Abstract
During adolescence, self-concept develops profoundly, accompanied by major changes in hormone levels. Self-evaluations become more complex, and peers and their opinions increasingly salient. Neuroimaging studies have investigated self- and other-related processing in adolescents, however, the influence of similarity of peers on these processes is still unclear, as well as functional connectivity underlying such processes. We investigated the effect of peer similarity on neural activity and connectivity underlying self- and other-referential processing, by distinguishing between a similar and dissimilar peer when making other-evaluations. Moreover, we explored the association between testosterone and brain activity during self-evaluations. Sixty-six young adolescents underwent functional MRI while performing a trait judgement task in which they indicated whether an adjective described themselves, a similar or a dissimilar classmate. The ventral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) showed increased engagement in self-referential processing, and the posterior cingulate cortex and right temporal parietal junction during other-evaluations. However, activity did not differ between the similar and dissimilar other conditions. Functional connectivity of the ventral MPFC included the striatum when evaluating the similar peer and frontoparietal regions when evaluating the dissimilar peer. Furthermore, inter-individual differences in testosterone levels were positively associated with dorsal MPFC activity in males. This study provides insight into the influence of peer similarity on activity and connectivity underlying other-referential processing in young adolescents, and suggests that testosterone affects neural correlates of self-referential processing.
Highlights
During adolescence, representation of the self changes profoundly
An effect of reference was observed for behavioral performance on the task as well as for brain activity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and right temporal parietal junction (TPJ)
Participants responded faster to positive traits when evaluating the similar peer compared to the dissimilar peer, and to negative traits when evaluating the similar peer compared to when making self-evaluations
Summary
Adolescents become more interested in the opinions of others (Vartanian, 2000), peer evaluations become increasingly salient and self-relevant (Jankowski et al, 2014; Sebastian et al, 2008). Prior studies have started to investigate self- and other-related processing and their neural correlates in adolescents (Jankowski et al, 2014; Pfeifer et al, 2013, 2009; Romund et al, 2017; Schneider et al, 2012; van der Cruijsen et al, 2018), the influence of perceived similarity of peers on these processes and their neural mechanisms is unclear. Functional connectivity between regions underlying self- and other-evaluations in young adolescents remains as of yet unexplored
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