Neural responses to exclusion predict susceptibility to social influence.
OBJECTIVE
Social influence is prominent across the lifespan, but sensitivity to influence is especially high during adolescence and is often associated with increased risk taking. Such risk taking can have dire consequences. For example, in American adolescents, traffic-related crashes are leading causes of nonfatal injury and death. Neural measures may be especially useful in understanding the basic mechanisms of adolescents' vulnerability to peer influence.


METHODS
We examined neural responses to social exclusion as potential predictors of risk taking in the presence of peers in recently licensed adolescent drivers. Risk taking was assessed in a driving simulator session occurring approximately 1 week after the neuroimaging session.


RESULTS
Increased activity in neural systems associated with the distress of social exclusion and mentalizing during an exclusion episode predicted increased risk taking in the presence of a peer (controlling for solo risk behavior) during a driving simulator session outside the neuroimaging laboratory 1 week later. These neural measures predicted risky driving behavior above and beyond self-reports of susceptibility to peer pressure and distress during exclusion.


CONCLUSIONS
These results address the neural bases of social influence and risk taking; contribute to our understanding of social and emotional function in the adolescent brain; and link neural activity in specific, hypothesized, regions to risk-relevant outcomes beyond the neuroimaging laboratory. Results of this investigation are discussed in terms of the mechanisms underlying risk taking in adolescents and the public health implications for adolescent driving.
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: falk@asc.upenn.edu.
Emily B
EB
Falk
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Christopher N
CN
Cascio
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Matthew Brook
MB
O'Donnell
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Joshua
J
Carp
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Francis J
FJ
Tinney
University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
C Raymond
CR
Bingham
University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Jean T
JT
Shope
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Sherbrooke, Longueuil, Quebec, Canada.
Marie Claude
MC
Ouimet
University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Anuj K
AK
Pradhan
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Health Behavior Branch, Bethesda, Maryland.
Bruce G
BG
Simons-Morton
D000056:Accident Prevention / Q000379:methods; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012919:Social Behavior; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology
Adolescent behavior; Driving; Mentalizing; Neuroimaging; Peer influence; Risk taking; Social exclusion; Social influence; Social pain; fMRI