Effects of adolescent sociocognitive development on the cortisol response to social evaluation.

Pathways through Adolescenc

Observational reinforcement learning in children and young adults

Observational learning is essential for the acquisition of new behavior in educational practices and daily life and serves as an important mechanism for human cognitive and social-emotional development. However, we know little about its underlying neurocomputational mechanisms from a developmental perspective. In this study we used model-based fMRI to investigate differences in observational learning and individual learning between children and younger adults. Prediction errors (PE), the difference between experienced and predicted outcomes, related positively to striatal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex activation during individual learning and showed no age-related differences. PE-related activation during observational learning was more pronounced when outcomes were worse than predicted. Particularly, negative PE-coding in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex was stronger in adults compared to children and was associated with improved observational learning in children and adults. The current findings pave the way to better understand observational learning challenges across development and educational settings

Social information use in adolescents with conduct problems and varying levels of callous‐unemotional traits

BACKGROUND: Adolescents with conduct problems (CP) are characterised by difficulties with social relationships and display atypical social cognition, such as when interpreting emotional expressions or engaging in social problem-solving. One important aspect of social cognition that warrants investigation is the degree to which these adolescents factor others' views into their already held beliefs, and strategies used to do so. Effective social information use enables attunement to social environment, cooperation, and social problem-solving. Difficulties in this regard could contribute to problems in social interactions in adolescents with CP, and may vary with adolescents' high (CP/HCU) versus low levels of callous-unemotional traits (CP/LCU). METHODS: We compared social information use in boys (11–16 years) with CP/HCU (n = 32), CP/LCU (n = 31) and typically developing (TD) peers (n = 45), matched for IQ. Participants provided estimates of numbers of animals on a screen, saw another adolescent's estimate, and could adjust their initial estimate. We compared two aspects of social information use: (1) degree of adjustment of initial estimate towards another's estimate and (2) strategy use when adjusting estimates. RESULTS: Degree of adjustment towards another's estimate did not vary across groups, but strategy use did. Adolescents with CP/LCU compromised less following social information than TD peers. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that while adolescents with CP are able to take social information into account, those with CP/LCU use this information in a way that differs from other groups and could be less efficient. This warrants further systematic investigation as it could represent a target for behaviour management strategies. Overall, this study highlights the need for more research delineating the social-cognitive profile of adolescents with CP/LCU

Social Learning and Preferences in Adolescents With Conduct Problems and Varying Levels of Callous-Unemotional Traits

Objective: Learning to successfully navigate the social world, in particular when to trust others and how to work together with them, is crucial to well-adjusted social development. This is especially the case during adolescence, when individuals are undergoing significant biological and social changes. Adolescents with conduct problems (CP) tend to have difficulties in social relationships, and display aggressive behaviours as well as reduced cooperation with others. This pattern appears to be particularly pronounced in adolescents with CP and elevated callous-unemotional traits (CP/HCU). However, very little is currently known about the mechanisms which might drive reduced cooperative behaviours in adolescent CP, and whether these differ for those with high vs. low levels of CU traits.// Method: We used a series of economic games to assess how adolescents with CP/HCU (n = 46), CP and lower levels of CU traits (CP/LCU) (n = 46), and typically developing adolescents (TD) (n = 59) interacted with social (human) and non-social (computer) partners that varied in their degree of cooperation (trustworthy vs untrustworthy and friendly vs unfriendly), and whether this related to group differences in social preferences (aversion to inequality) and prior beliefs.// Results: Adolescents with CP (both HCU and LCU) had more difficulty than TD adolescents in differentiating between trustworthy and untrustworthy social environments in our task. Adolescents with CP/LCU also had more difficulty coordinating with friendly and unfriendly social partners to produce rewarding outcomes than TD adolescents. Surprisingly, we saw no relationship between participants’ inequality aversion or prior beliefs and social learning in our games.// Conclusion: These findings indicate that, under controlled experimental conditions, adolescents with CP have more difficulty learning to differentiate between social environments that vary in cooperation - particularly adolescents with CP/LCU. These findings were not explained by inequality aversion or prior beliefs. Our findings also raise important questions regarding methods used to understand the mechanisms underlying social behaviors in adolescents with CP

Developmental Changes in Dynamic Functional Connectivity From Childhood Into Adolescence

The longitudinal study of typical neurodevelopment is key for understanding deviations due to specific factors, such as psychopathology. However, research utilizing repeated measurements remains scarce. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have traditionally examined connectivity as ‘static’ during the measurement period. In contrast, dynamic approaches offer a more comprehensive representation of functional connectivity by allowing for different connectivity configurations (time varying connectivity) throughout the scanning session. Our objective was to characterize the longitudinal developmental changes in dynamic functional connectivity in a population-based pediatric sample. Resting-state MRI data were acquired at the ages of 10 (range 8-to-12, n = 3,327) and 14 (range 13-to-15, n = 2,404) years old using a single, study-dedicated 3 Tesla scanner. A fully-automated spatially constrained group-independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to decompose multi-subject resting-state data into functionally homogeneous regions. Dynamic functional network connectivity (FNC) between all ICA time courses were computed using a tapered sliding window approach. We used a k-means algorithm to cluster the resulting dynamic FNC windows from each scan session into five dynamic states. We examined age and sex associations using linear mixed-effects models. First, independent from the dynamic states, we found a general increase in the temporal variability of the connections between intrinsic connectivity networks with increasing age. Second, when examining the clusters of dynamic FNC windows, we observed that the time spent in less modularized states, with low intra- and inter-network connectivity, decreased with age. Third, the number of transitions between states also decreased with age. Finally, compared to boys, girls showed a more mature pattern of dynamic brain connectivity, indicated by more time spent in a highly modularized state, less time spent in specific states that are frequently observed at a younger age, and a lower number of transitions between states. This longitudinal population-based study demonstrates age-related maturation in dynamic intrinsic neural activity from childhood into adolescence and offers a meaningful baseline for comparison with deviations from typical development. Given that several behavioral and cognitive processes also show marked changes through childhood and adolescence, dynamic functional connectivity should also be explored as a potential neurobiological determinant of such changes

