A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Electrophysiological Studies of Online Social Exclusion: Evidence for the Neurobiological Impacts of Cyberbullying

Abstract Cyberbullying is an increasingly problematic psychosocial health risk, particularly in youth. Electroencephalography (EEG) commonly utilized to investigate the potential effects of social behaviors on brain activity. Hence, current paper provides a systematic review EEG-related studies that have addressed cyberbullying-like behaviors. Initial searches from 4 databases returned 1150 unique articles, which were screened according PRISMA guidelines. The 29 articles remaining after full text screening investigated online exclusion, method cyberbullying. Across these studies, there was evidence links between exclusion and abnormalities range event related (ERP) EEG measures representative deviance detection (“N2” ERP), response (“P3” emotional attention (“late slow wave” ERP) regulation (“frontal theta” EEG). Meta-analysis demonstrated increased P3 late wave amplitudes as well increases frontal-medial theta power, child adolescent samples. However, many had small sample sizes, lacked longitudinal insight into recurrent ostracism function. Future research should explore broader cyberbullying psychophysiology longitudinally, vulnerable populations such adolescents.