electroencephalography-compatible Social Incentive Delay (SID) task, which was implemented in 30 healthy young adults as they responded as fast as possible to a target to receive positive or avoid negative comments about their own or about others’ Instagram photos. Reaction times were slower for negative vs positive comments’ conditions, but only for participants’ own photos, revealing less motivation to avoid negative rather than seek positive self-relevant social feedback. Coherently, receiving negative feedback, as opposed to avoiding it, evoked larger amplitudes in the Reward Positivity (RewP) and FB-P3 time-range, especially for participants’ own photos, indicating that receiving a negative comment was more rewarding and more salient than not receiving any comment at all. Our findings challenge prior evidence suggesting that humans instinctively avoid aversive stimuli, and they shed light on the neurophysiological mechanisms that may underlie this counterintuitive behavior.