Resting state brain subnetwork relates to prosociality and compassion in adolescents
Year: 2022
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Adolescence is a crucial time for social development, especially for helping (prosocial) and compassionate behaviors; yet brain networks involved in adolescent prosociality and compassion currently remain underexplored. Here, we sought to evaluate a recently proposed domain-general developmental (Do-GooD) network model of prosocial cognition by relating adolescent functional and structural brain networks with prosocial and compassionate disposition. We acquired resting state fMRI and diffusion MRI from 95 adolescents (ages 14–19 years; 46 males; 49 females) along with self-report questionnaires assessing prosociality and compassion. We then applied the Network-Based Statistic (NBS) to inductively investigate whether there is a significant subnetwork related to prosociality and compassion while controlling for age and sex. Based on the Do-GooD model, we expected that this subnetwork would involve connectivity to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) from three domain-general networks, the default mode network (DMN), the salience network, and the control network, as well as from the DMN to the mirror neuron systems. NBS revealed a significant functional (but not structural) subnetwork related to prosociality and compassion connecting 31 regions (p = 0.02), showing DMN and DLPFC connectivity to the VMPFC; DMN connectivity to mirror neuron systems; and connectivity between the DMN and cerebellum. These findings largely support and extend the Do-GooD model of prosocial cognition in adolescents by further illuminating network-based relationships that have the potential to advance our understanding of brain mechanisms of prosociality.
Source: Frontiers in Psychology
Authors: Benjamin S. Sipes, Angela Jakary, Yi Li, Jeffrey E. Max, Tony T. Yang, Olga Tymofiyeva
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,950
Funders: Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, New York Community Trust, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, National Institutes of Health, University of California, San Francisco, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco
Awards: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Functional MRI Study of Adolescent Depression, G1444865306, G1626507126, G1980987201, G2242642769, G2271922151, G2314767129, G2563661721, G3047137941, G314742678, G3188005339, G3252497327, G3597731584, G3627255599, G3740361965, G3842336675, G3990375104, G4061627489, G4201502726, G424960263, G4344187800, G4462131731, Neural mechanisms of meditation training in healthy and depressed adolescents: An MRI connectome study, G4888468500, G4913199383, Magnetoencephalography and Neurobehavioral Outcome of Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury, G5067413030, G5192717750, G5255244546, G5661427050, G6191821113, A Network Approach to Study Brain Plasticity in Children with Cognitive Training, G6245908341, G6252176408, G7246423820, G7425329770, G7686907657, G8488585488, G8727227418, G873627131, G8766886455, G880353779, G887705426, Clinical and Translational Science Institute
OpenAlex ID: W4306874126