September 29, 2008
Ver artículo completoDevelopment during Adolescence of the Neural Processing of Social Emotion
Puntos clave
- This study aims to understand how the neural processing of social emotions develops between adolescence and adulthood.
- Used fMRI to scan 19 adolescents (10-18 years) and 10 adults (22-32 years) while they thought about social and basic emotion scenarios.
- Compared activation patterns in the anterior rostral medial prefrontal cortex and left temporal pole for both age groups.
- Adolescents showed activation in a lateral MPFC region for social emotions, while adults did not.
- Adults exhibited greater activity in the left temporal pole compared to adolescents for social emotions.
- Both groups had activation in the MPFC during social emotions, but activation patterns differed between adolescents and adults.
Resumen
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.