Prosocial behavior and empathy are important aspects of developing social relations in childhood. Prior studies showed protracted structural development of social brain regions associated with... Show moreProsocial behavior and empathy are important aspects of developing social relations in childhood. Prior studies showed protracted structural development of social brain regions associated with prosocial behavior. However, it remains unknown how structure of the social brain is influenced by genetic or environmental factors, and whether overlapping heritability factors explain covariance in structure of the social brain and behavior. The current study examined this hypothesis in a twin sample (aged 7-9-year; N = 512). Bilateral measures of surface area and cortical thickness of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), and precuneus were analyzed. Results showed genetic contributions to surface area and cortical thickness for all brain regions. We found additional shared environmental influences for TPJ, suggesting that this region might be relatively more sensitive to social experiences. Genetic factors also influenced parent-reported prosocial behavior (A = 45%) and empathy (A = 59%). We provided initial evidence that the precuneus shares genetically determined variance with empathy, suggesting a possible small genetic overlap (9%) in brain structure and empathy. These findings show that structure of the social brain and empathy are driven by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, with some factors overlapping for brain structure and behavior. Show less
Crone, E.A.; M. Achterberg, M.; Dobbelaar, S.; Euser, S.; Bulk, B.G. van den; Meulen, M. van der; ... ; IJzendoorn, M.H. van 2020
The transition period between early childhood and late adolescence is characterized by pronounced changes in social competence, or the capacity for flexible social adaptation. Here, we propose that... Show moreThe transition period between early childhood and late adolescence is characterized by pronounced changes in social competence, or the capacity for flexible social adaptation. Here, we propose that two processes, self-control and prosociality, are crucial for social adaptation following social evaluation. We present a neurobehavioral model showing commonalities in neural responses to experiences of social acceptance and rejection, and multiple pathways for responding to social context. The Leiden Consortium on Individual Development (L CID) provides a comprehensive approach towards understanding the longitudinal developmental pathways of, and social enrichment effects on, social competence, taking into account potential differential effects of such enrichment. Using Neurosynth based brain maps we point towards the medial prefrontal cortex as an important region integrating social cognition, self-referential processing and self-control for learning to respond flexibly to changing social contexts. Based on their role in social evaluation processing, we suggest to examine medial prefrontal cortex connections with lateral prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum as potential neural differential susceptibility markers, in addition to previously established markers of differential susceptibility. Show less
Regulating aggression after social feedback is an important prerequisite for developing and maintaining social relations, especially in the current times with larger emphasis on online social... Show moreRegulating aggression after social feedback is an important prerequisite for developing and maintaining social relations, especially in the current times with larger emphasis on online social evaluation. Studies in adults highlighted the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in regulating aggression. Little is known about the development of aggression regulation following social feedback during childhood, while this is an important period for both brain maturation and social relations. The current study used a longitudinal design, with 456 twins undergoing two functional MRI sessions across the transition from middle (7 to 9 y) to late (9 to 11 y) childhood. Aggression regulation was studied using the Social Network Aggression Task. Behavioral aggression after social evaluation decreased over time, whereas activation in the insula, dorsomedial PFC and DLPFC increased over time. Brain-behavior analyses showed that increased DLPFC activation after negative feedback was associated with decreased aggression. Change analyses further revealed that children with larger increases in DLPFC activity from middle to late childhood showed stronger decreases in aggression over time. These findings provide insights into the development of social evaluation sensitivity and aggression control in childhood. Show less
