1. Social cognitive development during adolescence
Stephanie Burnett
UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

2. Overview 1. Introduction
A. Social change during adolescence
B. The ‘social brain’
2. Development during adolescence of the neural strategies for social cognition
3. Conclusions and implications

3. Overview 1. Introduction
A. Social change during adolescence
B. The ‘social brain’
2. Development during adolescence of the neural strategies for social cognition
3. Conclusions and implications

4. 1) A) Social change during adolescence
Animal studies
Social behaviour is different at adolescence
Adolescent rodents show more social play than younger/older animals
Spear & Brake, 1983; Laviola et al., 2003

5. 1) A) Social change during adolescence
Animal studies
Social behaviour is different at adolescence
Adolescent primates show more affiliative behaviours towards peers, e.g. grooming, pair-sitting, huddling
Dispersal into new social groups
Ehardt & Bernstein, 1987; de Waal, 1983

6. 1) A) Social change during adolescence
Animal studies
Social behaviour is different at adolescence
Adolescent social behaviours in animals are adaptive
Reproduction, territory/resources
Response to decreases in adult tolerance?
de Waal, 1983

7. 1) A) Social change during adolescence
Social psychology
Human adolescents report that they are the most happy and stimulated when talking with peers
Csikszentmihalyi et al., 1977

8. 1) A) Social change during adolescence
Social psychology
Relationships with peers become more emotionally supportive
Peer relationships become more complex
Intense one-to-one relationships, small cliques, large crowds
Peer relationships define identity
Berndt, 1982; Youniss & Haynie, 1992
Brown, 2004

9. 1) A) Social change during adolescence
Social cognition
Ability to read emotions from faces
Emotional perspective-taking
Herba and Phillips, 2004; Wade et al., 2006;
Choudhury et al., 2006

10. Overview 1. Introduction
A. Social change during adolescence
B. The ‘social brain’
2. Development during adolescence of the neural strategies for social cognition
3. Conclusions and implications

11. 1) B) The social brain
The ‘social brain’ comprises key brain regions for social cognition
Social cognition: understanding and interacting with other people
Brothers et al. 1990; Frith & Frith, 2003, 2007; Frith 2007

12. 1) B) The social brain i. Medial prefrontal cortex ‘Mentalising’ mPFC
Implicit ability to infer mental states such as beliefs, feelings and desires
Representing people’s mental states
mPFC
Fletcher et al., 1995; Gallagher et al., 2000;
Gilbert et al., 2006 (meta-analysis)

13. 1) B) The social brain ii. pSTS/TPJ pSTS/TPJ
Social prediction and perspective-taking
E.g. Eye gaze – what can they see? What do they want?
mPFC
Pelphrey et al., 2004a,b; Kawawaki et al., 2006 (review); Mitchell 2007
© National Academy of Sciences 2004

14. 1) B) The social brain iii. Amygdala pSTS/TPJ
Attaching reward values to social and non-social stimuli
‘Approach’ vs. ‘avoid’
E.g. Facial expressions
mPFC
Amygdala
Dolan 2002; LeDoux 2000; Winston et al., 2002; Phelps et al., 2000, 2003
© National Academy of Sciences 2004

15. 1) B) The social brain iv. Temporal poles pSTS/TPJ
Semantic social knowledge: ‘scripts’, and abstract knowledge of complex events
Temporal pole
mPFC
Amygdala
Funnell, 2001; Damasio et al., 2004;
Moll et al., 2001, 2002; Zahn et al., 2007
© National Academy of Sciences 2004

16. 1) B) The social brain
pSTS/TPJ
During adolescence, parts of the social brain undergo neuroanatomical development
→ Do adolescents use the social brain differently from adults?
Temporal pole
mPFC
Amygdala
© National Academy of Sciences 2004
Giedd et al., 1999; Sowell et al., 1999

17. Overview 1. Introduction
A. Social change during adolescence
B. The ‘social brain’
2. Development during adolescence of the neural strategies for social cognition
3. Conclusions and implications

18. 2) The adolescent social brain
fMRI paradigm to look at the living social brain in adolescents and adults
18 adolescents
10 adults
Scanned in fMRI while doing a social task
Social emotion processing

19. 2) The adolescent social brain
Social emotion
Social emotions defined as emotions which require the representation of others’ mental states
Guilt, embarrassment
= social
Disgust, fear
= non-social (basic)
Social emotion activates parts of the social brain network
Moll et al., 2002, 2005

20. 2) The adolescent social brain
“Imagine…
Guilt:
‘You laughed when your friend told you she was feeling upset’
Social
Embarr-
assment:
‘You were quietly picking your nose but someone saw you’
Disgust:
‘You were with your friend and you put your hand in slimy cat poo’
Basic
Fear:
‘Your friend said there was a huge hairy spider climbing up your neck’

21. 2) The adolescent social brain
Results:
Social vs. basic emotion
Medial prefrontal cortex active in adolescents and adults
Consistent with a role for mentalising in social emotion
Adults
Consistent with our definition of social emotions as emotions which require mental state repesentation

22. 2) The adolescent social brain
Adults
Results:
Age-group differences in social vs. basic emotion
Adolescents activated MPFC more than adults did for social vs. basic
Consistent with our definition of social emotions as emotions which require mental state repesentation

23. 2) The adolescent social brain
Adults
Results:
Age-group differences in social vs. basic emotion
Adults activated left temporal pole more than adolescents did for social vs. basic
Consistent with our definition of social emotions as emotions which require mental state repesentation

24. 2) The adolescent social brain
The neural strategy for thinking about social emotion situations develops between adolescence and adulthood
Adolescents activate MPFC more
Adults activate temporal poles more
Recent studies have found similar patterns
Mentalising
Social semantic knowledge
© National Academy of Sciences 2004

25. 2) The adolescent social brain
Understanding intentions
Understanding subtle linguistic meaning

26. Overview 1. Introduction
A. Social change during adolescence
B. The ‘social brain’
2. Development during adolescence of the neural strategies for social cognition
3. Conclusions and implications

27. 3) Conclusions and implications
The neural strategies for social cognition are developing during adolescence
At the same time:
Neuroanatomical development is taking place
Social abilities develop
An adolescent experiences new social environments and ideas
→ How are these changes causally related?
© Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2008

28. 3) Conclusions and implications
Adolescence may be a time of particular vulnerability...
…but also opportunity for social cognitive development and social understanding
Social/welfare implications?
Legal implications?
Educational implications?

29. Thanks to Adult and adolescent volunteers Colleagues
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Chris Frith, Uta Frith, Geoff Bird, Cat Sebastian, Iroise Dumontheil, Steph Thompson