TY - JOUR
T1 - Transitioning from childhood into adolescence
T2 - A comprehensive longitudinal behavioral and neuroimaging study on prosocial behavior and social inclusion
AU - van der Meulen, Mara
AU - Dobbelaar, Simone
AU - van Drunen, Lina
AU - Heunis, Stephan
AU - van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.
AU - Blankenstein, Neeltje E.
AU - Crone, Eveline A.
N1 - Funding Information: We thank all participating families for their dedicated involvement in the L -CID study. We also thank the (former and current) L -CID research team for their valuable efforts in setting up the study, collecting the data, and organizing the data. The Leiden Consortium Individual Development (L-CID) was supported by a Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO grant number 024.001.003 ) awarded to M.H. van IJzendoorn, E.A. Crone and M.J. Bakermans-Kranenburg who designed the L -CID experimental cohort-sequential twin study. Publisher Copyright: © 2023
PY - 2023/12/15
Y1 - 2023/12/15
N2 - Acting prosocially and feeling socially included are important factors for developing social relations. However, little is known about the development of neural trajectories of prosocial behavior and social inclusion in the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence. In this pre-registered study, we investigated the development of prosocial behavior, social inclusion, and their neural mechanisms in a three-wave longitudinal design (ages 7–13 years; NT1 = 512; NT2 = 456; NT3 = 336). We used the Prosocial Cyberball Game, a ball tossing game in which one player is excluded, to measure prosocial compensating behavior. Prosocial compensating behavior showed a linear developmental increase, similar to parent-reported prosocial behavior, whereas parent-reported empathy showed a quadratic trajectory with highest levels in late childhood. On a neural level we found a peak in ventral striatum activity during prosocial compensating behavior. Neural activity during social inclusion showed quadratic age effects in anterior cingulate cortex, insula, striatum, and precuneus, and a linear increase in temporo-parietal junction. Finally, changes in prosocial compensating behavior were negatively associated with changes in ventral striatum and mPFC activity during social inclusion, indicating an important co-occurrence between development in brain and social behavior. Together these findings shed a light on the mechanisms underlying social development from childhood into adolescence.
AB - Acting prosocially and feeling socially included are important factors for developing social relations. However, little is known about the development of neural trajectories of prosocial behavior and social inclusion in the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence. In this pre-registered study, we investigated the development of prosocial behavior, social inclusion, and their neural mechanisms in a three-wave longitudinal design (ages 7–13 years; NT1 = 512; NT2 = 456; NT3 = 336). We used the Prosocial Cyberball Game, a ball tossing game in which one player is excluded, to measure prosocial compensating behavior. Prosocial compensating behavior showed a linear developmental increase, similar to parent-reported prosocial behavior, whereas parent-reported empathy showed a quadratic trajectory with highest levels in late childhood. On a neural level we found a peak in ventral striatum activity during prosocial compensating behavior. Neural activity during social inclusion showed quadratic age effects in anterior cingulate cortex, insula, striatum, and precuneus, and a linear increase in temporo-parietal junction. Finally, changes in prosocial compensating behavior were negatively associated with changes in ventral striatum and mPFC activity during social inclusion, indicating an important co-occurrence between development in brain and social behavior. Together these findings shed a light on the mechanisms underlying social development from childhood into adolescence.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Development
KW - Middle childhood
KW - Prosocial behavior
KW - Social brain
KW - Social inclusion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85176506402&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120445
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120445
M3 - Article
C2 - 37939890
SN - 1053-8119
VL - 284
JO - NEUROIMAGE
JF - NEUROIMAGE
M1 - 120445
ER -