BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Social Neuroscience
This article is part of the Research TopicStress-induced Psychopathology: From Mechanisms to Interventions: Volume IIView all 7 articles
Cyberball effects on cognitive vulnerability for suicide in youth with a history of multiple suicide attempts
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Canada
- 2Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, Calgary, Canada
- 3Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- 4Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Canada
- 5Department of Radiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- 6Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Canada
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Introduction: While the precipitants for suicide are varied, interpersonal stressors are commonly identified. We hypothesized that interpersonal stressors increase suicide risk by exacerbating cognitive vulnerabilities in decision-making, cognitive control, and implicit associations between the self and death/suicide. Methods: Interpersonal stress was modeled using the Cyberball paradigm in forty youth (16-24y) with a history of multiple (≥2) suicide attempts. Participants were randomized to either a social exclusion or overinclusion condition. Changes in mood and cognition were assessed before and after Cyberball using visual analog scales, the Game of Dice Task, the Iowa Gambling Task, the Balloon Analog Risk Test, the Word Color Stroop Test, and the Death/Suicide Implicit Association Test. Results: Social exclusion and overinclusion did not significantly impact decision-making, cognitive control or implicit association of the self with death/suicide, though high interindividual variability was observed. Group differences were observed in the change in anger (t(34)=2.47, p=0.02), loneliness (t(34) = 2.56, p=0.015), sadness (t(34)=2.56, p=0.02), and depression (t(34)=2.25, p=0.03). Conclusions: As compared to social overinclusion, Cyberball-induced social exclusion did not significantly influence performance on cognitive tasks associated with suicide risk. Future research may consider within-subject designs comparing exclusion and inclusion paradigms, using alternative acute stress manipulations or powering studies to detect smaller effect sizes when studying interpersonal stress in youth at high-risk for suicide.
Keywords: cyberball, Death/Suicide Implicit AssociationTest, Decision Making, Emerging adults, social exclusion, Suicide attempters
Received: 20 Oct 2025; Accepted: 26 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Sohn, Bray, Ortega and McGirr. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Alexander McGirr
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