Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2018 May 1;13(5):546-556. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsy016.
Adolescence is a time of increased social-affective sensitivity, which is often related to heightened health-risk behaviors. However, moderate levels of social sensitivity, relative to either low (social vacuum) or high levels (exceptionally attuned), may confer benefits as it facilitates effective navigation of the social world. The present fMRI study tested a curvilinear relationship between social sensitivity and adaptive decision-making. Participants (ages 12-16; N = 35) played the Social Analogue Risk Task, which measures participants' willingness to knock on doors in order to earn points. With each knock, the facial expression of the house's resident shifted from happy to somewhat angrier. If the resident became too angry, the door slammed and participants lost points. Social sensitivity was defined as the extent to which adolescents adjusted their risky choices based on shifting facial expressions. Results confirmed a curvilinear relationship between social sensitivity and self-reported adaptive decision-making at the behavioral and neural level. Moderate adolescent social sensitivity was modulated via heightened tracking of social cues in the temporoparietal junction, insula and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and related to adaptive decision-making. These findings suggest that social-affective sensitivity may positively impact outcomes in adolescence and have implications for interventions to help adolescents reach mature social goals into adulthood.
青春期是社会情感敏感性增强的时期，这通常与更高的健康风险行为有关。然而，与低水平（社交真空）或高水平（异常协调）相比，适度的社会敏感性可能会带来好处，因为它有助于有效地驾驭社交世界。本 fMRI 研究测试了社会敏感性与适应性决策之间的曲线关系。参与者（年龄 12-16；N=35）玩社会模拟风险任务，该任务衡量参与者敲门以赚取分数的意愿。每次敲门，房子居民的面部表情都会从高兴变成有点生气。如果居民变得太生气，门就会关上，参与者就会失去分数。社会敏感性被定义为青少年根据面部表情的变化调整风险选择的程度。结果在行为和神经水平上证实了社会敏感性与自我报告的适应性决策之间的曲线关系。青少年的社会敏感性适度，这是通过颞顶联合区、脑岛和背外侧前额叶皮层对社会线索的跟踪增强来调节的，与适应性决策有关。这些发现表明，社会情感敏感性可能对青春期的结果产生积极影响，并对帮助青少年实现成熟的社会目标进入成年期的干预措施具有重要意义。
