Medial prefrontal cortical thinning mediates shifts in other-regarding preferences during adolescence
Abstract Adolescence is a time of significant cortical changes in the ‘social brain’, a set of brain regions involved in sophisticated social inference. However, there is limited evidence linking the structural changes in social brain to development of social behavior. The present study investigated...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Portfolio
2017-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08692-6 |
| _version_ | 1818851036156133376 |
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| author | Sunhae Sul Berna Güroğlu Eveline A. Crone Luke J. Chang |
| author_facet | Sunhae Sul Berna Güroğlu Eveline A. Crone Luke J. Chang |
| author_sort | Sunhae Sul |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Adolescence is a time of significant cortical changes in the ‘social brain’, a set of brain regions involved in sophisticated social inference. However, there is limited evidence linking the structural changes in social brain to development of social behavior. The present study investigated how cortical development of the social brain relates to other-regarding behavior, in the context of fairness concerns. Participants aged between 9 to 23 years old responded to multiple rounds of ultimatum game proposals. The degree to which each participant considers fairness of intention (i.e., intention-based reciprocity) vs. outcome (i.e., egalitarianism) was quantified using economic utility models. We observed a gradual shift in other-regarding preferences from simple rule-based egalitarianism to complex intention-based reciprocity from early childhood to young adulthood. The preference shift was associated with cortical thinning of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and posterior temporal cortex. Meta-analytic reverse-inference analysis showed that these regions were involved in social inference. Importantly, the other-regarding preference shift was statistically mediated by cortical thinning in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Together these findings suggest that development of the ability to perform sophisticated other-regarding social inference is associated with the structural changes of specific social brain regions in late adolescence. |
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-55af9212a2d743f6bdb0c0f7720eafa4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T06:58:38Z |
| publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-55af9212a2d743f6bdb0c0f7720eafa42022-12-21T20:31:27ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222017-08-017111010.1038/s41598-017-08692-6Medial prefrontal cortical thinning mediates shifts in other-regarding preferences during adolescenceSunhae Sul0Berna Güroğlu1Eveline A. Crone2Luke J. Chang3Department of Psychology, Pusan National UniversityDevelopmental and Educational Psychology Unit, Leiden UniversityDevelopmental and Educational Psychology Unit, Leiden UniversityDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth CollegeAbstract Adolescence is a time of significant cortical changes in the ‘social brain’, a set of brain regions involved in sophisticated social inference. However, there is limited evidence linking the structural changes in social brain to development of social behavior. The present study investigated how cortical development of the social brain relates to other-regarding behavior, in the context of fairness concerns. Participants aged between 9 to 23 years old responded to multiple rounds of ultimatum game proposals. The degree to which each participant considers fairness of intention (i.e., intention-based reciprocity) vs. outcome (i.e., egalitarianism) was quantified using economic utility models. We observed a gradual shift in other-regarding preferences from simple rule-based egalitarianism to complex intention-based reciprocity from early childhood to young adulthood. The preference shift was associated with cortical thinning of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and posterior temporal cortex. Meta-analytic reverse-inference analysis showed that these regions were involved in social inference. Importantly, the other-regarding preference shift was statistically mediated by cortical thinning in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Together these findings suggest that development of the ability to perform sophisticated other-regarding social inference is associated with the structural changes of specific social brain regions in late adolescence.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08692-6 |
| spellingShingle | Sunhae Sul Berna Güroğlu Eveline A. Crone Luke J. Chang Medial prefrontal cortical thinning mediates shifts in other-regarding preferences during adolescence Scientific Reports |
| title | Medial prefrontal cortical thinning mediates shifts in other-regarding preferences during adolescence |
| title_full | Medial prefrontal cortical thinning mediates shifts in other-regarding preferences during adolescence |
| title_fullStr | Medial prefrontal cortical thinning mediates shifts in other-regarding preferences during adolescence |
| title_full_unstemmed | Medial prefrontal cortical thinning mediates shifts in other-regarding preferences during adolescence |
| title_short | Medial prefrontal cortical thinning mediates shifts in other-regarding preferences during adolescence |
| title_sort | medial prefrontal cortical thinning mediates shifts in other regarding preferences during adolescence |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08692-6 |
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