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We investigated whether witnessing social exclusion influenced memory recall in preschool children. A sample of 81 children (Mage = 5 years, 4 months) first watched priming videos either depicting social exclusion or not. Subsequently, they participated in two memory tasks, one testing recall of numbers and the other testing recall of previously heard story events. These consisted of social (e.g., "brother") and nonsocial (e.g., "circus") items. In addition, a language-screening test was conducted to ensure that in both conditions (i.e., social exclusion and control), children's language levels were similar. In both conditions, children scored comparably on number recall and overall recall of story events. However, only children who observed social exclusion remembered more social than nonsocial items. The findings suggest that vicarious social exclusion triggers selective retention of social information in preschool age, in accord with findings of older children and adults who directly experienced social exclusion. Social exclusion affects the need to belong in young children, not only indicated by means of increased attempts to affiliate, but also by an increased memory for social events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

We investigated young infants’ object encoding and processing in response to isolated eye gaze cues on the neural and behavioral level. In two experiments, 4-month-old infants watched a pair of isolated eyes gazing towards or away from novel objects. Subsequently, the same objects were presented alone (i.e., without eyes). We measured event-related potentials (ERP) in response to object-directed and object-averted eye gaze as well as to the subsequently presented isolated objects. Using eye-tracking methods, we additionally measured infants’ looking behavior in reaction to the subsequently presented isolated objects. The ERP data revealed an enhanced slow wave positivity for object-directed eye gaze, indicating increased encoding of observed gaze cues. Regarding the objects, we found an enhanced Nc amplitude and increased looking times in response to previously uncued objects, indicating a novelty response on the neural and behavioral level. The results suggest that isolated eye gaze stimuli are sufficient to trigger object encoding and facilitate further object processing. Keywords: Infants, Eye tracking, Event-related potentials (ERP), Eye gaze, Isolated eyes

Seeking proximity to another person immediately expresses affiliative intentions. These are highly relevant after experiencing social exclusion. Through a novel task, the current study investigated the relation between proximity and observed ostracism during early childhood. A sample of 64 children (Mage = 58 months) first watched priming videos either depicting ostracism or not. Subsequently, children saw four seats of varying distances from an interactant’s seat and chose where to sit. Children who observed social exclusion selected seats with higher proximity. The results suggest that young preschoolers can immediately express the threatened need to belong by literally getting closer to even a stranger after witnessing ostracism. The task provides new opportunities to test reactions to social exclusion during early childhood.

For infants it is crucial to differentiate conspecifics from other animates in order to profoundly learn about the world, the self, and other people. The current study investigates brain correlates of a categorical human-animal distinction in infants of different age groups as well as in adults. Using the categorical oddball task (Pauen, Wahl, & Hoehl, 2011), we compared event-related potentials of 4- and 7-month-old infants with those of adults. A total of 100 different-looking pictures of animals and humans were presented in random sequence. In 80% of the trials exemplars of one category were shown (standards), and in 20% of the trials exemplars of the contrasting category were shown (oddballs). In 7-month-olds, an increased Nc response was found for oddballs as compared to standards, independent of the oddball category. Furthermore, amplitude of the P400 was increased in reaction to standards as compared to oddballs, when humans served as standards (i.e., in the human-standard condition). No corresponding ERP-effects were observed in 4-month-olds. Thus, while 7-month-olds showed signs of categorical differentiation on the neural level, 4-month-olds׳ ERPs suggest less stable category representations within the categorical oddball paradigm. In adults, we found an increased N1 amplitude for oddballs as compared to standards. Thus, adults' sensitivity to the relative frequencies of the contrasted categories at the level of the N1 was comparable to infants' Nc response at 7 months. Furthermore, in adults we found the N2 amplitude to reflect category-specific processing, with a consistently increased amplitude in reaction to animals.