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H. Elliott Albers - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Sex-dependent regulation of Social Reward by oxytocin receptors in the ventral tegmental area.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2018Co-Authors: Johnathan M. Borland, Kyle J. Frantz, Lauren M. Aiani, Alisa Norvelle, Kymberly N. Grantham, Kylie O'laughlin, Joseph I. Terranova, H. Elliott AlbersAbstract:Social Reward is critical for Social relationships, and yet we know little about the characteristics of Social interactions that are Rewarding or the neural mechanisms underlying that Reward. Here, we investigate the sex-dependent role of oxytocin receptors within the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in mediating the magnitude and valence of Social Reward. Operant and classical conditioning tests were used to measure Social Reward associated with same-sex Social interactions. The effects of oxytocin, selective oxytocin receptor agonists, antagonists, and vehicle injected into the VTA on Social Reward was determined in male and female Syrian hamsters. The colocalization of FOS and oxytocin in sites that project to the VTA following Social interaction was also determined. Females find same-sex Social interactions more Rewarding than males and activation of oxytocin receptors in the VTA is critical for Social Reward in females, as well as males. These studies provide support for the hypothesis that there is an inverted U relationship between the duration of Social interaction and Social Reward, mediated by oxytocin; and that in females the dose-response relationship is initiated at lower doses compared with males. Same-sex Social interaction is more Rewarding in females than in males, and an inverted U relationship mediated by oxytocin may have a critical role in assigning positive and negative valence to Social stimuli. Understanding these sex differences in Social Reward processing may be essential for understanding the sex differences in the prevalence of many psychiatric disorders and the development of gender-specific treatments of neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Sex-dependent regulation of Social Reward by oxytocin: an inverted U hypothesis.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2018Co-Authors: Johnathan M. Borland, James K. Rilling, Kyle J. Frantz, H. Elliott AlbersAbstract:The Rewarding properties of Social interactions are essential for the expression of Social behavior and the development of adaptive Social relationships. Here, we review sex differences in Social Reward, and more specifically, how oxytocin (OT) acts in the mesolimbic dopamine system (MDS) to mediate the Rewarding properties of Social interactions in a sex-dependent manner. Evidence from rodents and humans suggests that same-sex Social interactions may be more Rewarding in females than in males. We propose that there is an inverted U relationship between OT dose, Social Reward, and neural activity within structures of the MDS in both males and females, and that this dose-response relationship is initiated at lower doses in females than males. As a result, depending on the dose of OT administered, OT could reduce Social Reward in females, while enhancing it in males. Sex differences in the neural mechanisms regulating Social Reward may contribute to sex differences in the incidence of a large number of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. This review addresses the potential significance of a sex-dependent inverted U dose-response function for OT's effects on Social Reward and in the development of gender-specific therapies for these disorders.
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A novel operant task to assess Social Reward and motivation in rodents.
Journal of neuroscience methods, 2017Co-Authors: Johnathan M. Borland, Kyle J. Frantz, Lauren M. Aiani, Kymberly N. Grantham, Zhimin Song, H. Elliott AlbersAbstract:Abstract Background Social Reward plays a critical role in the development of beneficial Social relationships, and disorders of the mechanisms controlling Social Reward are involved in the etiology of many psychiatric diseases. New method We present a novel operant Social preference task to quantify Social Reward in rodents using an apparatus with three chambers separated by one-way vertical-swing doors. The experimental animal is placed in the larger chamber while the two smaller chambers either remain empty or contain a stimulus animal or other potential Reward stimulus. Adding weights to the door can alter effort required for Rewards. Results Hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) entered the chamber containing a stimulus hamster significantly more frequently than an empty chamber. When the reinforcing effects of Social interactions were compared to food Reward under progressive cost requirements, the reinforcing effects of Social interaction and sunflower seeds were similar. Progressively increasing the door weight decreased number of entries, but increased time spent attempting to open the doors. Comparison with existing methods The quantification of the Rewarding properties of Social interactions has almost exclusively used the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. Although robust and reliable, CPP includes a memory component, because it relies on the association of place with the Social interaction while the operant task presented here does not. Conclusions This task allows for detailed and direct assessment of Social and non-Social Rewards that may serve as effective behavioral reinforcers in this operant conditioning model, and it can be used to investigate the neural mechanisms regulating motivation.
