The relationship between puberty and social emotion processing

Anne‐Lise Goddings,Russell M Viner,Geoffrey Bird,Stephanie Burnett Heyes,Sarah‐Jayne Blakemore

doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01174.x

Anne‐Lise Goddings, Russell M Viner + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01174.x

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Abstract

The social brain undergoes developmental change during adolescence, and pubertal hormones are hypothesized to contribute to this development. We used fMRI to explore how pubertal indicators (salivary concentrations of testosterone, oestradiol and DHEA; pubertal stage; menarcheal status) relate to brain activity during a social emotion task. Forty-two females aged 11.1 to 13.7 years underwent fMRI scanning while reading scenarios pertaining either to social emotions, which require the representation of another person’s mental states, or to basic emotions, which do not. Pubertal stage and menarcheal status were used to assign girls to early or late puberty groups. Across the entire sample, the contrast between social versus basic emotion resulted in activity within the social brain network, including dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), the posterior superior temporal sulcus, and the anterior temporal cortex (ATC) in both hemispheres. Increased hormone levels (independent of age) were associated with higher left ATC activity during social emotion processing. More advanced age (independent of hormone levels) was associated with lower DMPFC activity during social emotion processing. Our results suggest functionally dissociable effects of pubertal hormones and age on the adolescent social brain.

Highlights

Adolescence is a key stage in human development, incorporating physical, social, and psychological changes, and culminating in the attainment of a stable adult role (Lerner & Steinberg, 2004)
We found no association between hormone levels and either age, Verbal IQ (vIQ) or Body Mass Index (BMI)
We used fMRI to investigate the relationship between puberty and the neural correlates of social emotion processing in females within a narrow age range from 11 to 13 years

Summary

Introduction

Adolescence is a key stage in human development, incorporating physical, social, and psychological changes, and culminating in the attainment of a stable adult role (Lerner & Steinberg, 2004). New behaviours are laid down, educational, socioeconomic and relationship trajectories are canalized, and a new epidemiology of disease burden emerges (Patton & Viner, 2007). Many of these changes have been linked with puberty, the biological process that culminates in reproductive competence and a defining event of adolescence (Sisk & Foster, 2004). Some adolescent neuromaturational effects are independent of puberty hormones. Adolescent patterns of changing dopamine receptor expression in the striatum of rats are preserved even in the absence of gonadal hormones (Andersen, Thompson, Krenzel & Teicher, 2002)

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