title: "The Cooties Effect": Amygdala Reactivity to Opposite- versus Same-sex Faces Declines from Childhood to Adolescence.
abstract: One of the most important social identities that children learn to define themselves and others by is sex, becoming a salient social category by early childhood. Although older children begin to show greater flexibility in their gendered behaviors and attitudes, gender rigidity intensifies again around the time of puberty. In the current study, we assessed behavioral and neural biases to sex across a wide age group. Ninety-three youth (ages 7-17 years) provided behavioral rating of same- and opposite-sex attitudes, and 52 youth (ages 4-18 years) underwent an fMRI scan as they matched the emotion of same- and opposite-sex faces. We demonstrate significant age-related behavioral biases of sex that are mediated by differential amygdala response to opposite-sex relative to same-sex faces in children, an effect that completely attenuates by the teenage years. Moreover, we find a second peak in amygdala sensitivity to opposite-sex faces around the time of puberty. Thus, the amygdala codes for developmentally dependent and motivationally relevant social identification across development.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
authors.forename: Eva H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Telzer
authors.affiliation: University of Oregon.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flannery
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Humphreys
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Bonnie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goff
authors.affiliation: Columbia University.
authors.forename: Laurel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gabard-Durman
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Dylan G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Gee
authors.affiliation: Columbia University.
authors.forename: Nim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tottenham
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D001290:Attitude; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000502:physiology; D012938:Social Perception
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