Development of neural systems for processing social exclusion from childhood to adolescence

Neural Markers of Emotion Reactivity and Regulation Before and After a Targeted Social Rejection: Differences Among Girls With and Without Suicidal Ideation and Behavior Histories

BACKGROUND

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are common among adolescent girls and increase risk for suicide death. Emotion regulation difficulties are linked with STBs, particularly in response to targeted social rejection. However, neural correlates of this link have not been investigated and may identify novel targets for interventions. Here, we examined neural correlates of emotion regulation before and after an experimentally delivered targeted social rejection in adolescent girls with STBs and girls without STBs (i.e., control participants).

METHODS

Girls (N = 138; age range, 9-15 years; mean [SD] age = 11.6 [1.79] years) completed a functional neuroimaging emotion regulation task. In the middle of the task, participants were socially rejected by an unfamiliar confederate whom the participants had elected to meet. Participants also completed a multimethod STB assessment.

RESULTS

Before rejection, girls with a history of STBs, compared with control participants, showed greater activation in the right superior frontal gyrus when passively viewing negative stimuli, and girls with suicidal behavior (SB) versus those without SB showed less activation in the right frontal pole during emotion regulation attempts. Following the rejection, girls with STBs, compared with control participants, showed greater activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus during emotion regulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Before social rejection, girls with SB versus without SB may not activate brain regions implicated in emotion regulation, suggesting a vulnerability to poor regulation at their baseline emotional state. After social rejection, girls with any history of STBs showed altered activation in a brain region strongly associated with inhibition and emotion regulation success, possibly reflecting increased effort at inhibiting emotional responses during regulation following stress exposure.

Neural correlates of social exclusion and overinclusion in patients with borderline personality disorder: an fMRI study

BACKGROUND

Interpersonal difficulties of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are closely related to rejection sensitivity. The aim of the present study was to gain further insight into the experience and cerebral processing of social interactions in patients with BPD by using fMRI during experimentally induced experiences of social exclusion, inclusion, and overinclusion.

METHODS

The study involved 30 participants diagnosed with BPD (29 female and 1 male; age: M = 24.22, SD = 5.22) and 30 healthy controls (29 female and 1 male; age: M = 24.66, SD = 5.28) with no current or lifetime psychiatric diagnoses. In the fMRI session, all participants were asked to complete a Cyberball task that consisted of an alternating sequence of inclusion, exclusion, and overinclusion conditions.

RESULTS

Compared to healthy controls, participants with BPD reported higher levels of inner tension and more unpleasant emotions across all experimental conditions. At the neural level, the participants with BPD showed lower recruitment of the left hippocampus in response to social exclusion (relative to the inclusion condition) than the healthy controls did. Lower recruitment of the left hippocampus in this contrast was associated with childhood maltreatment in patients with BPD. However, this difference was no longer significant when we added the covariate of hippocampal volume to the analysis. During social overinclusion (relative to the inclusion condition), we observed no significant differences in a group comparison of neural activation.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of our study suggest that patients with BPD experience more discomfort than do healthy controls during social interactions. Compared to healthy participants, patients with BPD reported more inner tension and unpleasant emotions, irrespective of the extent to which others included them in social interactions. At a neural level, the participants with BPD showed a lower recruitment of the left hippocampus in response to social exclusion than the healthy controls did. The reduced activation of this neural structure could be related to a history of childhood maltreatment and smaller hippocampal volume in patients with BPD.

Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex Reactivity to Rejection Vs. Acceptance Predicts Depressive Symptoms among Adolescents with an Anxiety History

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study was to examine whether neural sensitivity to negative peer evaluation conveys risk for depression among youth with a history of anxiety. We hypothesized that brain activation in regions that process affective salience in response to rejection, relative to acceptance, from virtual peers would predict depressive symptoms 1 year later and would be associated with ecological momentary assessment (EMA) reports of peer connectedness.

METHOD

Participants were 38 adolescents ages 11-16 (50% female) with a history of anxiety, recruited from a previous clinical trial. The study was a prospective naturalistic follow-up of depressive symptoms assessed 2 years (Wave 2) and 3 years (Wave 3) following treatment. At Wave 2, participants completed the Chatroom Interact Task during neuroimaging and 16 days of EMA.

RESULTS

Controlling for depressive and anxiety symptoms at Wave 2, subgenual anterior cingulate (sgACC; β = .39, p = .010) activation to peer rejection (vs. acceptance) predicted depressive symptoms at Wave 3. SgACC activation to rejection (vs. acceptance) was highly negatively correlated with EMA reports of connectedness with peers in daily life (r = - .71, p < .001).

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that elevated sgACC activation to negative, relative to positive, peer evaluation may serve as a risk factor for depressive symptoms among youth with a history of anxiety, perhaps by promoting vigilance or reactivity to social evaluative threats. SgACC activation to simulated peer evaluation appears to have implications for understanding how adolescents experience their daily social environments in ways that could contribute to depressive symptoms.

Understanding the Leaders of Tomorrow: The Need to Study Leadership in Adolescence

Leadership traits and behaviors are observed early in human development, and although an improved understanding of youth leadership would usefully inform many real-world contexts (e.g., education, parenting, policy), most empirical work on leadership has been limited to adult populations. The purpose of the current article is to add a developmental perspective to leadership research that has so far been absent. Here, we (a) highlight adolescence as a critical developmental period for leadership emergence and development, (b) argue that leadership among youths is poorly understood and critically understudied, (c) provide exemplars of synergy between research on leadership and adolescent development that are ripe for focused inquiry, and (d) underscore some of the positive consequences of accelerating empirical research on leadership in adolescence, including implications for a deeper understanding of leadership in adult working populations.

Thumbs up or thumbs down: neural processing of social feedback and links to social motivation in adolescent girls

Adolescence is a period of rapid biological and psychological development, characterized by increasing emotional reactivity and risk-taking, especially in peer contexts. Theories of adolescent neural development suggest that the balance in sensitivity across neural threat, reward and regulatory systems contributes to these changes. Building on previous research, this study used a novel social feedback task to explore activation and functional connectivity in the context of social threat and reward in a sample of mid-adolescent girls (n = 86, Mage = 16.32). When receiving negative peer feedback, adolescents showed elevated activation in, and amygdala connectivity with, social processing regions [e.g. medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and temporoparietal junction (TPJ)]. When receiving positive feedback, adolescents showed elevated activation in social and reward (e.g. mPFC and ventromedial prefrontal cortex) processing regions and less striatum-cerebellum connectivity. To understand the psychological implications of neural activation and co-activation, we examined associations between neural processing of threat and reward and self-reported social goals. Avoidance goals predicted elevated amygdala and striatum connectivity with social processing regions [e.g. medial temporal gyrus (MTG)], whereas approach goals predicted deactivation in social processing regions (e.g. MTG/TPJ and precuneus), highlighting the importance of considering individual differences in sensitivity to social threat and reward in adolescence.

