Neural correlates of self-evaluation in relation to age and pubertal development in early adolescent girls.
Dev Cogn Neurosci 2020;
44:100799. [PMID:
32479376 PMCID:
PMC7260676 DOI:
10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100799]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2019] [Revised: 04/13/2020] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Self-evaluation of social traits by adolescent girls elicited activation in midline brain regions.
Age and pubertal development were not related to neural activation during self-evaluation.
Higher vmPFC and pgACC activation were related to a higher probability of endorsing negative traits.
Higher activation in those regions was also related to a lower probability of endorsing positive traits.
Early adolescence is marked by puberty, and is also a time of flux in self-perception. However, there is limited research on the neural correlates of self-evaluation in relation to pubertal development. The current study examined relationships between neural activation during self-evaluation of social traits and maturation (age and pubertal development) in a community sample of female adolescents. Participants (N = 143; age M = 11.65, range = 10.0–13.0) completed a functional MRI task in which they judged the self-descriptiveness of adjectives for prosocial, antisocial and social status-related traits. Pubertal development was based on self-report, and was also examined using morning salivary testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and estradiol. Contrary to preregistered hypotheses, neither age nor pubertal development were related to neural activation during self-evaluation. We further examined whether activation in two regions-of-interest, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and perigenual anterior cingulate (pgACC), was associated with trial-level self-evaluative behavior. In line with preregistered hypotheses, higher vmPFC and pgACC activation during self-evaluation were both associated with a higher probability of endorsing negative adjectives, and a lower probability of endorsing positive adjectives. Future studies should examine neural trajectories of self-evaluation longitudinally, and investigate the predictive value of the neural correlates of self-evaluation for adolescent mental health.
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