Intrinsic connectivity within the affective salience network moderates adolescent susceptibility to negative and positive peer norms
Year: 2022
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Not all adolescents are equally susceptible to peer influence, and for some, peer influence exerts positive rather than negative effects. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, the current study examined how intrinsic functional connectivity networks associated with processing social cognitive and affective stimuli predict adolescents' (n = 87, ages 11-14 years) prosocial tendencies and risky behaviors in the context of positive and negative peer norms. We tested the moderating role of four candidate intrinsic brain networks-associated with mentalizing, cognitive control, motivational relevance, and affective salience-in peer influence susceptibility. Only intrinsic connectivity within the affective salience network significantly moderated the association between peer norms and adolescent behavior above and beyond the other networks. Adolescents with high intrinsic connectivity within the affective salience network reported greater prosocial tendencies in contexts with more positive peer norms but greater risk-taking behavior in contexts with more negative peer norms. In contrast, peer norms were not associated with adolescent behavior for individuals with low affective salience within-network intrinsic connectivity. The mentalizing network, cognitive control network, and motivational relevance network were not associated with individual differences in peer influence susceptibility. This study identifies key neural mechanisms underlying differential susceptibility to positive and negative peer influence in early adolescence, with a particular emphasis on the role of affective salience over traditional mentalizing, regulatory, and motivational processes.
Source: Scientific Reports
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,190
Funders: National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Directorate for STEM Education, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Awards: G1208415227, G2396350156, G2440026388, G3601989165, Incorporating the Social Context into Neurocognitive Models of Adolescent Risk Taking, Graduate research Fellowship Program (GRFP), G5937782924, G6411789202, G701078433, Stress-Related Neural Responses Linking Toddler-Mother Attachment and Adolescent Adjustment, Human Development: Interdisciplinary Research Training
OpenAlex ID: W4306790067