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Neural correlates of acceptance and rejection in online speed dating: An electroencephalography study

Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience volume 22, pages 145–159 (2022)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 01 October 2021

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Abstract

Pursuing dating relationships is important for many people’s well-being, because it helps them fulfill the need for stable social relationships. However, the neural underpinnings of decision-making processes during the pursuit of dating interactions are unclear. In the present study, we used a novel online speed dating paradigm where participants (undergraduate students, N = 25, aged 18–25 years, 52% female) received direct information about acceptance or rejection of their various speed dates. We recorded EEG measurements during speed dating feedback anticipation and feedback processing stages to examine the stimulus preceding negativity (SPN) and feedback-related brain activity (Reward Positivity, RewP, and theta oscillatory power). The results indicated that the SPN was larger when participants anticipated interest versus disinterest from their speed dates. A larger RewP was observed when participants received interest from their speed dates. Theta power was increased when participants received rejection from their speed dates. This theta response could be source-localized to brain areas that overlap with the physical pain matrix (anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the supplementary motor area). This study demonstrates that decision-making processes—as evident in a speed date experiment—are characterized by distinct neurophysiological responses during anticipating an evaluation and processing thereof. Our results corroborate the involvement of the SPN in reward anticipation, RewP in reward processing and mid-frontal theta power in processing of negative social-evaluative feedback. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms implicated in decision-making processes when pursuing dating relationships.

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Notes

  1. Participants were divided into two groups according to whether they had been in a romantic relationship or not, which was used as a between-subject variable for subsequent analysis (behavioral data analysis and EEG data analysis). The main effects of the group were not significant (all ps > 0.151), and the interactions of any factor with the group were not significant (all ps > 0.086).

  2. The split-half reliability was used to measure the internal consistency of the SPN and RewP at pooled electrodes (Fz, FCz, Fz). The odd and even trials are averaged and the correlation between the two is calculated (Threadgill et al., 2020), corrected using the Spearman-Brown prophecy formula (Nunnally et al., 1967). Spearman-Brown corrected split-half r of RewP for Match = 0.96, Rejection = 0.92, Unrequited = 0.89, and Disinterest = 0.92, and SPN for Yes judgment = 0.83 and No judgment = 0.84.

  3. This grand-grand average method of determining the electrode of interest is in line with prior studies on the SPN (van der Molen et al., 2014), as well as with recommended methodology for determining electrodes for analyzing ERP peak amplitudes (Kappenman & Luck, 2016).

  4. This positivity in the feedback-related ERP was already evident around the P2 component, so our RewP measure might have been subject to component overlap. However, PCA analysis revealed a distinct positive component with central dominance that yielded similar results as described for the RewP in this study (see Supplementary Material for details).

  5. From here on we use the term potential dates to refer to speed dates that participants were romantically interested in, and nonpotential dates to refer to speed dates that participants were not romantically interested in.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671150), Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions (2019SHIBS0003), and Shenzhen Basic Research Scheme (JCYJ20150729104249783).

Data and Code Availability Statement

The data and code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [Hong Li, E-mail: lihongwrm@vip.sina.com] upon reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Studies of Psychological Applications, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Educational Science, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

    Xukai Zhang & Hong Li

  2. Institute for Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China

    Xukai Zhang & Hong Li

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Xukai Zhang, Susannah C. S. A. Otieno & Paavo H. T. Leppänen

  4. Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    M. J. W. van der Molen

  5. Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    M. J. W. van der Molen

  6. The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China

    Zongling He

  7. Center for Emotion and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China

    Hong Li

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Zhang, X., van der Molen, M.J.W., Otieno, S.C.S.A. et al. Neural correlates of acceptance and rejection in online speed dating: An electroencephalography study. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 22, 145–159 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-021-00939-0

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Keywords

  • Dating
  • Stimulus preceding negativity
  • Reward positivity
  • Theta oscillation
  • Source localization