Associations between lifetime stress exposure and the error-related negativity (ERN) differ based on stressor characteristics and exposure timing in young adults

Life stress increases risk for multiple forms of psychopathology, in part by altering neural processes involved in performance monitoring. However, the ways in which these stress-cognition effects are influenced by the specific timing and types of life stressors experienced remains poorly understood. To address this gap, we examined how different social-psychological characteristics and developmental timing of stressors are related to the error-related negativity (ERN), a negative-going deflection in the event-related potential (ERP) waveform that is observed from 0 to 100 ms following error commission. A sample of 203 emerging adults performed an ERN-eliciting arrow flanker task and completed an interview-based measure of lifetime stress exposure. Adjusting for stress severity during other developmental periods, there was a small-to-medium effect of stress on performance monitoring, such that more severe total stress exposure, as well as more severe social-evaluative stress in particular, experienced during early adolescence significantly predicted an enhanced ERN. These results suggest that early adolescence may be a sensitive developmental period during which stress exposure may result in lasting adaptations to neural networks implicated in performance monitoring.

Mouse Model of Weak Depression Exhibiting Suppressed cAMP Signaling in the Amygdala, Lower Lipid Catabolism in Liver, and Correlated Gut Microbiota

To establish a mouse model of weak depression, we raised 6-week-old C57BL/6N mice in single (SH) or group housing (GH) conditions for 2 weeks. The SH group showed less social interaction with stranger mice, learning disability in behavioral tests, and lower plasma corticosterone levels. The cecal microbiota of the SH group showed significant segregation from the GH group in the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA). Transcriptome analysis of the amygdala and liver detected multiple differentially expressed genes (DEGs). In the amygdala of SH mice, suppression of the cyclic adenine monophosphate (cAMP) signal was predicted and confirmed by the reduced immunoreactivity of phosphorylated cAMP-responsive element-binding protein. In the liver of SH mice, downregulation of beta-oxidation was predicted. Interestingly, the expression levels of over 100 DEGs showed a significant correlation with the occupancy of two bacterial genera, Lactobacillus (Lactobacillaceae) and Anaerostipes (Lachnospiraceae). These bacteria-correlated DEGs included JunB, the downstream component of cAMP signaling in the amygdala, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (Cpt1a), a key enzyme of beta-oxidation in the liver. This trans-omical analysis also suggested that nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) synthesis in the liver may be linked to the occupancy of Lactobacillus through the regulation of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) and kynureninase (KYNU) genes. Our results suggested that SH condition along with the presence of correlated bacteria species causes weak depression phenotype in young mice and provides a suitable model to study food ingredient that is able to cure weak depression.

Functional connectivity patterns of trait empathy are associated with age

Empathy is the capacity to feel and understand others' mental states. In some individuals, there is an imbalance between the affective and cognitive components of empathy, which can lead to deficits. This study investigated the functional connectivity of the anterior insula (AI) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), which play key roles in empathy, in covariation with the affective and cognitive subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), as a function of age and sex, as an exploratory analysis. Seed-based functional connectivity analyses were performed on 33 healthy participants that were subdivided according to their age (16 adults and 17 adolescents) and sex (16 women and 17 men). Adolescents reported lower cognitive empathy than adults and men less affective empathy than women. The connectivity of the dmPFC and AI, in covariation with the cognitive and affective subscales of empathy, respectively, differed between adolescents and adults, but was similar in men and women. Adolescents had patterns of negative covariations between the regions of interest and many brain regions associated with the default-mode and salience networks. These findings support that lower self-report levels of empathy in certain individuals could be reflected in the functional connectivity patterns of the dmPFC and AI.

Imbalanced Gamma-band Functional Brain Networks of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Resting gamma-band brain networks are known as an inhibitory component in functional brain networks. Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is considered as with imbalanced brain networks, the inhibitory component remains not fully explored. The study reported 10 children with ASD and 10 typically-developing (TD) controls. The power spectral density analysis of the gamma-band signal in the cerebral cortex was performed at the source level. The normalized phase transfer entropy values (nPTEs) were calculated to construct brain connectivity. Gamma-band activity of the ASD group was lower than the TD children. The significantly inhibited brain regions were mainly distributed in the bilateral frontal and temporal lobes. Connectivity analysis showed alterations in the connections from key nodes of the social brain network. The behavior assessments in the ASD group revealed a significantly positive correlation between the total score of Childhood Autism Rating Scale and the regional nPTEs of the right transverse temporal gyrus. Our results provide strong evidence that the gamma-band brain networks of ASD children have a lower level of brain activities and different distribution of information flows. Clinical meanings of such imbalances of both activity and connectivity were also worthy of further explorations.

Aberrant Neural Response to Social Exclusion Without Significantly Greater Distress in Youth With Bipolar Disorder: Preliminary Findings

BACKGROUND

Little is known about the effects of social exclusion on youth with bipolar disorder (BD). Understanding these effects and the functional neural correlates of social exclusion in youth with BD may establish differences from healthy youth and help identify areas of intervention.

METHODS

We investigated brain function in 19 youth with BD and 14 age and gender matched healthy control (HC) participants while performing Cyberball, an fMRI social exclusion task. Whole brain activation, region-of-interest, and functional connectivity were compared between groups and examined with behavioral measures.

RESULTS

Compared with the HC group, youth with BD exhibited greater activation in the left fusiform gyrus (FFG) during social exclusion. Functional connectivity between the left FFG and the posterior cingulate/precuneus was significantly greater in the HC compared with the BD group. For the HC group only, age and subjective distress during Cyberball significantly predicted mean FFG activation. No significant differences in distress during social exclusion were found between groups.

CONCLUSION

Although preliminary due to small sample size, these data suggest that youth with BD process social exclusion in a manner that focuses on basic visual information while healthy youth make use of past experiences to interpret current social encounters. This difference may account for the social cognitive issues experienced by youth with BD, which can lead to more severe anxiety and mood symptoms.

A Preliminary Study of Abnormal Centrality of Cortical Regions and Subsystems in Whole Brain Functional Connectivity of Autism Spectrum Disorder Boys

The abnormal cortices of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) brains are uncertain. However, the pathological alterations of ASD brains are distributed throughout interconnected cortical systems. Functional connections (FCs) methodology identifies cooperation and separation characteristics of information process in macroscopic cortical activity patterns under the context of network neuroscience. Embracing the graph theory concepts, this paper introduces eigenvector centrality index (EC score) ground on the FCs, and further develops a new framework for researching the dysfunctional cortex of ASD in holism significance. The important process is to uncover noticeable regions and subsystems endowed with antagonistic stance in EC-scores of 26 ASD boys and 28 matched healthy controls (HCs). For whole brain regional EC scores of ASD boys, orbitofrontal superior medial cortex, insula R, posterior cingulate gyrus L, and cerebellum 9 L are endowed with different EC scores significantly. In the brain subsystems level, EC scores of DMN, prefrontal lobe, and cerebellum are aberrant in the ASD boys. Generally, the EC scores display widespread distribution of diseased regions in ASD brains. Meanwhile, the discovered regions and subsystems, such as MPFC, AMYG, INS, prefrontal lobe, and DMN, are engaged in social processing. Meanwhile, the CBCL externalizing problem scores are associated with EC scores.

