This dissertation focused on the neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying adolescent learning and mental health in the context of peers and friends. The neuroimaging findings revealed that... Show moreThis dissertation focused on the neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying adolescent learning and mental health in the context of peers and friends. The neuroimaging findings revealed that reward processing for self and peers rely on common reward-related brain regions, whereas a social brain region (TPJ) showed social specificity to observed outcomes for unfamiliar peers compared to friends. Moreover, typically developing adolescents and adolescents with ADHD show neural sensitivity in reward and salience brain regions towards rewards for themselves, friends and peers compared to losses. There were no group differences in neural processing of (vicarious) outcomes between adolescents with and without ADHD, yet a symptom-level approach showed more neural sensitivity for own compared to friends’ losses in individuals with more inattention symptoms. The behavioral findings indicated that adolescents’ learning performance benefitted from observing the choices and outcomes of peers irrespective of the relationship with this peer. The results did not show effects of friendship (quality) and social status on observational and academic learning, but there was a protective effect of friendship quality on internalizing problems. Taken together, these findings highlight adolescence as a period of observational learning opportunities from different types of peers. Adolescence can also serve as a window of opportunity to improve mental health by fostering high-quality friendships. Show less
Klootwijk, C.L.T.; Koele, I.J.; Hoorn, J. van; Güroğlu, B.; Duijvenvoorde, A.C.K. van 2021
School closures during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 severely disrupted adolescents' lives. We used a daily diary method for 20 days, including online and physical school days, assessing... Show moreSchool closures during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 severely disrupted adolescents' lives. We used a daily diary method for 20 days, including online and physical school days, assessing daily mood, social support and conflict, and academic motivation in 102 adolescents aged 12-16 years. We found that adolescents' academic motivation was lower on online compared with physical school days. In general, positive mood was positively associated with academic motivation, and friend conflict related negatively to academic motivation. Moreover, lower levels of parental support were related to lower academic motivation on online versus physical school days. Overall, these findings identified some critical changes in adolescents' daily experiences during the COVID-19 school closure and social-emotional factors that may buffer decreases in adolescents' academic motivation. Show less
Westhoff, B.; Koele, I.J.; Groep, I.H. van de 2020
When you think about learning, you probably think about things you are taught at school. But have you ever realized you use a different type of learning as well, on a daily basis? This type of... Show moreWhen you think about learning, you probably think about things you are taught at school. But have you ever realized you use a different type of learning as well, on a daily basis? This type of learning is called social learning, and it has to do with the people around you. That is, you learn from and about others by watching and interacting with them. For example, seeing someone else’s mistakes may teach you to avoid falling into the same trap. Although social learning happens very often, you may not yet know much about it. However, social learning is very important because it helps us to learn more efficiently and to determine how best to behave around others. In this article, we introduce two different types of social learning, and explain how your brain plays an important role. Show less
