Moderate social sensitivity in a risky context supports adaptive decision making in adolescence: evidence from brain and behavior

Abstract

Adolescence is a time of increased social-affective sensitivity, which is often related to heightened health-risk behaviors. However, moderate levels of social sensitivity, relative to either low (social vacuum) or high levels (exceptionally attuned), may confer benefits as it facilitates effective navigation of the social world. The present fMRI study tested a curvilinear relationship between social sensitivity and adaptive decision-making. Participants (ages 12–16; N = 35) played the Social Analogue Risk Task, which measures participants’ willingness to knock on doors in order to earn points. With each knock, the facial expression of the house’s resident shifted from happy to somewhat angrier. If the resident became too angry, the door slammed and participants lost points. Social sensitivity was defined as the extent to which adolescents adjusted their risky choices based on shifting facial expressions. Results confirmed a curvilinear relationship between social sensitivity and self-reported adaptive decision-making at the behavioral and neural level. Moderate adolescent social sensitivity was modulated via heightened tracking of social cues in the temporoparietal junction, insula and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and related to adaptive decision-making. These findings suggest that social-affective sensitivity may positively impact outcomes in adolescence and have implications for interventions to help adolescents reach mature social goals into adulthood.

Social Influence in Adolescent Decision-Making: A Formal Framework

“…Mobilizing the finding that social information can favorize safe decision-making could lead to better interventions and perhaps reduce dangerous real-world risk-taking. Taken together, our results confirm a positive outlook on adolescent decision-making and add further evidence that adolescent social motivation can be used for the good (Perkins et al, 2011; Liu et al, 2017; Telzer et al, 2018; van Hoorn et al, 2018). However, it is important to note that our conclusions are limited to paradigms where social information is passively observed; it may well be very different when applied to data of experiments where the participant was observed by others.…”

Modelling resilience in adolescence and adversity: a novel framework to inform research and practice

“…Although little is known, there is evidence that sensitivity to peer evaluations is heightened among those who have been bullied (threat-related adversity) and have low social status (deprivation-related adversity) 165 and risk-taking is indeed increased in adolescent girls 166 . Interestingly, moderate social sensitivity is thought to support adaptive decision-making 167 , and possibly greater risk aversion 168 , depending on the social context and whether influenced by peers or parents 169 . Furthermore, neural correlates of moderate social sensitivity and adaptive decision-making have been identified to include the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ,) the insula and the dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) 167,170 .…”

“…Interestingly, moderate social sensitivity is thought to support adaptive decision-making 167 , and possibly greater risk aversion 168 , depending on the social context and whether influenced by peers or parents 169 . Furthermore, neural correlates of moderate social sensitivity and adaptive decision-making have been identified to include the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ,) the insula and the dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) 167,170 . Additionally, adaptive decision-making and risk-taking are supported by competent ER 171,172 .…”

Hungry for inclusion: Exposure to peer victimization and heightened social monitoring in adolescent girls

“…Among the social brain regions, we only found this pattern of effects for the TPJ. Prior research has found that the TPJ differentiates social sensitivity in adolescents, where the lowest and highest levels of TPJ activation are indicative of poor social competence (van Hoorn et al, 2018), suggesting that high TPJ activation may signal maladaptive social sensitivity. In contrast, the pSTS is associated with better mental state reasoning toward in-group relative to out-group peers (Adams et al, 2009), suggesting that high pSTS activation might signal adaptive social sensitivity.…”

“…Although being tuned to social information is an important social skill, hyperattunement to social cues may be maladaptive. Indeed, adolescents who show very low or very high attunement to social cues (measured at the behavioral and neural level) show poor decision-making skills, whereas moderate levels of social sensitivity are adaptive (van Hoorn et al, 2018). Thus, moderate social sensitivity is crucial for competently interacting with others and engaging in flexible social behavior, whereas too much social sensitivity may be maladaptive, as it hinders effectively navigating the social world.…”