Neural Responses to Social Reward Predict Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Girls During the COVID-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVE

Adolescent depression is increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic, possibly related to dramatic social changes. Individual-level factors that contribute to social functioning, such as temperament and neural reactivity to social feedback, may confer risk for or resilience against depressive symptoms during the pandemic.

METHODS

Ninety-three girls (12-17 years) oversampled for high shy/fearful temperament were recruited from a longitudinal study for a follow-up COVID-19 study. During the parent study (2016-2018), participants completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging task eliciting neural activity to performance-related social feedback. Depressive symptoms were assessed during the parent study and COVID-19 follow-up (April-May 2020). In 65 participants with complete data, we examined how interactions between temperament and neural activation to social reward or punishment in a socio-affective brain network predict depressive symptoms during COVID-19.

RESULTS

Depressive symptoms increased during COVID-19. Significant interactions between temperament and caudate, putamen, and insula activation to social reward were found. Girls high in shy/fearful temperament showed negative associations between neural activation to social reward and COVID-19 depressive symptoms, whereas girls lower in shy/fearful temperament showed positive associations.

CONCLUSIONS

Girls high in shy/fearful temperament with reduced neural activation to social reward may be less likely to engage socially, which could be detrimental during the pandemic when social interactions are limited. In contrast, girls lower in shy/fearful temperament with heightened neural reactivity to social reward may be highly motivated to engage socially, which could also be detrimental with limited social opportunities. In both cases, improving social connection during the pandemic may attenuate or prevent depressive symptoms.

Feeling left out or just surprised? Neural correlates of social exclusion and overinclusion in adolescence

Social belonging is an important human drive that influences mood and behavior. Neural responses to social exclusion are well-characterized, but the specificity of these responses to processing rejection-related affective distress is unknown. The present study compares neural responses to exclusion and overinclusion, a condition that similarly violates fairness expectations but does not involve rejection, with a focus on implications for models of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI) function. In an fMRI adaptation of the Cyberball paradigm with adolescents aged 11.1-17.7 years (N = 69), we employed parametric modulators to examine scaling of neural signal with cumulative exclusion and inclusion events, an approach that overcomes arbitrary definitions of condition onsets/offsets imposed on fluid, continuous gameplay. We identified positive scaling of dACC and posterior insula response with cumulative exclusion events, but these same regions exhibited trending signal decreases with cumulative inclusion events. Furthermore, areas within the dACC and insula also responded to context incongruency (throws to the participant in the exclusion run; throws between computer players in the overinclusion run). These findings caution against interpretations that responses in these regions uniquely reflect the affective distress of exclusion within social interaction paradigms. We further identified that the left ventrolateral PFC, rostromedial PFC, and left intraparietal sulcus responded similarly to cumulative exclusion and inclusion. These findings shed light on which neural regions exhibit patterns of differential sensitivity to exclusion or overinclusion, as well as those that are more broadly engaged by both types of social interaction.

Effects of the antibiotic rifaximin on cortical functional connectivity are mediated through insular cortex

It is well-known that antibiotics affect commensal gut bacteria; however, only recently evidence accumulated that gut microbiota (GM) can influence the central nervous system functions. Preclinical animal studies have repeatedly highlighted the effects of antibiotics on brain activity; however, translational studies in humans are still missing. Here, we present a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study investigating the effects of 7 days intake of Rifaximin (non-absorbable antibiotic) on functional brain connectivity (fc) using magnetoencephalography. Sixteen healthy volunteers were tested before and after the treatment, during resting state (rs), and during a social stressor paradigm (Cyberball game—CBG), designed to elicit feelings of exclusion. Results confirm the hypothesis of an involvement of the insular cortex as a common node of different functional networks, thus suggesting its potential role as a central mediator of cortical fc alterations, following modifications of GM. Also, the Rifaximin group displayed lower connectivity in slow and fast beta bands (15 and 25 Hz) during rest, and higher connectivity in theta (7 Hz) during the inclusion condition of the CBG, compared with controls. Altogether these results indicate a modulation of Rifaximin on frequency-specific functional connectivity that could involve cognitive flexibility and memory processing.

Social experience calibrates neural sensitivity to social feedback during adolescence: A functional connectivity approach

The adaptive calibration model suggests exposure to highly stressful or highly supportive early environments sensitizes the brain to later environmental input. We examined whether family and peer experiences predict neural sensitivity to social cues in 85 adolescent girls who completed a social feedback task during a functional brain scan and an interview assessing adversity. Whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) analyses revealed curvilinear associations between social experiences and FC between the ventral striatum and regions involved in emotion valuation, social cognition, and salience detection (e.g., insula, MPFC, dACC, dlPFC) during social reward processing, such that stronger FC was found at both very high and very low levels of adversity. Moreover, exposure to adversity predicted stronger FC between the amygdala and regions involved in salience detection, social cognition, and emotional memory (e.g., sgACC, precuneus, lingual gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus) during social threat processing. Analyses also revealed some evidence for blunted FC (VS-PCC for reward; amygdala-parahippocampal gyrus for threat) at very high and low levels of adversity. Overall, results suggest social experiences may play a critical role in shaping neural sensitivity to social feedback during adolescence. Future work will need to elucidate the implications of these patterns of neural function for the development of psychopathology.

A Systematic Review of Associations Between Adverse Peer Experiences and Emotion Regulation in Adolescence

Adolescence is a developmental period marked by changes in cognition, emotion, and social relations. For example, sensitivity to social feedback increases as peer relationships become more important yet less stable, leaving adolescents vulnerable to experiences of peer victimization and rejection. Given that prefrontal brain regions responsible for regulatory abilities continue to mature during adolescence, the brain is especially susceptible to environmental influences. As such, exposure to adverse peer experiences may undermine emotion regulation development. Thus, the present review sought to elucidate the association between adverse peer experiences and emotion regulation in adolescence (i.e. age 12-17 years). Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a systematic review of the literature assessing adverse peer experiences (victimization and rejection) and emotion regulation (including neurobiological, behavioral, cognitive levels of analysis) was conducted (N_{articles included} = 27). Results demonstrate that adverse peer experiences are negatively associated with emotion regulation processes, behaviorally and neurally. Although variability in definitions and measurement of constructs make nuanced comparisons between studies difficult, the present systematic review organizes this body of literature and discusses how promising theoretical perspectives, including the cognitive control of emotion model and social information processing theory, may help to explain this association. Finally, recommendations for future work to expand our understanding of these processes, and for intervention and prevention efforts (e.g., school-based violence prevention and socio-emotional learning programs, parenting practices) that may serve to ameliorate outcomes for youths facing adverse peer experiences and emotion dysregulation, are discussed.

