Escalating frustration - A replication attempt and extension of Yu et al. (2014)

Failures to obtain a desired reward, such as losing money in gambling, can lead to frustration. In gambling, this frustration has been shown to take the form of faster responses after losses compared with wins and non-gambling trials. In addition, reward omission or blockage can lead to more forceful responses. Yu and colleagues (2014) showed that the proximity to a reward and the effort already expended to acquire the reward increased participants’ response force and their retrospective self-reported frustration when the reward was blocked.

In this study, we attempted to replicate the findings of Yu and colleagues (2014) using the same experimental procedure. In each schedule, participants (N = 32) needed to complete an arrow direction task for varying numbers of times to win a reward but could be blocked at any stage. The response time (RT) and force of confirming the outcomes were used as indicators of ‘frustration’. In addition, to obtain a more real-time and objective measure of (negative) emotion, we measured facial electromyographic (EMG) activity over the corrugator supercilii (frowning muscle) and the zygomaticus (smiling muscle).

Due to technical problems, our data on response force were invalid. In line with the original study, both goal proximity and exerted effort increased participants’ self-reported motivation in the task and frustration after being blocked. An exploratory analysis showed that participants were slower in confirming an outcome when they were blocked closer to the reward, while exerted effort did not influence confirm RT. These RT data were consistent with self-reported surprise ratings, suggesting an orienting response. In the facial EMG data, we observed no difference between wins and losses in activity over the corrugator or the zygomaticus.

Taken together, these data suggest that reward blockage does not necessarily lead to behavioral or psychophysiological expressions of negative emotions such as frustration.

Sometimes we get blocked from reaching our goal (e.g., getting a reward) and that can make us feel frustrated. This frustration may manifest in faster and more forceful responses. For instance, people who lose in gambling tend to start the next gamble faster than after winning or not gambling. People also respond with more force when they do not get the reward they expect. A study by Yu and colleagues further shows that if people are close to getting a reward and they have already put in a lot of effort to get it, they feel more frustrated when that reward is blocked. Here, we conducted the same study, to try to replicate these findings. Like in the original study, we found that when people were close to getting a reward and had already worked hard for it, they reported feeling more motivated in the task and more frustrated when the reward was blocked. Interestingly, when they were blocked closer to the reward, they took longer to react (opposite to the ‘frustration’ effect), but how much effort they had put in did not affect how fast they responded. This suggests instead that they were surprised when they were blocked close to the reward. We also measured people's facial muscle activity as indicators of negative emotions like frustration. Surprisingly, there was no difference in the muscle activity between when people won or lost. This suggests that not getting a reward is not only frustrating, but also surprising, and the frustration may not always show up in our behavior or facial expressions.