Probing the neural correlates of anticipated peer evaluation in adolescence

Abstract

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.

Figure 1

The chatroom paradigm required two visits to the laboratory. (a) During the first visit, approximately 2 weeks before functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning, participants viewed photographs of peers and rated how interested they were in chatting online with each peer. A median split of each participant’s ratings divided stimulus photographs into “peers of high interest” and “peers of low interest” conditions. Participants were also photographed, told that the same peers would rate their photos in a similar fashion, and informed that they would later learn how they had been rated. (b) During the second visit, while in the scanner, participants reviewed the photographs they had judged previously and rated how interested they expected each peer to be in chatting online with them (“appraisal” ratings).

Figure 2

A significant Age × Sex interaction effect was found for activation of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) while participants appraised how they thought peers would evaluate them, specifically, while viewing peers of high interest versus peers of low interest. (a) Cross-hairs centered on the maximum intensity value (Talairach coordinates: x = −11, y = 11, z = −8), t(30) = −3.91, p < .001, for the cluster in the left NAc. (b) As age increased, NAc activation increased in females but did not change in males. Data were extracted at functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquisition during appraisal ratings. Each participant’s data were converted to percentage signal change values using each participant’s voxel-wise time series mean as a baseline and averaged within the region.

Figure 3

A significant Age × Sex interaction effect was found for activation of the hypothalamus (HThal) while participants appraised how they thought peers would evaluate them, specifically, while viewing peers of high interest versus peers of low interest. (a) Cross-hairs centered on the maximum intensity value (Talairach coordinates: x = 4, y = −4, z = −5), t(30) = −5.08, p < .001, for the cluster in the left HThal. (b) As age increased, HThal activation increased in females but did not change in males. Data were extracted at functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquisition during appraisal ratings. Each participant’s data were converted to percentage signal change values using each participant’s voxel-wise time series mean as a baseline and averaged within the region.

Figure 4

A significant Age × Sex interaction effect was found for activation of the hippocampus (Hip) while participants appraised how they thought peers would evaluate them, specifically, while viewing peers of high interest versus peers of low interest. (a) Cross-hairs centered on the maximum intensity value (Talairach coordinates: x = 33, y = −16, z = −11), t(30) = −4.65, p < .001, for the cluster in the right Hip. (b) As age increased, hip activation increased in females but did not change in males. Data were extracted at functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquisition during appraisal ratings. Each participant’s data were converted to percentage signal change values using each participant’s voxel-wise time series mean as a baseline and averaged within the region.

Figure 5

A significant Age × Sex interaction effect was found for activation of the insula (INS) while participants appraised how they thought peers would evaluate them, specifically, while viewing peers of high interest versus peers of low interest. (a) Cross-hairs centered on the maximum intensity value (Talairach coordinates: x = 42, y = −7, z = 1), t(30) = −4.13, p < .001, for the cluster the right INS. (b) As age increased, INS activation increased in females but decreased in males. Data were extracted at functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquisition during appraisal ratings. Each participant’s data were converted to percentage signal change values using each participant’s voxel-wise time series mean as a baseline and averaged within the region.