Social exclusion reliably engages the default network: A meta-analysis of Cyberball

Social exclusion refers to the experience of being disregarded or rejected by others and has wide-ranging negative consequences for well-being and cognition. Cyberball, a game where a ball is virtually tossed between players, then leads to the exclusion of the research participant, is a common method used to examine the experience of social exclusion. The neural correlates of social exclusion remain a topic of debate, particularly with regards to the role of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the concept of social pain. Here we conducted a quantitative meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimation (ALE) to identify brain activity reliably engaged by social exclusion during Cyberball task performance (Studies = 53; total N = 1,817 participants). Results revealed consistent recruitment in ventral anterior cingulate and posterior cingulate cortex, inferior and superior frontal gyri, posterior insula, and occipital pole. No reliable activity was observed in dACC. Using a probabilistic atlas to define dACC, fewer than 15% of studies reported peak coordinates in dACC. Meta-analytic connectivity mapping suggests patterns of co-activation are consistent with the topography of the default network. Reverse inference for cognition associated with reliable Cyberball activity computed in Neurosynth revealed social exclusion to be associated with cognitive terms Social, Autobiographical, Mental States, and Theory of Mind. Taken together, these findings highlight the role of the default network in social exclusion and warns against interpretations of the dACC as a key region involved in the experience of social exclusion in humans.

Selective suppression of rapid eye movement sleep increases next-day negative affect and amygdala responses to social exclusion

Healthy sleep, positive general affect, and the ability to regulate emotional experiences are fundamental for well-being. In contrast, various mental disorders are associated with altered rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, negative affect, and diminished emotion regulation abilities. However, the neural processes mediating the relationship between these different phenomena are still not fully understood. In the present study of 42 healthy volunteers, we investigated the effects of selective REM sleep suppression (REMS) on general affect, as well as on feelings of social exclusion, cognitive reappraisal (CRA) of emotions, and their neural underpinnings. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging we show that, on the morning following sleep suppression, REMS increases general negative affect, enhances amygdala responses and alters its functional connectivity with anterior cingulate cortex during passively experienced experimental social exclusion. However, we did not find effects of REMS on subjective emotional ratings in response to social exclusion, their regulation using CRA, nor on functional amygdala connectivity while participants employed CRA. Our study supports the notion that REM sleep is important for affective processes, but emphasizes the need for future research to systematically investigate how REMS impacts different domains of affective experience and their neural correlates, in both healthy and (sub-)clinical populations.

Heightened neural sensitivity to social exclusion in boys with a history of low peer preference during primary school

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Low peer preference was linked to higher brain activation during early social exclusion experiences.

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Activation was found in an area implicated in emotion regulation and attentional control.

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Results suggest that low peer preferred boys become sensitive to social exclusion.

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Low peer preference seems to become embodied in children’s neurobiology.

Peer preference among classmates is a highly influential factor in children’s social development and not being preferred by peers has long-term consequences for children’s developmental outcomes. However, little is known about how a history of low peer preference during primary school is associated with neural responses to a new social exclusion experience in childhood. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we examined self-reported social distress and neural responses to social exclusion using the Cyberball paradigm in primary school boys (M_age = 10.40 years) with a history of low (n = 27) versus high peer preference (n = 28). Boys were selected from a longitudinal classroom-based study in which children’s peer social preferences were assessed in three consecutive years prior to this study. Neuroimaging results showed that low peer preferred boys exhibited increased activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex during early social exclusion relative to later social exclusion experiences as compared to high peer preferred boys. Increased neural activity was not accompanied by higher self-reported levels of social distress during social exclusion in low versus high peer preferred children. Findings of this study may provide insight into the neural processes associated with real-life peer experiences in children attending primary school.

Social anxiety and age are associated with neural response to social evaluation during adolescence

Adolescence is a sensitive period for the development of adaptive social behaviors and social anxiety, possibly due to aspects of brain development. However, research is needed to examine interactions among age, social anxiety, and social dynamics previously shown to influence neural responding. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study examines brain function in 8-18 year-olds with varying levels of social anxiety. Interactions are examined among age, social anxiety, and two key task factors: valence and predictability of social interactions. Results demonstrate age, social anxiety severity, and each of the two key task-based factors interact to predict neural response in the caudate, middle and superior temporal gyri. In particular, among adolescents less-than 13 years of age, higher social anxiety predicted greater responding to unpredictable negative evaluations. However, in this same age group, the opposite pattern emerged during receipt of unpredictable positive evaluations, with less neural response in more anxious youth. Adolescents aged 13 and older overall showed less robust effects. We discuss these findings in terms of age- and anxiety-related differences in socioemotional processing.

Social support modulates the neural correlates underlying social exclusion

Ostracism threatens the human need for social interactions, with negative consequences on cognition, affect and behavior. Understanding the mechanisms that can alleviate these consequences has therefore become an important research agenda. In this study, we used behavioral and fMRI measures to advance our understanding how social support can buffer the negative effects of social exclusion. We focused on two different types of support from a friend: emotional support, conveyed by gentle touch and appraisal support, implemented as informative text messages. Seventy-one female participants underwent fMRI scanning while playing a virtual ball-tossing game in the course of which they were excluded. Two consecutive runs of the game were separated according to the participant’s experimental condition (appraisal support, emotional support and no support). Results showed that the experience of social exclusion is modulated by the type of support received. Specifically, emotional support decreased negative emotions and anterior insula activity, while appraisal support increased negative emotions, with concomitant increase of subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and decrease of temporal-parietal junction activity. These divergent effects of social support point to the necessity to characterize whether and under which conditions it represents an effective and positive resource to alleviate the negative consequences of social exclusion.

The Effect of Visual Stressors on Adolescents' Neural Response: A Review of Laboratory Research

Laboratory models that help us understand the neural mechanisms associated with how stress, particularly interpersonal stress, affects children's and adolescents' emotions are paramount but are limited if that understanding lacks validity in adolescents' daily lives. There is a lack of research that addresses the ecological validity of visual stimuli to induce stress in participants while measuring participants' neural response to that stimuli. This approach is needed if we are to identify the neural mechanisms that underlie the effect of stressful events on individuals' emotional functioning. The current study conducted a systematic literature review to identify visual tasks that have been used in laboratory settings to induce stress in participants. The most frequent tasks identified were developed to induce peer rejection/exclusion in youth (e.g., Chatroom and Cyberball). These tasks were generally effective at bringing about a neural response in areas of the brain traditionally associated with social cognitive processing, such as the cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, insula, and striatum. In particular, the cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex are associated with the Social Information Processing Network. Almost entirely absent from the literature are systematic evaluations of ecological validity and parent-child based visual stimuli that approximate the stress that adolescents might experience in their relationships with parents. The present article highlights trends and gaps in the current research, and examines the ecological validity of current stimuli used as laboratory based stressors, which can be used to fuel further investigation into adolescent neural response to stimuli, and further evaluation of the ecological validity of tasks.