The role of anxiety in learning under uncertainty in social and non-social contexts

Navigating social situations is complex due to others' hidden intentions and evolving strategies, requiring learning from past experiences. Anxiety complicates adaptation to uncertainty, especially in non-social settings. However, research on the anxiety's impact on learning within social uncertainty remains scarce. In a preregistered study (N = 190), we investigated whether individuals with higher trait anxiety struggled to adjust learning rates in a social context with stable or volatile outcomes utilizing various learning models (e.g., additive, multiplicative, betrayal). Participants engaged in a modified trust game with stable and volatile players, alongside a non-social task with slot machines. Participants showed higher learning rates in social than non-social contexts, with notably elevated social learning rates in individuals with heightened fear of negative evaluation (FNE)—a crucial trait linked to anxiety, especially social anxiety. This suggests individuals with increased FNE might be more sensitive to learning under social uncertainty

Training in the adolescent brain: An fMRI training study on divergent thinking

Prior research suggests that adolescence is a time of enhanced sensitivity for practice and learning. In this study we tested the neural correlates of divergent thinking training in 15-to 16-year-old adolescents relative to an age-matched active control group. All participants performed an alternative uses task, a valid measure to test divergent thinking, while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) images were acquired before and after a training program. In between the 2 scanning sessions the experimental group completed 2 weeks of divergent thinking training (8 sessions) and the control group completed 2 weeks of rule switching training (8 session). A Group X Time interaction demonstrated stable divergent thinking performance for the experimental group, whereas in the control group performance declined. Generating alternative uses (experimental task condition) relative to generating ordinary characteristics of objects (control task condition) was associated with increased activation in the supramarginal gyrus (SMG), angular gyrus (AG), and middle temporal gyrus (MTG). Test-retest analyses showed that within-individuals-activation in these regions was stable over time in both groups. Changes in alternative uses fluency over time, however, were positively associated with changes in superior lateral PFC activation over time. Together, the results indicate that core brain regions for creativity (SMG, AG, and MTG) are consistently recruited in adolescence, and that changes in performance are associated with changes in activation in lateral PFC

Developmental maturation of the precuneus as a functional core of the default mode network

Efforts to map the functional architecture of the developing human brain have shown that connectivity between and within functional neural networks changes from childhood to adulthood. Although prior work has established that the adult precuneus distinctively modifies its connectivity during task versus rest states (Utevsky, Smith, & Huettel, 2014), it remains unknown how these connectivity patterns emerge over development. Here, we use fMRI data collected at two longitudinal time points from over 250 participants between the ages of 8 and 26 years engaging in two cognitive tasks and a resting-state scan. By applying independent component analysis to both task and rest data, we identified three canonical networks of interest—the rest-based default mode network and the task-based left and right frontoparietal networks (LFPN and RFPN, respectively)—which we explored for developmental changes using dual regression analyses. We found systematic state-dependent functional connectivity in the precuneus, such that engaging in a task (compared with rest) resulted in greater precuneus–LFPN and precuneus–RFPN connectivity, whereas being at rest (compared with task) resulted in greater precuneus–default mode network connectivity. These cross-sectional results replicated across both tasks and at both developmental time points. Finally, we used longitudinal mixed models to show that the degree to which precuneus distinguishes between task and rest states increases with age, due to age-related increasing segregation between precuneus and LFPN at rest. Our results highlight the distinct role of the precuneus in tracking processing state, in a manner that is both present throughout and strengthened across development

Frontostriatal white matter integrity predicts development of delay of gratification : A longitudinal study

The ability to delay gratification increases considerably across development. Here, we test the hypothesis that this impulse control capacity is driven by increased maturation of frontostriatal circuitry using a fiber-tracking approach combined with longitudinal imaging. In total, 192 healthy volunteers between 8 and 26 years underwent diffusion tensor imaging scanning and completed a delaydiscounting task twice, separated by a 2-year interval. We investigated dynamic associations between frontostriatal white matter (WM) integrity and delay of gratification skills. Moreover, we examined the predictive value of frontostriatalWMintegrity for future delay of gratification skills. Results showed that delay discounting increases with age in a quadratic fashion, with greatest patience during late adolescence. Data also indicated nonlinear development of frontostriatalWM,with relative fast development during childhood and early adulthood and—on average—little change during mid-adolescence. Furthermore, the positive association between age and delay discounting was further increased in individuals with higher WM integrity of the frontostriatal tracts. Predictive analysis showed that frontostriatal WM development explained unique variance in current and future delay of gratification skills. This study adds to a descriptive relation betweenWMintegrity and delay of gratification by showing that maturation of frontostriatal connectivity predicts changes in delay of gratification skills. These findings have implications for studies examining deviances in impulse control by showing that the developmental path between striatum and prefrontal cortex may be an important predictor for when development goes astray