Child-driven genetic factors can contribute to negative parenting and may increase the risk of being maltreated. Experiencing childhood maltreatment may be partly heritable, but results of twin... Show moreChild-driven genetic factors can contribute to negative parenting and may increase the risk of being maltreated. Experiencing childhood maltreatment may be partly heritable, but results of twin studies are mixed. In the current study, we used a cross-sectional extended family design to estimate genetic and environmental effects on experiencing child maltreatment. The sample consisted of 395 individuals (225 women; M-age = 38.85 years, range(age) = 7-88 years) from 63 families with two or three participating generations. Participants were oversampled for experienced maltreatment. Self-reported experienced child maltreatment was measured using a questionnaire assessing physical and emotional abuse, and physical and emotional neglect. All maltreatment phenotypes were partly heritable with percentages for h(2) ranging from 30% (SE = 13%) for neglect to 62% (SE = 19%) for severe physical abuse. Common environmental effects (c(2)) explained a statistically significant proportion of variance for all phenotypes except for the experience of severe physical abuse (c(2) = 9%, SE = 13%, p = .26). The genetic correlation between abuse and neglect was rho(g) = .73 (p = .02). Common environmental variance increased as socioeconomic status (SES) decreased (p = .05), but additive genetic and unique environmental variances were constant across different levels of SES. Show less
Pittner, K.; Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J.; Alink, L.R.A.; Buisman, R.S.M.; Berg, L.J.M. van den; Block, L.H.C.G.C.C.; ... ; IJzendoorn, M.H. van 2019
Perceiving potential threat to an infant and responding to it is crucial for offspring survival and parent–child bonding. Using a combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging and multi... Show morePerceiving potential threat to an infant and responding to it is crucial for offspring survival and parent–child bonding. Using a combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging and multi-informant reports, this longitudinal study explores the neural basis for paternal responses to threat to infants pre-natally (N = 21) and early post-natally (n = 17). Participants viewed videos showing an infant in danger and matched control videos, while instructed to imagine that the infant was their own or someone else’s. Effects were found for infant-threatening vs neutral situations in the amygdala (region-of-interest analyses) and in clusters spanning cortical and subcortical areas (whole-brain analyses). An interaction effect revealed increased activation for own (vs unknown) infants in threatening (vs neutral) situations in bilateral motor areas, possibly indicating preparation for action. Post-natal activation patterns were similar; however, in part of the superior frontal gyrus the distinction between threat to own and unknown infant faded. Fathers showing more protective behavior in daily life recruited part of the frontal pole more when confronted with threat to their own vs an unknown infant. This exploratory study is the first to describe neural mechanisms involved in paternal protection and provides a basis for future work on fathers’ protective parenting. Show less
Child executive functions and socialization environments are crucial for the socioemotional and cognitive development of preschoolers. This study examined the role of socioeconomic status (SES),... Show moreChild executive functions and socialization environments are crucial for the socioemotional and cognitive development of preschoolers. This study examined the role of socioeconomic status (SES), ethnicity, executive functions (EFs), quality of the home environment, quantity of maternal care, and quality and quantity of professional childcare as predictors of five-year-old preschoolers' problem behavior, prosocial behavior, and language ability in 77 low-SES families with a Chilean majority or Mapuche minority background in Chile. Executive functions and the quality of the home environment were positively associated with language ability, whereas quantity of childcare was inversely related to children's language ability. All other associations were non-significant. The results corroborate the vital roles of child executive functioning and stimulating and responsive parenting in child language ability in a Latin-American context. Furthermore, our findings revealed inadequate preschool classroom quality and provide new evidence from southern Chile of the urgent need to improve the quality of Chilean children's preprimary education as a catalyst for reducing social disparities. Show less
Previous work suggests that infant cry perception is supported by an evolutionary old neural network consisting of the auditory system, the thalamocingulate circuit, the frontoinsular system, the... Show morePrevious work suggests that infant cry perception is supported by an evolutionary old neural network consisting of the auditory system, the thalamocingulate circuit, the frontoinsular system, the reward pathway and the medial prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, gender and parenthood have been proposed to modulate processing of infant cries. The present meta-analysis (N = 350) confirmed involvement of the auditory system, the thalamocingulate circuit, the dorsal anterior insula, the pre-supplementary motor area and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus in infant cry perception, but not of the reward pathway. Structures related to motoric processing, possibly supporting the preparation of a parenting response, were also involved. Finally, females (more than males) and parents (more than non-parents) recruited a cortico-limbic sensorimotor integration network, offering a neural explanation for previously observed enhanced processing of infant cries in these sub-groups. Based on the results, an updated neural model of infant cry perception is presented. Show less