Are you laughing at me? Neural correlates of social intent attribution to auditory and visual laughter

Laughter is a multifaceted signal, which can convey social acceptance facilitating social bonding as well as social rejection inflicting social pain. In the current study, we addressed the neural correlates of social intent attribution to auditory or visual laughter within an fMRI study to identify brain areas showing linear increases of activation with social intent ratings. Negative social intent attributions were associated with activation increases within the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex (mPFC/ACC). Interestingly, negative social intent attributions of auditory laughter were represented more rostral than visual laughter within this area. Our findings corroborate the role of the mPFC/ACC as key node for processing “social pain” with distinct modality‐specific subregions. Other brain areas that showed an increase of activation included bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and right superior/middle temporal gyrus (STG/MTG) for visually presented laughter and bilateral STG for auditory presented laughter with no overlap across modalities. Similarly, positive social intent attributions were linked to hemodynamic responses within the right inferior parietal lobe and right middle frontal gyrus, but there was no overlap of activity for visual and auditory laughter. Our findings demonstrate that social intent attribution to auditory and visual laughter is located in neighboring, but spatially distinct neural structures.

One-Month Stability of Cyberball Post-Exclusion Ostracism Distress in Adolescents

We examined one-month reliability, internal consistency, and validity of ostracism distress (Need Threat Scale) to simulated social exclusion during Cyberball. Thirty adolescents (13-18 yrs.) completed the Cyberball task, ostracism distress ratings, and measures of related clinical symptoms, repeated over one month. Need Threat Scale ratings of ostracism distress showed adequate test-retest reliability and internal consistency at both occasions. Construct validity was demonstrated via relationships with closely related constructs of anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion dysregulation, and weaker associations with more distal constructs of state paranoia and subclinical psychosis-like experiences. While ratings of ostracism distress and anxiety were significantly attenuated at retest, most participants continued to experience post-Cyberball ostracism distress at one-month follow-up, which indicates that the social exclusion induction of Cyberball persisted despite participants' familiarity with the paradigm. Overall, results suggest that the primary construct of ostracism distress is preserved over repeated administration of Cyberball, with reliability sufficient for usage in longitudinal research. These findings have important implications for translating this laboratory simulation of social distress into developmental and clinical intervention studies.

Functional connectivity across social inclusion and exclusion is related to peer victimization and depressive symptoms in young adults

BACKGROUND

Peer victimization is associated with increased risk for depression, as well as increased neural response to social exclusion in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the amygdala. Altered functional connectivity (FxC) of fronto-limbic circuitry is associated with risk for various affective disorders. The present study examined the relationship between fronto-limbic FxC during social exclusion, prior peer victimization experience and depressive symptoms.

METHODS

Three mutually exclusive groups were formed: peer victimized (with a history of peer victimization), defenders (history of defending peers), and controls (no prior peer victimization experience) (n = 15/group; M_age = 17.7 years). Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging data were collected while participants completed the Cyberball paradigm (simulating the experience of social exclusion). FxC between the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC), ACC, right insula and left amygdala, was compared between groups and examined in relation to depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

Prior peer victimization experience was associated with differences in fronto-limbic FxC across social inclusion and exclusion. Defenders displayed distinct shifts in FxC across the transition from being included to excluded. Peer victimized individuals exhibited a unique pattern of amygdala-specific FxC during inclusive interaction with peers, and in the continuous FxC across inclusion and exclusion. FxC of the MPFC-amygdala across inclusion and exclusion moderated the relationship between peer victimization and depressive symptoms.

LIMITATIONS

Small sample size and cross-sectional design limit interpretation of the findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Peer victimized individuals who exhibit continuous positive FxC of the MPFC-left amygdala across inclusion and exclusion may be at greater risk for depressive symptoms.

Blunted Physiological Stress Reactivity among Youth with a History of Bullying and Victimization: Links to Depressive Symptoms

Bullying and peer victimization are stressful experiences for youth, and are associated with increased risk for psychopathology. Physiological differences in the body's stress response system may help us to understand vulnerability for depressive symptoms among youth involved with bullying. The current study examined both sympathetic and parasympathetic activity using skin conductance (SCL) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at a neutral baseline and during Cyberball, a stressful social exclusion paradigm. Participants consisted of 175 youth in grades 6-11 (mean age 13.6 years, 51% girls). Multilevel modeling was used to examine changes in both positive and negative affect, and physiological stress reactivity over time. Logistic regression was used to examine the associations between bullying, victimization, and RSA on depressive symptoms. Peer victimization was negatively associated with resting RSA. Bullying others was negatively associated with SCL during Cyberball. Additionally, RSA reactivity during acute stress moderated the link between victimization and depressive symptoms. Victimization was more strongly associated with depressive symptoms when youth also demonstrated blunted RSA reactivity. These results suggest that both victimized youth and those who bully others have differences in their autonomic responses to acute stress. Individual differences in stress physiology may help us to understand vulnerability and resilience to depressive symptoms in the context of bullying and victimization.

Insular function in autism: Update and future directions in neuroimaging and interventions

The insular cortex, hidden within the lateral sulcus of the human brain, participates in a range of cognitive, affective, and sensory functions. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental condition affecting all of these functional domains, has increasingly been linked with atypical activation and connectivity of the insular cortices. Here we review the latest research linking atypical insular function to a range of behaviors characteristic of ASD, with an emphasis on neuroimaging findings in the domains of social cognition and executive function. We summarize some of the recent work linking the insula to interventions in autism, including oxytocin-based pharmacological treatments and music therapy. We suggest that future directions likely to yield significant insights into insular pathology in ASD include the analysis of the dynamics of this brain region. We also conclude that more basic research is necessary on the use of oxytocin pharmacotherapy, and larger studies addressing participant heterogeneity are needed on the use of music therapy in ASD. Long-term studies are needed to ascertain sustained effects of these interventions.

Neurometabolic and functional connectivity basis of prosocial behavior in early adolescence

Human prosocial behavior (PB) emerges in childhood and matures during adolescence. Previous task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have reported involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in social cognition in adolescence. However, neurometabolic and functional connectivity (FC) basis of PB in early adolescence remains unclear. Here, we measured GABA levels in the ACC and FC in a subsample (aged 10.5–13.4 years) of a large-scale population-based cohort with MR spectroscopy (MEGA-PRESS) and resting-state fMRI. PB was negatively correlated with GABA levels in the ACC (N = 221), and positively correlated with right ACC-seeded FC with the right precentral gyrus and the bilateral middle and posterior cingulate gyrus (N = 187). Furthermore, GABA concentrations and this FC were negatively correlated, and the FC mediated the association between GABA levels and PB (N = 171). Our results from a minimally biased, large-scale sample provide new insights into the neurometabolic and neurofunctional correlates of prosocial development during early adolescence.

Global brain dynamics during social exclusion predict subsequent behavioral conformity

Individuals react differently to social experiences; for example, people who are more sensitive to negative social experiences, such as being excluded, may be more likely to adapt their behavior to fit in with others. We examined whether functional brain connectivity during social exclusion in the fMRI scanner can be used to predict subsequent conformity to peer norms. Adolescent males (n = 57) completed a two-part study on teen driving risk: a social exclusion task (Cyberball) during an fMRI session and a subsequent driving simulator session in which they drove alone and in the presence of a peer who expressed risk-averse or risk-accepting driving norms. We computed the difference in functional connectivity between social exclusion and social inclusion from each node in the brain to nodes in two brain networks, one previously associated with mentalizing (medial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, precuneus, temporal poles) and another with social pain (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula). Using predictive modeling, this measure of global connectivity during exclusion predicted the extent of conformity to peer pressure during driving in the subsequent experimental session. These findings extend our understanding of how global neural dynamics guide social behavior, revealing functional network activity that captures individual differences.