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Social Reward: interactions with Social status, Social communication, aggression, and associated neural activation in the ventral tegmental area
The European journal of neuroscience, 2013Co-Authors: Mario Gil, Ngoc-thao Nguyen, Mark Mcdonald, H. Elliott AlbersAbstract:Nearly all species engage in a variety of intraspecific Social interactions, and there is evidence that these interactions are Rewarding. Less is known, however, about the factors that influence Social Reward. Using the conditioned place preference paradigm, we tested whether Social interactions are Rewarding for male Syrian hamsters. We also tested whether Social stimuli increase neural activation in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a component of the mesolimbic Reward system, and how individual differences in Social behavior and experience influence neural activation. In the present study, we found that hamsters developed a conditioned place preference for Social interactions, but the effects were significantly stronger in dominant animals compared with subordinates. The number of Fos-immunoreactive cells in the VTA was significantly higher in hamsters that had engaged in a direct Social encounter compared with hamsters exposed to a caged stimulus hamster or controls. Interestingly, Socially experienced males had more Fos-immunoreactive cells in the VTA than Socially naive males after exposure to a Social stimulus. Surprisingly, the amount of Fos immunoreactivity in the VTA induced by a Social stimulus was correlated with the amount of aggressive/dominance behaviors that had been observed during interactions that had occurred 2 months earlier. Our results indicate that Social interactions between males are Rewarding, and that Social dominance increases the Reward value. Social interactions stimulate the mesolimbic Reward system, and Social experience enhances its response to novel Social stimuli and may produce long-term changes in the neural mechanisms that mediate the maintenance of dominance over long periods of time. Language: en
Lucy Foulkes - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Social Reward, punishment, and proSociality in paranoia.
Journal of abnormal psychology, 2020Co-Authors: Nichola J. Raihani, Daniel Martinez-gatell, Vaughan Bell, Lucy FoulkesAbstract:Paranoia is the exaggerated belief that harm will occur and is intended by others. Although commonly framed in terms of attributing malicious intent to others, recent work has explored how paranoia also affects Social decision-making, using economic games. Previous work found that paranoia is associated with decreased cooperation and increased punishment in the Dictator Game (where cooperating and punishing involve paying a cost to respectively increase or decrease a partner's income). These findings suggest that paranoia might be associated with variation in subjective Reward from positive and/or negative Social decision-making, a possibility we explore using a preregistered experiment with U.S.-based participants (n = 2,004). Paranoia was associated with increased self-reported enjoyment of negative Social interactions and decreased self-reported enjoyment of proSocial interactions. More paranoid participants attributed stronger harmful intent to a partner. Harmful intent attributions and the enjoyment of negative Social interactions positively predicted the tendency to pay to punish the partner. Cooperation was positively associated with the tendency to enjoy proSocial interactions and increased with participant age. There was no main effect of paranoia on tendency to cooperate in this setting. We discuss these findings in light of previous research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Age and Gender Effects in Sensitivity to Social Rewards in Adolescents and Young Adults
Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 2019Co-Authors: Sibel Altikulac, Lucy Foulkes, Marieke G.n. Bos, Eveline A. Crone, Jorien Van HoornAbstract:Adolescence is a sensitive period for socio-cultural processing and a vast literature has established that adolescents are exceptionally attuned to the Social context. Theoretical accounts posit that the Social Reward of Social interactions plays a large role in adolescent sensitivity to the Social context. Yet, to date it is unclear how sensitivity to Social Reward develops across adolescence and young adulthood and whether there are gender differences. The present cross-sectional study (N = 271 participants, age 11-28 years) examined age and gender effects in self-reported sensitivity to different types of Social Rewards. In order to achieve this aim, the Dutch Social Reward Questionnaire for Adolescents was validated. Findings revealed that each type of Social Reward was characterized by distinct age and gender effects. Feeling Rewarded by gaining positive attention from others showed a peak in late adolescence, while enjoying positive reciprocal relationships with others showed a linear increase with age. Enjoying cruel behavior toward others decreased with age for girls, while boys showed no changes with age and reported higher levels across ages. Reward from giving others control showed a mid-adolescent dip, while enjoying group interactions did not show any changes with age. Taken together, the results imply that the Social Reward of Social interactions is a nuanced and complex construct, which encompasses multiple components that show unique effects with age and gender. These findings enable us to gain further traction on the ubiquitous effects of the Social context on decision-making in adolescent's lives.
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Social Reward Questionnaire-Adolescent Version and its association with callous-unemotional traits.
Royal Society open science, 2017Co-Authors: Lucy Foulkes, Eamon Mccrory, Craig S. Neumann, Ruth Roberts, Essi VidingAbstract:During adolescence, Social interactions are a potent source of Reward. However, no measure of Social Reward value exists for this age group. In this study, we adapted the adult Social Reward Questi...
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Is there heightened sensitivity to Social Reward in adolescence
Current opinion in neurobiology, 2016Co-Authors: Lucy Foulkes, Sarah-jayne BlakemoreAbstract:During adolescence, individuals are particularly susceptible to Social influence. One explanation for this is that Social stimuli have a heightened Reward value at this age. To date, most evidence for heightened Social Reward in adolescence is found in the animal literature. Human adolescents show increased activation in fronto-striatal brain regions to Rewarding Social stimuli, but also to negative Social stimuli, suggesting that adolescence may be a period of hypersensitivity to all Social stimuli. Additional evidence from humans and animals suggest that the presence of others may heighten the value of non-Social Rewards; these findings should be incorporated into theories of Social Reward in adolescence.
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Psychopathic traits and Social Reward
2015Co-Authors: Lucy FoulkesAbstract:Psychopathy is a personality disorder defined by atypical affective and interpersonal functioning, and impulsive and antiSocial behaviour. This thesis explored associations between psychopathic traits and Social Reward processing in adults, and callous-unemotional (CU) traits and Social Reward processing in adolescents. The goal was to investigate what could potentially explain the atypical Social behaviour seen in these individuals. In this thesis, five research questions were proposed. Firstly, in Chapter 2: What types of Social interactions and relationships are valued by individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits? Secondly, in Chapter 3: What is the structure of Social Reward? Thirdly, in Chapter 4: In what way are psychopathic traits in adults associated with self-report and experimental measures of Social Reward? Finally, in Chapter 5: What is Socially Rewarding for adolescents, and in what way is this associated with callous-unemotional traits? The principal findings were as follows. In Chapter 2, I found that individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits were not motivated to have affiliative, long-term relationships. In Chapter 3, I developed and validated the Social Reward Questionnaire, a measure of individual differences in Social Reward value. In Chapter 4, I found that adults with high levels of psychopathic traits showed a pattern of ‘inverted’ Social Reward, in which being cruel was enjoyable and being kind was not. Additionally, Social approval may have Reward value for individuals with high levels of interpersonal psychopathic traits. In Chapter 5, I validated the Social Reward Questionnaire – Adolescent Version for use with 11-16 year olds. Like adults with high levels of psychopathic traits, adolescents with high levels of CU traits displayed a pattern of ‘inverted’ Social Reward. Together, these studies are an important initial exploration of the role that atypical Social Reward processing may play in explaining the problematic Social behaviour seen in psychopathy.
Gregor Kohls - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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measuring Social motivation using signal detection and Reward responsiveness
PLOS ONE, 2016Co-Authors: Coralie Chevallier, Gregor Kohls, Natasha A Tonge, Lou Safra, David Kahn, Judith Miller, Robert T. SchultzAbstract:BACKGROUND Recent trends in psychiatry have emphasized the need for a shift from categorical to dimensional approaches. Of critical importance to this transformation is the availability of tools to objectively quantify behaviors dimensionally. The present study focuses on Social motivation, a dimension of behavior that is central to a range of psychiatric conditions but for which a particularly small number of assays currently exist. METHODS In Study 1 (N = 48), healthy adults completed a monetary Reward task and a Social Reward task, followed by completion of the Chapman Physical and Social Anhedonia Scales. In Study 2 (N = 26), an independent sample was recruited to assess the robustness of Study 1's findings. RESULTS The Reward tasks were analyzed using signal detection theory to quantify how much Reward cues bias participants' responses. In both Study 1 and Study 2, Social anhedonia scores were negatively correlated with change in response bias in the Social Reward task but not in the monetary Reward task. A median split on Social anhedonia scores confirmed that participants with high Social anhedonia showed less change in response bias in the Social Reward task compared to participants with low Social anhedonia. CONCLUSIONS This study confirms that Social anhedonia selectively affects how much an individual changes their behavior based on the presence of Socially Rewarding cues and establishes a tool to quantify Social Reward responsiveness dimensionally.
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Diminished Social Reward anticipation in the broad autism phenotype as revealed by event-related brain potentials
Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2015Co-Authors: Anthony Cox, Gregor Kohls, Adam J. Naples, Cora E. Mukerji, Marika C. Coffman, Helena J. V. Rutherford, Linda C. Mayes, James C. McpartlandAbstract:Diminished responsivity to Reward incentives is a key contributor to the Social-communication problems seen in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Social motivation theories suggest that individuals with ASD do not experience Social interactions as Rewarding, leading to negative consequences for the development of brain circuitry subserving Social information. In this study, we examined neural responses to Social and non-Social Reward anticipation in 35 typically developing young adults, examining modulation of Reward sensitivity by level of autistic traits. Using an Event-related potential incentive-delay task incorporating novel, more ecologically valid forms of Reward, higher expression of autistic traits was associated with an attenuated P3 response to the anticipation of Social (simulated real-time video feedback from an observer), but not non-Social (candy), Rewards. Exploratory analyses revealed that this was unrelated to mentalizing ability. The P3 component reflects motivated attention to Reward signals, suggesting attenuated motivation allocation specific to Social incentives. The study extends prior findings of atypical Reward anticipation in ASD, demonstrating that attenuated Social Reward responsiveness extends to autistic traits in the range of typical functioning. Results support the development of innovative paradigms for investigating Social and non-Social Reward responsiveness. Insight into vulnerabilities in Reward processing is critical for understanding Social function in ASD.
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Responsivity to familiar versus unfamiliar Social Reward in children with autism
Journal of neural transmission (Vienna Austria : 1996), 2014Co-Authors: Azarakhsh Pankert, Kilian Pankert, Beate Herpertz-dahlmann, Kerstin Konrad, Gregor KohlsAbstract:In autism spectrum disorders (ASD), Social motivation theories suggest that the core Social communication problems seen in children with ASD arise from diminished responsiveness to Social Reward. Although clinical and experimental data support these theories, the extent to which the Reward deficit in ASD is unique for Social Rewards remains unclear. With the present investigation, we aimed to provide insight into the degree to which Sociality as well as familiarity of Reward incentives impact motivated goal-directed behavior in children with ASD. To do so, we directly compared the influence of familiar versus unfamiliar Social Reward relative to nonSocial, monetary Reward in children with ASD relative to age- and IQ-matched typically developing controls (TDC) using a visual and auditory incentive go/nogo task with Reward contingencies for successful response inhibitions. We found that children with ASD responded stronger to visual familiar and unfamiliar Social Reward as well as to nonSocial, monetary Reward than TDC. While the present data are at odds with predictions made by Social motivation theories, individual variations beyond clinical diagnosis, such as Reward exposure across various Social settings, help explain the pattern of results. The findings of this study stress the necessity for additional research on intra-individual as well as environmental factors that contribute to Social Reward responsiveness in individuals with ASD versus other neuropsychiatric disorders such as ADHD or conduct disorder.
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The nucleus accumbens is involved in both the pursuit of Social Reward and the avoidance of Social punishment.
Neuropsychologia, 2013Co-Authors: Gregor Kohls, Michael T. Perino, James M. Taylor, Elizabeth N. Madva, Sarah J. Cayless, Vanessa Troiani, Elinora Price, Susan Faja, John D. Herrington, Robert T. SchultzAbstract:Abstract Human Social motivation is characterized by the pursuit of Social Reward and the avoidance of Social punishment. The ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens (VS/Nacc), in particular, has been implicated in the Reward component of Social motivation, i.e., the ‘wanting’ of Social incentives like approval. However, it is unclear to what extent the VS/Nacc is involved in avoiding Social punishment like disapproval, an intrinsically pleasant outcome. Thus, we conducted an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study using a Social incentive delay task with dynamic video stimuli instead of static pictures as Social incentives in order to examine participants’ motivation for Social Reward gain and Social punishment avoidance. As predicted, the anticipation of avoidable Social punishment (i.e., disapproval) recruited the VS/Nacc in a manner that was similar to VS/Nacc activation observed during the anticipation of Social Reward gain (i.e., approval). Stronger VS/Nacc activity was accompanied by faster reaction times of the participants to obtain those desired outcomes. This data support the assumption that dynamic Social incentives elicit robust VS/Nacc activity, which likely reflects motivation to obtain Social Reward and to avoid Social punishment. Clinical implications regarding the involvement of the VS/Nacc in Social motivation dysfunction in autism and Social phobia are discussed.
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Neural evidence for an association between Social proficiency and sensitivity to Social Reward
Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2013Co-Authors: Anna Gossen, Gregor Kohls, John D. Herrington, Robert T. Schultz, Sarah E. Groppe, Lina Winkler, Gerhard Gründer, Katja N. SpreckelmeyerAbstract:Data from developmental psychology suggests a link between the growth of socio-emotional competences and the infant's sensitivity to the salience of Social stimuli. The aim of the present study was to find evidence for this relationship in healthy adults. Thirty-five participants were recruited based on their score above the 85th or below the 15th percentile of the empathy quotient questionnaire (EQ, Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright, 2004). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare neural responses to cues of Social and non-Social (monetary) Reward. When compared to the high-EQ group, the low-EQ group showed reduced activity of the brain s Reward system, specifically the right nucleus accumbens, in response to cues predictive of Social Reward (videos showing gestures of approval)—but increased activation in this area for monetary incentives. Our data provide evidence for a link between self-reported deficits in Social proficiency and reduced sensitivity to the motivational salience of positive Social stimuli.
Cheryl L. Sisk - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Dopamine mediates testosterone-induced Social Reward in male Syrian hamsters.
Endocrinology, 2013Co-Authors: Margaret R. Bell, Cheryl L. SiskAbstract:Adolescent maturation of responses to Social stimuli is essential for adult-typical sociosexual behavior. Naturally occurring developmental changes in male Syrian hamster responses to a salient Social cue, female hamster vaginal secretions (VS), provide a good model system for investigating neuroendocrine mechanisms of adolescent change in Social Reward. Sexually naive adult, but not juvenile, males show a conditioned place preference (CPP) to VS, indicating that VS is not Rewarding before puberty. In this series of experiments, the authors examined the roles of testosterone and dopamine receptor activation in mediating the adolescent gain in positive valence of VS. Experiment 1 showed that testosterone replacement is necessary for gonadectomized adult hamsters to form a CPP to VS. Experiment 2 showed that testosterone treatment is sufficient for juvenile hamsters to form a CPP to VS, and that the dopamine receptor antagonist haloperidol blocks formation of a CPP to VS in these animals. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrated that the disruption of VS CPP with low doses of haloperidol is the result of a reduction in the attractive properties of VS and not attributable to aversive properties of haloperidol. Together, these studies demonstrate that the unconditioned Rewarding properties of a Social cue necessary for successful adult sociosexual interactions come about as the result of the pubertal increase in circulating testosterone in male hamsters. Furthermore, this Social Reward can be prevented by dopamine receptor antagonism, indicating that hypothalamic and/or mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic circuits are targets for hormonal activation of Social Reward.
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Maturation of Social Reward in adult male Syrian hamsters does not depend on organizational effects of pubertal testosterone
Hormones and behavior, 2012Co-Authors: Kayla C. De Lorme, Margaret R. Bell, Cheryl L. SiskAbstract:The Rewarding value of female sexual stimuli develops across puberty, as sexually-naive adult, but not prepubertal, male hamsters show a conditioned place preference (CPP) for both vaginal secretions and a receptive female. Similarly, only adults show an endogenous testosterone surge when they encounter vaginal secretions. Testosterone by itself can condition a place preference in male rodents. Therefore, Experiment 1 assessed whether the endogenous testosterone surge elicited by vaginal secretions is necessary to show a CPP. Both gonad-intact and gonadectomized, testosterone-treated adult males showed a CPP for vaginal secretions, indicating that the Rewarding value of this Social cue is independent of an endogenous testosterone surge. However, organizational effects of pubertal testosterone could be necessary for adolescent development of Social Reward, as pubertal testosterone organizes adult-typical expression of sexual behavior. To investigate this possibility, in Experiment 2, sexually-naive prepubertal and adult male hamsters were gonadectomized and received testosterone-filled capsules four weeks later. Testing began after two weeks of testosterone replacement. Adult males showed a CPP for both vaginal secretions and a receptive female, whether or not they experienced pubertal testosterone. Thus, the acquisition of positive valence of sexual stimuli is not organized by pubertal testosterone. Taken together, the ability of female sexual stimuli to serve as an unconditioned Reward to adult male hamsters is independent of the chemosensory-induced endogenous testosterone surge and also organizational effects of pubertal testosterone. Instead, sexual Reward may be dependent either on activational effects of testosterone or gonadal hormone-independent mechanisms.
Erika E. Forbes - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Social and Non-Social Reward Processing and Depressive Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Adolescents.
Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 2019Co-Authors: Kristen L. Eckstrand, Marissa Cross, Nicholas B. Allen, Jennifer S. Silk, Luis E. Flores, Kati L. Healey, Michael P. Marshal, Erika E. ForbesAbstract:Sexual minority adolescents (SMA) are more likely to suffer from depression, putatively through experiences of Social stress and victimization interfering with processing of Social Reward. Alterations in neural Reward networks, which develop during adolescence, confer risk for the development of depression. Employing both Social and monetary Reward fMRI tasks, this is the first neuroimaging study to examine function in Reward circuitry as a potential mechanism of mental health disparities between SMA and heterosexual adolescents. Eight SMA and 38 heterosexual typically developing adolescents completed self-report measures of depression and victimization, and underwent fMRI during monetary and peer Social Reward tasks in which they received positive monetary or Social feedback, respectively. Compared with heterosexual adolescents, SMA had greater interpersonal depressive symptoms and exhibited blunted neural responses to Social, but not monetary, Reward in socioaffective processing regions that are associated with depressive symptoms. Specifically, compared with heterosexual adolescents, SMA exhibited decreased activation in the right medial prefrontal cortex, left anterior insula (AI), and right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) in response to being liked. Lower response in the right TPJ was associated with greater interpersonal depressive symptoms. These results suggest that interpersonal difficulties and the underlying substrates of response to Social Reward (perhaps more so than response to monetary Reward) may confer risk for development of depressive symptoms in SMA.
