UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

The relationship between puberty and social emotion processing.

Goddings, AL; Burnett Heyes, S; Bird, G; Viner, RM; Blakemore, SJ; (2012) The relationship between puberty and social emotion processing. Dev Sci , 15 (6) 801 - 811. 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01174.x. Green open access

[thumbnail of desc1174.pdf]
Preview
PDF
desc1174.pdf

Download (604kB)

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.

Type: Article
Title: The relationship between puberty and social emotion processing.
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01174.x
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01174.x
Language: English
Additional information: © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Full text made available to UCL Discovery by kind permission of Wiley. PMCID: PMC3795450
Keywords: Adolescent, Adolescent Development, Brain Mapping, Child, Dehydroepiandrosterone, Emotions, Estradiol, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Puberty, Regression Analysis, Saliva, Testosterone
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1377272
Downloads since deposit
235Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item