Aim of this research was to investigate the neurobiological correlates of fear of missing out in response to the social exclusion and social inclusion cue.

Fear of Missing Out scale (FOMOs), Social Media Engagement Questionnaire (SMEQ), and Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) were administered to twenty-six healthy participants. Afterward, EEG activity was acquired during a visual task showing exclusion and inclusion social images.

Event Related Potentials (ERP) and sLoreta analyses were performed.

In the ERP analyses the main effect of condition was found in temporo-parietal and frontal montages. sLoreta analyses showed a greater intensity of the left secondary somatosensory cortex (BA7) in inclusion compared with exclusion condition and a greater intensity of left temporal-parietal junction (BA41, BA42, BA43) and left prefrontal cortex (BA47) in exclusion versus inclusion condition. Moreover, the main finding of correlations analyses was that the FOMOs score was positively correlated with ASQ-need for approval and with right middle temporal gyrus (BA21) only during inclusion condition.

Findings sustain that fear of missing out is associated to a greater sensitivity towards social inclusive experiences rather than social exclusion and with need of belong.