Development of the neural correlates of self- and other-referential processing across adolescence

Learning whom not to trust across early and middle adolescence: A longitudinal neuroimaging study to trusting behavior involving an uncooperative other

Longitudinal changes in trusting behavior across adolescence and their neural correlates were examined. Neural regions of interest (ROIs) included the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), left anterior insula (AI), bilateral ventral striatum (VS), and right dorsal striatum (DS). Participants (wave 1 age: M = 12.90) played the investor in a Trust Game with an uncooperative trustee three times (1-year interval). Analyses included 77 primarily Dutch participants (33 females). Participants decreased their investments with wave. Furthermore, activity was heightened in mPFC, dACC, and DS during investment and repayment, and in right VS (investment) and AI (repayment). Finally, DS activity during repayment increased with wave. These findings highlight early-middle adolescence as an important period for developing sensitivity to uncooperative behavior.

Striatal correlates of Bayesian beliefs in self-efficacy in adolescents and their relation to mood and autonomy: a pilot study

Major depressive disorder often originates in adolescence and is associated with long-term functional impairment. Mechanistically characterizing this heterogeneous illness could provide important leads for optimizing treatment. Importantly, reward learning is known to be disrupted in depression. In this pilot fMRI study of 21 adolescents (16-20 years), we assessed how reward network disruption impacts specifically on Bayesian belief representations of self-efficacy (SE-B) and their associated uncertainty (SE-U), using a modified instrumental learning task probing activation induced by the opportunity to choose, and an optimal Hierarchical Gaussian Filter computational model. SE-U engaged caudate, nucleus accumbens (NAcc), precuneus, posterior parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFWE < 0.005). Sparse partial least squares analysis identified SE-U striatal activation as associating with one's sense of perceived choice and depressive symptoms, particularly anhedonia and negative feelings about oneself. As Bayesian uncertainty modulates belief flexibility and their capacity to steer future actions, this suggests that these striatal signals may be informative developmentally, longitudinally and in assessing response to treatment.

Adolescents' neural sensitivity to high and low popularity: Longitudinal links to risk-taking and prosocial behavior

Adolescents are particularly attuned to popularity within peer groups, which impacts behaviors such as risk-taking and prosocial behavior. Neurodevelopmental changes orient adolescents toward salient social cues in their environment. We examined whether neural regions that track popularity are associated with longitudinal changes in risk-taking and prosocial behavior. During an fMRI scan, adolescents (n = 109, Mage=13.59, SD=0.59) viewed pictures of their popular and unpopular classmates based on sociometric nominations from their social networks. Neural tracking of high popularity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex was associated with increases in risk-taking behavior, whereas tracking of low popularity in the right insula was associated with increases in prosocial behavior. Results suggest that individual differences in neural tracking of popularity relate to longitudinal changes in adolescents' social behaviors.

Social network position, trust behavior, and neural activity in young adolescents

Our social interactions take place within numerous social networks, in which our relationships with others define our position within these networks. In this study, we examined how the centrality of positions within social networks was associated with trust behavior and neural activity in 49 adolescents (M_age = 12.8 years, SD_age = 0.4 years). The participants played a trust game with a cartoon animation as a partner, which showed adaptive behavior in response to the participant and was generally untrustworthy. Social network positions were obtained in secondary school classrooms where the participants and their classmates reported on who their friends were. Using social network analysis, a score was calculated that indicated the centrality of everyone's position within the friendship network. The results showed that more central social network positions were associated with higher levels of initial trust behavior, although no evidence was found for a relationship between network position and the adaptation of trust behavior. The results of the functional MRI analyses showed that the centrality of the network positions was positively associated with caudate activity when making trust decisions. Furthermore, the adolescents with more central network positions also showed stronger increases of caudate activity when the partner's return was processed compared to the adolescents with less central network positions. The current study provides initial evidence that social network positions in friendship networks relate to socio-cognitive behavior and neural activity in adolescents.