Emotion Reactivity and Regulation in Adolescent Girls Following an Interpersonal Rejection

Failures in emotion regulation, especially as a result of interpersonal stress, are implicated as transdiagnostic risk factors for psychopathology. This study examines the effects of an experimentally timed targeted interpersonal rejection on emotion reactivity and regulation in typically developing adolescent girls. Girls ( n = 33, ages 9-16 years, M = 12.47, SD = 2.20) underwent fMRI involving a widely used emotion regulation task. The emotion task involves looking at negative stimuli and using cognitive reappraisal strategies to decrease reactions to negative stimuli. Participants also engaged in a social evaluation task, which leads participants to believe a preselected peer was watching and evaluating the participant. We subsequently told participants they were rejected by this peer and examined emotion reactivity and regulation before and after this rejection. Adolescent girls evidence greater reactivity via higher self-reported emotional intensity and greater amygdala activation to negative stimuli immediately after (compared with before) the rejection. Self-reported emotional intensity differences before and after rejection were not observed during regulation trials. However, on regulation trials, girls exhibited increased prefrontal activation in areas supporting emotion regulation after compared with before the rejection. This study provides evidence that a targeted rejection increases self-report and neural markers of emotion reactivity and that girls increase prefrontal activation to regulate emotions after a targeted rejection.

Feeling left out: depressed adolescents may atypically recruit emotional salience and regulation networks during social exclusion

Depression is associated with negative attention and attribution biases and maladaptive emotion responsivity and regulation, which adversely impact self-evaluations and interpersonal relationships. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the neural substrates of these impairments. We compared neural activity recruited by 126 clinically depressed and healthy adolescents (ages 11-17 years) during social exclusion (Exclusion > Inclusion) using Cyberball. Results revealed significant interaction effects within left anterior insula (AI)/inferior frontal gyrus and left middle temporal gyrus. Insula hyperresponsivity was associated with peer exclusion for depressed adolescents but peer inclusion for healthy adolescents. In additional, healthy adolescents recruited greater lateral temporal activity during peer exclusion. Complementary effect size analyses within independent parcellations offered converging evidence, as well as highlighted medium-to-large effects within subgenual/ventral anterior cingulate cortex and lateral prefrontal, lateral temporal and lateral parietal regions implicated in emotion regulation. Depressogenic neural patterns were associated with negative self-perceptions and negative information processing biases. These findings suggest a neural mechanism underlying cognitive biases in depression, as reflected by emotional hyperresponsivity and maladaptive regulation/reappraisal of negative social evaluative information. This study lends further support for salience and central executive network dysfunction underlying social threat processing, and in particular, highlights the anterior insula as a key region of disturbance in adolescent depression.

Effects of Rifaximin on Central Responses to Social Stress-a Pilot Experiment

Probiotics that promote the gut microbiota have been reported to reduce stress responses, and improve memory and mood. Whether and how antibiotics that eliminate or inhibit pathogenic and commensal gut bacteria also affect central nervous system functions in humans is so far unknown. In a double-blinded randomized study, 16 healthy volunteers (27.00 ± 1.60 years; 9 males) received either rifaximin (600 mg/day) (a poorly absorbable antibiotic) or placebo for 7 days. Before and after the drug intervention, brain activities during rest and during a social stressor inducing feelings of exclusion (Cyberball game) were measured using magnetoencephalography. Social exclusion significantly affected (p < 0.001) mood and increased exclusion perception. Magnetoencephalography showed brain regions with higher activations during exclusion as compared to inclusion, in different frequency bands. Seven days of rifaximin increased prefrontal and right cingulate alpha power during resting state. Low beta power showed an interaction of intervention (rifaximin, placebo) × condition (inclusion, exclusion) during the Cyberball game in the bilateral prefrontal and left anterior cingulate cortex. Only in the rifaximin group, a decrease (p = 0.004) in power was seen comparing exclusion to inclusion; the reduced beta-1 power was negatively correlated with a change in the subjective exclusion perception score. Social stress affecting brain functioning in a specific manner is modulated by rifaximin. Contrary to our hypothesis that antibiotics have advert effects on mood, the antibiotic exhibited stress-reducing effects similar to reported effects of probiotics (supported by NeuroGUT, a EU 7th Framework Programme ITN no. 607652; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier number NCT02793193).

Pass it on? The neural responses to rejection in the context of a family study on maltreatment

Rejection by parents is an important aspect of child maltreatment. Altered neural responses to social rejection have been observed in maltreated individuals. The current study is the first to examine the impact of experienced and perpetrated abuse and neglect on neural responses to social exclusion by strangers versus family using a multigenerational family design, including 144 participants. The role of neural reactivity to social exclusion in the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment was also examined. Exclusion by strangers was especially associated with increased activation in the left insula, while exclusion by a family member was mainly associated with increased activation in the ACC. Neural reactivity to social exclusion by strangers in the insula, ACC and dmPFC, was associated with experienced maltreatment but not with perpetrated maltreatment. In abusive parents, altered neural reactivity during exclusion was found in other brain areas, indicating different neural correlates of experienced and perpetrated maltreatment. Hence, no mechanisms could be identified that are involved in the transmission of maltreatment. Hypersensitivity to social rejection by strangers in neglected individuals underscores the importance to distinguish between effects of abuse and neglect and suggests that the impact of experiencing rejection and maltreatment by your own parents extends beyond the family context.

The Influence of Different Kinds of Incentives on Decision-Making and Cognitive Control in Adolescent Development: A Review of Behavioral and Neuroscientific Studies

A number of recent hypothetical models on adolescent development take a dual-systems perspective and propose an imbalance in the maturation of neural systems underlying reward-driven and control-related behavior. In particular, such models suggest that the relative dominance of the early emerging subcortical reward system over the later emerging prefrontal-guided control system leads to higher risk-taking and sensation-seeking behavior in mid-adolescents. Here, we will review recent empirical evidence from behavioral and neuroscientific studies examining interactions between these systems and showing that empirical evidence in support for the view of a higher sensitivity to rewards in mid-adolescents is rather mixed. One possible explanation for this may be the use of different kinds and amounts of incentives across studies. We will therefore include developmental studies comparing the differential influence of primary and secondary incentives, as well as those investigating within the class of secondary incentives the effects of monetary, cognitive, or social incentives. We hypothesized that the value of receiving sweets or sours, winning or losing small or large amounts of money, and being accepted or rejected from a peer group may also changes across development, and thereby might modulate age differences in decision-making and cognitive control. Our review revealed that although developmental studies directly comparing different kinds of incentives are rather scarce, results of various studies rather consistently showed only minor age differences in the impact of incentives on the behavioral level. In tendency, adolescents were more sensitive to higher amounts of incentives and larger uncertainty of receiving them, as well as to social incentives such as the presence of peers observing them. Electrophysiological studies showed that processing efficiency was enhanced during anticipation of incentives and receiving them, irrespective of incentive type. Again, we found no strong evidence for interactions with age across studies. Finally, functional brain imaging studies revealed evidence for overlapping brain regions activated during processing of primary and secondary incentives, as well as social and non-social incentives. Adolescents recruited similar reward-related and control-related brain regions as adults did, but to a different degree. Implications for future research will be discussed.

