Probing the neural correlates of anticipated peer evaluation in adolescence.
Neural correlates of social-cognition were assessed in 9- to- 17-year-olds (N = 34) using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants appraised how unfamiliar peers they had previously identified as being of high or low interest would evaluate them for an anticipated online chat session. Differential age- and sex-related activation patterns emerged in several regions previously implicated in affective processing. These included the ventral striatum, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and insula. In general, activation patterns shifted with age in older relative to younger females but showed no association with age in males. Relating these neural response patterns to changes in adolescent social-cognition enriches theories of adolescent social development through enhanced neurobiological understanding of social behavior.
Guyer
Amanda E
AE
National Institute of Mental Health, 15K North Drive, Room 208, Bethesda, MD 20892-2670, USA. amandaguyer@mail.nih.gov
McClure-Tone
Erin B
EB
Shiffrin
Nina D
ND
Pine
Daniel S
DS
Nelson
Eric E
EE
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001290:Attitude; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000502:physiology; D020407:Internet; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D010379:Peer Group; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception