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Increased Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Adolescence Benefits Prosocial Reinforcement Learning

Learning which of our behaviors benefit others contributes to forming social relationships. An important period for the development of (pro)social behavior is adolescence, which is characterized by transitions in social connections. It is, however, unknown how learning to benefit others develops acr...

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Autores principales: Westhoff, Bianca, Blankenstein, Neeltje E., Schreuders, Elisabeth, Crone, Eveline A., van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8529395/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34678671
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2021.101018
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author Westhoff, Bianca
Blankenstein, Neeltje E.
Schreuders, Elisabeth
Crone, Eveline A.
van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.K.
author_facet Westhoff, Bianca
Blankenstein, Neeltje E.
Schreuders, Elisabeth
Crone, Eveline A.
van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.K.
author_sort Westhoff, Bianca
collection PubMed
description Learning which of our behaviors benefit others contributes to forming social relationships. An important period for the development of (pro)social behavior is adolescence, which is characterized by transitions in social connections. It is, however, unknown how learning to benefit others develops across adolescence and what the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms are. In this functional neuroimaging study, we assessed learning for self and others (i.e., prosocial learning) and the concurring neural tracking of prediction errors across adolescence (ages 9–21, N = 74). Participants performed a two-choice probabilistic reinforcement learning task in which outcomes resulted in monetary consequences for themselves, an unknown other, or no one. Participants from all ages were able to learn for themselves and others, but learning for others showed a more protracted developmental trajectory. Prediction errors for self were observed in the ventral striatum and showed no age-related differences. However, prediction error coding for others showed an age-related increase in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These results reveal insights into the computational mechanisms of learning for others across adolescence, and highlight that learning for self and others show different age-related patterns.
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spelling pubmed-85293952021-10-27 Increased Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Adolescence Benefits Prosocial Reinforcement Learning Westhoff, Bianca Blankenstein, Neeltje E. Schreuders, Elisabeth Crone, Eveline A. van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.K. Dev Cogn Neurosci Original Research Learning which of our behaviors benefit others contributes to forming social relationships. An important period for the development of (pro)social behavior is adolescence, which is characterized by transitions in social connections. It is, however, unknown how learning to benefit others develops across adolescence and what the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms are. In this functional neuroimaging study, we assessed learning for self and others (i.e., prosocial learning) and the concurring neural tracking of prediction errors across adolescence (ages 9–21, N = 74). Participants performed a two-choice probabilistic reinforcement learning task in which outcomes resulted in monetary consequences for themselves, an unknown other, or no one. Participants from all ages were able to learn for themselves and others, but learning for others showed a more protracted developmental trajectory. Prediction errors for self were observed in the ventral striatum and showed no age-related differences. However, prediction error coding for others showed an age-related increase in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These results reveal insights into the computational mechanisms of learning for others across adolescence, and highlight that learning for self and others show different age-related patterns. Elsevier 2021-10-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8529395/ /pubmed/34678671 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2021.101018 Text en © 2021 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Original Research
Westhoff, Bianca
Blankenstein, Neeltje E.
Schreuders, Elisabeth
Crone, Eveline A.
van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C.K.
Increased Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Adolescence Benefits Prosocial Reinforcement Learning
title Increased Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Adolescence Benefits Prosocial Reinforcement Learning
title_full Increased Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Adolescence Benefits Prosocial Reinforcement Learning
title_fullStr Increased Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Adolescence Benefits Prosocial Reinforcement Learning
title_full_unstemmed Increased Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Adolescence Benefits Prosocial Reinforcement Learning
title_short Increased Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Adolescence Benefits Prosocial Reinforcement Learning
title_sort increased ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity in adolescence benefits prosocial reinforcement learning
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8529395/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34678671
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2021.101018
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