1) to examine adolescents' neural responses to inclusion and exclusion by peers, in relation to the social status of participants and peers. 2) to investigate the neural correlates of the development of self-control, and individual differences…
ID
Source
Brief title
Condition
- Other condition
Synonym
Health condition
Er worden geen aandoeningen bestudeerd, het onderzoek betreft gezonde adolescenten
Research involving
Sponsors and support
Intervention
Outcome measures
Primary outcome
1) Brain activation during the processing of social inclusion and exclusion by
high status and low status peers. The Cyberball task (Williams & Jarvis, 2006)
will be used to induce feelings of social inclusion and exclusion. Cyberball is
an online ball-tossing game, which participants will play with two (fictitious)
peers, who will be represented on the screen by a picture of their face
(obtained from a face database of American teenagers, specifically designed for
use in scientific research). In the Cyberball game, participants sometimes
receive the ball as often as the other players (inclusion), but sometimes they
do not receive the ball for extended periods of time (exclusion). Each
participant will play the game twice: once with a team of 2 players of high
status (attractive faces, participants will be told that these players received
the ball very often when they played the game previously), and once with a team
of 2 low status players (less attractive faces, barely received the ball when
they played the game earlier).
2) Brain activation during decision-making in a TD task. Two versions of the
task will be administered: one with monetary rewards, and one with
candy/chocolate rewards.
3) Correlations between hormone levels (testosterone, estradiol, cortisol) and
social status (i.e., popularity with peers) and brain activity during the
Cyberball and TD tasks.
Secondary outcome
not applicable
Background summary
Adolescence, the transitional period between childhood and adulthood, is
characterized by rapid development of social, emotional and cognitive
functioning. This development is at least partially driven by brain
development, and by the effects of hormones on brain functioning (Blakemore &
Choudhoury, 2006; Crone, 2009; Steinberg, 2008).
Adolescents spend more time interacting with their peers compared to children
and adults (Steinberg & Morris, 2001), and they show an enhanced motivation to
gain a high social status (LaFontana & Cillessen, 2010). Further, adolescents
are highly sensitive to peer inclusion and exclusion (Sebastian et al., 2010).
Recent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies have shown that
exclusion by peers is associated with increased activation in brain areas
involved in the processing of (negative) emotions (e.g., ventral and subgenual
anterior cingulate cortex, insula) and in emotion regulation (e.g.,
ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) (Bolling et al., 2011; Gunther Moor et al.,
2012; Sebastian, 2011). Moreover, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation
following social exclusion is positively correlated with age, but negatively
related to self-reported distress.
In previous fMRI studies on social inclusion and exclusion in adolscents, the
social status of the participants and the excluders was not taken into account.
This is nevertheless very important, since popular adolescents often engage in
exclusion of their peers to gain and maintain their status, and being popular
is prioritized by many adolescents.
In addition to social-emotional functioning, self-control processes also show
marked development during adolscence. One form of self-control includes the
ability to resist immediate gratification in favour of larger, but delayed
rewards. This ability is frequently measured using temporal discounting (TD)
tasks, in which participants must choose between a small reward (e.g., ¤2) they
could receive today and a larger reward they could receive after a delay (e.g.,
¤10 in 30 days). In a behavioural study, it has been found that the ability to
wait for the larger delayed reward increases linearly with age in adolescents
(Scheres et al, 2006). However, fMRI studies on the neurobiological
underpinnings of this development are scarce. Furthermore, little is known
about the neural mechanisms associated with discounting of monetary vs. primary
(e.g., candy) rewards.
Study objective
1) to examine adolescents' neural responses to inclusion and exclusion by
peers, in relation to the social status of participants and peers.
2) to investigate the neural correlates of the development of self-control, and
individual differences in self-control in adolescents.
3) to test whether sex steroids (testosterone, estradiol) and cortisol are
related to social status, and to brain activation during the processing of
social inclusion/exclusion and during decision-making in a TD task.
Study design
observational, longitudinal fMRI study, consisting of two measurements,
approximately 1 year apart.
Study burden and risks
Participants will be scanned with fMRI on two separate visits, 1 year apart.
Each of the two fMRI sessions will have a duration of 45 minutes. All
participants will be familiarized with the scanner environment/ sounds with the
use of a mock scanner, which has been shown to significantly reduce anxiety in
children and adolescents. All participants will be screened extensively for any
MRI contra-indications, such as the presence of metal objects in or on their
bodies (by administering safety questionnaires to the parents and participants
multiple times, and by further checking each participant thoroughly before they
enter the scanner).
Both fMRI sessions will be followed (with a 10-minute break in between) by a
behavioural session in which participants will complete several computer tasks,
questionnaires, and two subtests of an IQ test, with a total duration of
approximately one hour.
On two consecutive days, participants will collect 3 saliva samples by passive
drool, so that pubertal hormone levels and basal cortisol levels can be
determined.
Given our strict enforcement of safety procedures, the absence of invasive
procedures, the large number of breaks, and the variety of tasks to be
administered, we believe that the risks of this study are negligible and the
burden for the participants is minimal.
Montessorilaan 3
Nijmegen 6500 HE
NL
Montessorilaan 3
Nijmegen 6500 HE
NL
Listed location countries
Age
Inclusion criteria
right-handed boys and girls aged 12-15 years
Exclusion criteria
psychiatric and/or neurological disorders, endocrine disorders, IQ < 70, claustrophobia, MRI contra-indications (i.e.,braces, metal objects inside body that cannot be removed), left-handedness.
Design
Recruitment
Followed up by the following (possibly more current) registration
No registrations found.
Other (possibly less up-to-date) registrations in this register
No registrations found.
In other registers
| Register | ID |
|---|---|
| CCMO | NL41607.091.12 |