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Adolescents’ neural response to Social Reward and real-world emotional closeness and positive affect
Cognitive affective & behavioral neuroscience, 2018Co-Authors: Luis E. Flores, Kristen L. Eckstrand, Nicholas B. Allen, Jennifer S. Silk, Marigrace Ambrosia, Kati L. Healey, Erika E. ForbesAbstract:Feeling emotionally close to others during Social interactions is a ubiquitous and meaningful experience that can elicit positive affect. The present study integrates functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to investigate whether neural response to Social Reward (1) is related to the experience of emotional closeness and (2) moderates the association between emotional closeness and positive affect during and following Social interactions. In this study, 34 typically developing adolescents (ages 14-18 years) completed a Social-Reward fMRI task, a monetary-Reward fMRI task, and a 2-week EMA protocol regarding their Social and affective experiences. Adolescents with greater right posterior superior temporal sulcus/temporoparietal junction (pSTS/TPJ) response to Social Reward reported greater mean momentary emotional closeness. Neural response to Social Reward in the right pSTS/TPJ moderated how strongly momentary emotional closeness was associated with both concurrent positive affect and future peak happiness, but in different ways. Although emotional closeness had a significant positive association with concurrent positive affect among adolescents at both high and low right pSTS/TPJ response based on a follow-up simple slopes test, this association was stronger for adolescents with low right pSTS/TPJ response. In contrast, emotional closeness had a significant positive association with future peak happiness among adolescents with high right pSTS/TPJ response, but not among those with low right pSTS/TPJ response. These findings demonstrate the importance of neural response to Social Reward in key Social processing regions for everyday experiences of emotional closeness and positive affect in the context of Social interactions.
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Heightened activity in Social Reward networks is associated with adolescents’ risky sexual behaviors
Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2017Co-Authors: Kristen L. Eckstrand, Sophia Choukas-bradley, Arpita Mohanty, Marissa Cross, Nicholas B. Allen, Jennifer S. Silk, Neil P. Jones, Erika E. ForbesAbstract:Abstract Adolescent sexual risk behavior can lead to serious health consequences, yet few investigations have addressed its neurodevelopmental mechanisms. Social neurocircuitry is postulated to underlie the development of risky sexual behavior, and response to Social Reward may be especially relevant. Typically developing adolescents ( N = 47; 18M, 29F; 16.3 ± 1.4 years; 42.5% sexual intercourse experience) completed a Social Reward fMRI task and reported their sexual risk behaviors (e.g., lifetime sexual partners) on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Neural response and functional connectivity to Social Reward were compared for adolescents with higher- and lower-risk sexual behavior. Adolescents with higher-risk sexual behaviors demonstrated increased activation in the right precuneus and the right temporoparietal junction during receipt of Social Reward. Adolescents with higher-risk sexual behaviors also demonstrated greater functional connectivity between the precuneus and the temporoparietal junction bilaterally, dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, and left anterior insula/ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. The greater activation and functional connectivity in self-referential, Social Reward, and affective processing regions among higher sexual risk adolescents underscores the importance of Social influence underlying sexual risk behaviors. Furthermore, results suggest an orientation towards and sensitivity to Social Rewards among youth engaging in higher-risk sexual behavior, perhaps as a consequence of or vulnerability to such behavior.
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Social Reward in Youth at Risk for Depression: A Preliminary Investigation of Subjective and Neural Differences
Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology, 2015Co-Authors: Thomas M. Olino, Jennifer S. Silk, Catherine Osterritter, Erika E. ForbesAbstract:Abstract Objective: Offspring of depressed parents are at risk for developing depression at rates higher than the general population. One potential mechanism linking parent and offspring depression involves attenuated Reward function. Despite the importance of Social incentives for adolescents, no previous studies have relied on active Social incentive Reward paradigms in youth at risk for depression. The present study examined differences in youth self- and parent-report measures of and neural response to Social Reward between youth of mothers with and those of mothers without a history of depression. Methods: Imaging data were collected on 10 youth with a depressed parent and 23 youth without depressed parent, which included a task examining neural response to Social Rewards. Youth and parents also completed self-report measures of Social Reward. Results: Offspring of depressed parents had lower levels of parent-reported affiliation and reduced neural response to Social Reward in the ventral striatum an...