Experiencing and observing social exclusion and inclusion, as well as prosocial behavior, are important aspects of social relationships in childhood. However, it is currently unknown to what extent... Show moreExperiencing and observing social exclusion and inclusion, as well as prosocial behavior, are important aspects of social relationships in childhood. However, it is currently unknown to what extent these processes and their neural correlates differ in heritability. We investigated influences of genetics and environment on experiencing social exclusion and compensating for social exclusion of others with the Prosocial Cyberball Game using fMRI in a twin sample (aged 7–9; N = 500). Neuroimaging analyses (N = 283) revealed that experiencing possible self-exclusion resulted in activity in inferior frontal gyrus and medial prefrontal cortex, which was influenced by genetics and unique environment. Experiencing self-inclusion was associated with activity in anterior cingulate cortex, insula and striatum, but this was not significantly explained by genetics or shared environment. We found that children show prosocial compensating behavior when observing social exclusion. Prosocial compensating behavior was associated with activity in posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, and showed unique environmental effects or measurement error at both behavioral and neural level. Together, these findings show that in children neural activation for experiencing possible self-exclusion and self-inclusion, and for displaying prosocial compensating behavior, is accounted for by unique environmental factors and measurement error, with a small genetic effect on possible self-exclusion. Show less
Achterberg, M.; Bakermans, M.J.; IJzendoorn, M.H. van; Meulen, M. van der; Tottenham, N.; Crone, E.A.M. 2018
Connectivity between limbic/subcortical and prefrontal-cortical brain regions develops considerably across childhood, but less is known about the heritability of these networks at this age. We... Show moreConnectivity between limbic/subcortical and prefrontal-cortical brain regions develops considerably across childhood, but less is known about the heritability of these networks at this age. We tested the heritability of limbic/subcortical-cortical and limbic/subcortical-subcortical functional brain connectivity in 7- to 9-year-old twins (N = 220), focusing on two key limbic/subcortical structures: the ventral striatum and the amygdala, given their combined influence on changing incentivised behavior during childhood and adolescence. Whole brain analyses with ventral striatum (VS) and amygdala as seeds in genetically independent groups showed replicable functional connectivity patterns. The behavioral genetic analyses revealed that in general VS and amygdala connectivity showed distinct influences of genetics and environment. VS-prefrontal cortex connections were best described by genetic and unique environmental factors (the latter including measurement error), whereas amygdala-prefrontal cortex connectivity was mainly explained by environmental influences. Similarities were also found: connectivity between both the VS and amygdala and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) showed influences of shared environment, while connectivity with the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) showed heritability. These findings may inform future interventions that target behavioral control and emotion regulation, by taking into account genetic dispositions as well as shared and unique environmental factors such as child rearing. Show less
Rejection by parents is an important aspect of child maltreatment. Altered neural responses to social rejection have been observed in maltreated individuals. The current study is the first to... Show moreRejection by parents is an important aspect of child maltreatment. Altered neural responses to social rejection have been observed in maltreated individuals. The current study is the first to examine the impact of experienced and perpetrated abuse and neglect on neural responses to social exclusion by strangers versus family using a multigenerational family design, including 144 participants. The role of neural reactivity to social exclusion in the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment was also examined. Exclusion by strangers was especially associated with increased activation in the left insula, while exclusion by a family member was mainly associated with increased activation in the ACC. Neural reactivity to social exclusion by strangers in the insula, ACC and dmPFC, was associated with experienced maltreatment but not with perpetrated maltreatment. In abusive parents, altered neural reactivity during exclusion was found in other brain areas, indicating different neural correlates of experienced and perpetrated maltreatment. Hence, no mechanisms could be identified that are involved in the transmission of maltreatment. Hypersensitivity to social rejection by strangers in neglected individuals underscores the importance to distinguish between effects of abuse and neglect and suggests that the impact of experiencing rejection and maltreatment by your own parents extends beyond the family context. Show less