Let's chat: developmental neural bases of social motivation during real-time peer interaction

Humans are motivated to interact with each other, but the neural bases of social motivation have been predominantly examined in non-interactive contexts. Understanding real-world social motivation is of special importance during middle childhood (ages 8-12), a period when social skills improve, social networks grow, and social brain networks specialize. To assess interactive social motivation, the current study used a novel fMRI paradigm in which children believed they were chatting with a peer. The design targeted two phases of interaction: (1) Initiation, in which children engaged in a social bid via sharing a like or hobby, and (2) Reply, in which children received either an engaged ("Me too") or non-engaged ("I'm away") reply from the peer. On control trials, children were told that their answers were not shared and that they would receive either engaged ("Matched") or non-engaged ("Disconnected") replies from the computer. Results indicated that during Initiation and Reply, key components of reward circuitry (e.g., ventral striatum) were more active for the peer than the computer trials. In addition, during Reply, social cognitive regions were more activated by the peer, and this social cognitive specialization increased with age. Finally, the effect of engagement type on reward circuitry activation was larger for social than non-social trials, indicating developmental sensitivity to social contingency. These findings demonstrate that both reward and social cognitive brain systems support real-time social interaction in middle childhood. An interactive approach to understanding social reward has implications for clinical disorders, where social motivation is more affected in real-world contexts.

Brain connectivity dynamics during social interaction reflect social network structure

Social ties are crucial for humans. Disruption of ties through social exclusion has a marked effect on our thoughts and feelings; however, such effects can be tempered by broader social network resources. Here, we use fMRI data acquired from 80 male adolescents to investigate how social exclusion modulates functional connectivity within and across brain networks involved in social pain and understanding the mental states of others (i.e., mentalizing). Furthermore, using objectively logged friendship network data, we examine how individual variability in brain reactivity to social exclusion relates to the density of participants' friendship networks, an important aspect of social network structure. We find increased connectivity within a set of regions previously identified as a mentalizing system during exclusion relative to inclusion. These results are consistent across the regions of interest as well as a whole-brain analysis. Next, examining how social network characteristics are associated with task-based connectivity dynamics, we find that participants who showed greater changes in connectivity within the mentalizing system when socially excluded by peers had less dense friendship networks. This work provides insight to understand how distributed brain systems respond to social and emotional challenges and how such brain dynamics might vary based on broader social network characteristics.

Correlates of Social Exclusion in Social Anxiety Disorder: An fMRI study

Cognitive models posit that social anxiety disorder (SAD) is maintained by biased information-processing vis-à-vis threat of social exclusion. However, uncertainty still abounds regarding the very nature of this sensitivity to social exclusion in SAD. Especially, brain alterations related to social exclusion have not been explored in SAD. Our primary purpose was thus to determine both the self-report and neural correlates of social exclusion in this population. 23 patients with SAD and 23 matched nonanxious controls played a virtual game (“Cyberball”) during fMRI recording. Participants were first included by other players, then excluded, and finally re-included. At the behavioral level, patients with SAD exhibited significantly higher levels of social exclusion feelings than nonanxious controls. At the brain level, patients with SAD exhibited significantly higher activation within the left inferior frontal gyrus relative to nonanxious controls during the re-inclusion phase. Moreover, self-report of social exclusion correlates with the activity of this cluster among individuals qualifying for SAD diagnosis. Our pattern of findings lends strong support to the notion that SAD may be better portrayed by a poor ability to recover following social exclusion than during social exclusion per se. These findings value social neuroscience as an innovative procedure to gain new insight into the underlying mechanisms of SAD.

Neural responses to social exclusion in adolescents: Effects of peer status

We examined whether adolescents' neural responses to social exclusion and inclusion are influenced by their own popularity and acceptance and by the popularity of their excluders and includers. Accepted adolescents are highly prosocial. In contrast, popular adolescents, who are central and influential, show prosocial as well as antisocial behaviors, such as peer exclusion. Fifty-two 12-16 year-old adolescents underwent an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan while playing the ball-tossing game Cyberball in which they received or did not receive the ball from other virtual players. The other virtual players were described as either highly popular or average in popularity. Participants' own popularity and acceptance were assessed with peer nominations at school (n = 31). Participants' acceptance was positively correlated with activity of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during exclusion. Participants' popularity was positively associated with ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex activity during exclusion, but only when the excluders were popular virtual players. Participants showed increased rostral ACC activation to inclusion by players who were average in popularity. These findings indicate that peer status plays an important role in adolescents' neural processing of social exclusion and inclusion. Moreover, these findings underscore that popularity and acceptance are distinct types of high peer status in adolescence, with not only distinct behavioral correlates, but also distinct neural correlates.

Neural correlates of social exclusion across ages: A coordinate-based meta-analysis of functional MRI studies

Given the recent surge in functional neuroimaging studies on social exclusion, the current study employed activation likelihood estimation (ALE) based meta-analyses to identify brain regions that have consistently been implicated across different experimental paradigms used to investigate exclusion. We also examined the neural correlates underlying Cyberball, the most commonly used paradigm to study exclusion, as well as differences in exclusion-related activation between developing (7-18 years of age, from pre-adolescence up to late adolescence) and emerging adult (broadly defined as undergraduates, including late adolescence and young adulthood) samples. Results revealed involvement of the bilateral medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, right precuneus and left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex across the different paradigms used to examine social exclusion; similar activation patterns were identified when restricting the analysis to Cyberball studies. Investigations into age-related effects revealed that ventrolateral prefrontal activations identified in the full sample were driven by (i.e. present in) developmental samples, while medial prefrontal activations were driven by emerging adult samples. In addition, the right ventral striatum was implicated in exclusion, but only in developmental samples. Subtraction analysis revealed significantly greater activation likelihood in striatal and ventrolateral prefrontal clusters in the developmental samples as compared to emerging adults, though the opposite contrast failed to identify any significant regions. Findings integrate the knowledge accrued from functional neuroimaging studies on social exclusion to date, highlighting involvement of lateral prefrontal regions implicated in regulation and midline structures involved in social cognitive and self-evaluative processes across experimental paradigms and ages, as well as limbic structures in developing samples specifically.

