Social cognitive development during adolescence Stephanie Burnett UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience http://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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’

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

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

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

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

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

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) 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

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?

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