Although the majority of our social interactions are with people we know, few studies have investigated the neural correlates of sharing valuable resources with familiar others. Using an... Show moreAlthough the majority of our social interactions are with people we know, few studies have investigated the neural correlates of sharing valuable resources with familiar others. Using an ecologically valid research paradigm, this functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined the neural correlates of prosocial and selfish behavior in interactions with real-life friends and disliked peers in young adults. Participants (N = 27) distributed coins between themselves and another person, where they could make selfish choices that maximized their own gains or prosocial choices that maximized outcomes of the other. Participants were more prosocial toward friends and more selfish toward disliked peers. Individual prosociality levels toward friends were associated negatively with supplementary motor area and anterior insula activity. Further preliminary analyses showed that prosocial decisions involving friends were associated with heightened activity in the bilateral posterior temporoparietal junction, and selfish decisions involving disliked peers were associated with heightened superior temporal sulcus activity, which are brain regions consistently shown to be involved in mentalizing and perspective taking in prior studies. Further, activation of the putamen was observed during prosocial choices involving friends and selfish choices involving disliked peers. These findings provide insights into the modulation of neural processes that underlie prosocial behavior as a function of a positive or negative relationship with the interaction partner. Show less
Children and adolescents who are chronically rejected by their peers suffer from widespread impairments in daily life, ranging from poor academic achievement and dropping out of school, to... Show moreChildren and adolescents who are chronically rejected by their peers suffer from widespread impairments in daily life, ranging from poor academic achievement and dropping out of school, to delinquency and the development of mental health problems. To gain a better understanding of the developmental processes that give rise to such impairments, the research described in this dissertation examined the neurocognitive underpinnings of processes that play a role in the emergence and maintenance of peer group rejection and acceptance. The first part of this dissertation focuses on neurocognitive processes underlying reactions to social exclusion. The second part concentrates on the neurocognitive processes involved in sharing valuable resources, based on the widely established finding that frequent displays of prosocial behaviors, such as cooperating, helping, and sharing, are associated with both gaining and maintaining acceptance among peers. The empirical work in this dissertation demonstrates that a developmental cognitive neuroscience approach provides unique insights into the emotional, regulatory, and socio-cognitive processes thought to play a role in the emergence and maintenance of peer group acceptance and rejection. Show less
