Neural correlates of social exclusion during adolescence: understanding the distress of peer rejection
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles,2Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center,3Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles,4Department of Psychology, University of Oregon,5Department of Neuroscience, University of California, Los Angeles,6University of California, Los Angeles Center for Culture, Brain and Development,7Brain Research Institute,8Department of Neurology, Department of Pharmacology, & Department of Radiological Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine and 9Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Developmental research has demonstrated the harmful effects of peer rejection during adolescence; however, the neural mechanisms responsible for this salience remain unexplored. In this study, 23 adolescents were excluded during a ball-tossing game in which they believed they were playing with two other adolescents during an fMRI scan; in reality, participants played with a preset computer program. Afterwards, participants reported their exclusion-related distress and rejection sensitivity, and parents reported participants’ interpersonal competence. Similar to findings in adults, during social exclusion adolescents displayed insular activity that was positively related to self-reported distress, and right ventrolateral prefrontal activity that was negatively related to self-reported distress. Findings unique to adolescents indicated that activity in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (subACC) related to greater distress, and that activity in the ventral striatum related to less distress and appeared to play a role in regulating activity in the subACC and other regions involved in emotional distress. Finally, adolescents with higher rejection sensitivity and interpersonal competence scores displayed greater neural evidence of emotional distress, and adolescents with higher interpersonal competence scores also displayed greater neural evidence of regulation, perhaps suggesting that adolescents who are vigilant regarding peer acceptance may be most sensitive to rejection experiences.
Keywords: peer rejection; adolescence; functional magnetic resonance imaging
Correspondence should be addressed to: Carrie L. Masten, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA. E-mail: cmasten{at}ucla.edu
Received October 27, 2008. Accepted February 9, 2009.