Alerted default mode: functional connectivity changes in the aftermath of social stress

Stress affects the brain at a network level: the salience network is supposedly upregulated, while at the same time the executive control network is downregulated. While theoretically described, the effects in the aftermath of stress have thus far not been tested empirically. Here, we compared for the first time resting-state functional connectivity in a large sample of healthy volunteers before and after a mild social stressor. Following the theoretical prediction, we focused on connectivity of the salience network (SN), the executive control network (ECN) and the default mode network (DMN). The DMN exhibited increased resting-state functional connectivity following the cyberball task to the key nodes of the SN, namely the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the anterior insula, as well as sensorimotor regions and higher-order visual areas. We conclude that this increased connectivity of the DMN with key nodes of the SN and regions responsible for preparatory motor activity and visual motion processing indicates a shift towards an ‘alerted default mode’ in the aftermath of stress. This brain response may be triggered or aggravated by (social) stress induced by the cyberball task, enabling individuals to better reorient attention, detect salient external stimuli, and deal with the emotional and affective consequences of stress.

Chronic Childhood Peer Rejection is Associated with Heightened Neural Responses to Social Exclusion During Adolescence

This functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study examined subjective and neural responses to social exclusion in adolescents (age 12-15) who either had a stable accepted (n = 27; 14 males) or a chronic rejected (n = 19; 12 males) status among peers from age 6 to 12. Both groups of adolescents reported similar increases in distress after being excluded in a virtual ball-tossing game (Cyberball), but adolescents with a history of chronic peer rejection showed higher activity in brain regions previously linked to the detection of, and the distress caused by, social exclusion. Specifically, compared with stably accepted adolescents, chronically rejected adolescents displayed: 1) higher activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) during social exclusion and 2) higher activity in the dACC and anterior prefrontal cortex when they were incidentally excluded in a social interaction in which they were overall included. These findings demonstrate that chronic childhood peer rejection is associated with heightened neural responses to social exclusion during adolescence, which has implications for understanding the processes through which peer rejection may lead to adverse effects on mental health over time.

Unlike adults, children and adolescents show predominantly increased neural activation to social exclusion by members of the opposite gender

The effects of group membership on brain responses to social exclusion have been investigated in adults, revealing greater anterior cingulate responses to exclusion by members of one's in-group (e.g., same-gender). However, social exclusion is a critical aspect of peer relations in youth and reaches heightened salience during adolescence, a time when social anxiety disorders are also emergent. While the behavioral and neural correlates of social exclusion in adolescence have been extensively explored, the effects of group membership on peer rejection are less clear. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the differential neural correlates of being excluded by peers of one's same- versus opposite-gender during an online ball-toss game. Participants were a group of typically developing children and adolescents (7-17 years). As predicted, anterior cingulate cortex showed a main effect of social exclusion versus fair play. However, unlike a previous adult study, this region did not show increased activation to same-gender exclusion. Instead, several regions differentiating same- versus opposite-gender exclusion were exclusively more sensitive to exclusion by one's opposite gender. These results are discussed in the context of adolescent socio-emotional development.

Exposure to Racial Discrimination and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Women with Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes is the only disorder in which women's risk for heart disease exceeds men's. Elevated blood pressure (BP) increases cardiovascular risk in people with type 2 diabetes. Racial discrimination and neuroticism are both associated with BP levels but have not been examined in concert. This study investigated self-reported racial discrimination, neuroticism and ambulatory BP in women with type 2 diabetes. Thirty-nine Black and 38 White women completed a race-neutral version of the Schedule of Racist Events; BP was evaluated using ambulatory monitoring devices. Actigraphy and diaries were used to document times of sleep and wakefulness. Racial discrimination interacted with neuroticism to predict systolic and diastolic BP both while awake and during sleep, after adjustment for covariates. For each, the influence of racist events was stronger at lower levels of neuroticism. Racial discrimination is associated with higher levels of 24-h BP in diabetic women who are low in neuroticism. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Differential neural processing of social exclusion in adolescents with non-suicidal self-injury: An fMRI study

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is highly prevalent in adolescence and has been suggested as an autonomous diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5). Social rejection is as potential risk-factor for NSSI and depression in adolescence. Objectives of this study were to identify differences in neural processing of social rejection in depressed adolescents with and without co-morbid NSSI and healthy controls. Participants were 28 depressed adolescents (14 with co-morbid NSSI, 79% females) and 15 healthy controls, with an average age of 15.2 years (SD=1.8). Social exclusion was implemented using the Cyberball paradigm 'Cyberball' during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). All participants reported feelings of social exclusion after fMRI scanning. Investigating the effects of NSSI, we found that depressed adolescents with NSSI showed relatively enhanced activation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) compared to depressed adolescents without NSSI and also compared to healthy controls. Results point towards divergent processing of social exclusion in depressed adolescents with NSSI as compared to adolescents with mere depression in brain regions previously related to the processing of social exclusion. This finding of distinct neurophysiological responses may stimulate further research on individual treatment approaches.

Loneliness in late-life depression: structural and functional connectivity during affective processing

BACKGROUND

Late-life depression (LLD) in the elderly was reported to present with emotion dysregulation accompanied by high perceived loneliness. Previous research has suggested that LLD is a disorder of connectivity and is associated with aberrant network properties. On the other hand, perceived loneliness is found to adversely affect the brain, but little is known about its neurobiological basis in LLD. The current study investigated the relationships between the structural connectivity, functional connectivity during affective processing, and perceived loneliness in LLD.

METHOD

The current study included 54 participants aged >60 years of whom 31 were diagnosed with LLD. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data and task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of an affective processing task were collected. Network-based statistics and graph theory techniques were applied, and the participants' perceived loneliness and depression level were measured. The affective processing task included viewing affective stimuli.

RESULTS

Structurally, a loneliness-related sub-network was identified across all subjects. Functionally, perceived loneliness was related to connectivity differently in LLD than that in controls when they were processing negative stimuli, with aberrant networking in subcortical area.

CONCLUSIONS

Perceived loneliness was identified to have a unique role in relation to the negative affective processing in LLD at the functional brain connectional and network levels. The findings increas our understanding of LLD and provide initial evidence of the neurobiological mechanisms of loneliness in LLD. Loneliness might be a potential intervention target in depressive patients.

Why won't they sit with me? An exploratory investigation of stereotyped cues, social exclusion, and the P3b

The importance of understanding how we anticipate and prepare for being socially excluded is underscored by the numerous adverse mental and physical consequences of social rejection. In this study, we adapted a social exclusion paradigm, the Lunchroom task, to investigate the use of social context cues in the formation of social outcome expectations as indexed by the P3b, an ERP component associated with attention orientation and context updating. In this task, Black and White participants were presented with either neutral or stereotyped cues prior to being exposed to simulated inclusion versus exclusion outcome scenarios. Black participants showed evidence of (1) a significantly reduced P3b response to exclusions preceded by stereotyped cues relative to neutral cue-related exclusions and (2) a marginally significant increase in the P3b response to inclusions relative to exclusions when both were preceded by stereotyped cues. Both of these findings suggest a key role for the use of social cues in the formation of outcome expectations. In line with our hypothesis that the random intermixing of inclusion and exclusion outcomes would prevent formation of outcome expectations when coupled with the absence of self-relevant cues, no overall P3b modulations were observed among a comparison group of White participants.