Development during Adolescence of the Neural Processing of Social Emotion

TLDR

Social emotions such as guilt and embarrassment require representing another’s mental states, unlike basic emotions like disgust and fear. The study examined how neural processing of social emotions develops from adolescence to adulthood. Functional MRI was used to scan 19 adolescents (10–18 yr) and 10 adults (22–32 yr) while they considered scenarios involving social or basic emotions. Both groups activated the anterior rostral medial prefrontal cortex for social versus basic emotions, but adolescents recruited a lateral MPFC region more strongly, whereas adults showed greater left temporal pole activity, indicating adolescents rely more on anterior MPFC and adults on posterior temporal regions.

Abstract

Abstract In this fMRI study, we investigated the development between adolescence and adulthood of the neural processing of social emotions. Unlike basic emotions (such as disgust and fear), social emotions (such as guilt and embarrassment) require the representation of another's mental states. Nineteen adolescents (10–18 years) and 10 adults (22–32 years) were scanned while thinking about scenarios featuring either social or basic emotions. In both age groups, the anterior rostral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) was activated during social versus basic emotion. However, adolescents activated a lateral part of the MPFC for social versus basic emotions, whereas adults did not. Relative to adolescents, adults showed higher activity in the left temporal pole for social versus basic emotions. These results show that, although the MPFC is activated during social emotion in both adults and adolescents, adolescents recruit anterior (MPFC) regions more than do adults, and adults recruit posterior (temporal) regions more than do adolescents.