Neural correlates of self-evaluation in relation to age and pubertal development in early adolescent girls

• Published in: Developmental cognitive neuroscience 2020-08, Vol.44, p.100799-100799, Article 100799
• Main Authors: Barendse, Marjolein E.A., Cosme, Danielle, Flournoy, John C., Vijayakumar, Nandita, Cheng, Theresa W., Allen, Nicholas B., Pfeifer, Jennifer H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activation; Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - physiology; Age Factors; Child; Diagnostic Self Evaluation; Female; fMRI; Hormones; Humans; Original Research; Puberty; Puberty - physiology; Self-concept
• ISSN: 1878-9293; 1878-9307
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100799

•Self-evaluation of social traits by adolescent girls elicited activation in midline brain regions.•Age and pubertal development were not related to neural activation during self-evaluation.•Higher vmPFC and pgACC activation were related to a higher probability of endorsing negative traits.•Higher activation in those regions was also related to a lower probability of endorsing positive traits. Early adolescence is marked by puberty, and is also a time of flux in self-perception. However, there is limited research on the neural correlates of self-evaluation in relation to pubertal development. The current study examined relationships between neural activation during self-evaluation of social traits and maturation (age and pubertal development) in a community sample of female adolescents. Participants (N = 143; age M = 11.65, range = 10.0–13.0) completed a functional MRI task in which they judged the self-descriptiveness of adjectives for prosocial, antisocial and social status-related traits. Pubertal development was based on self-report, and was also examined using morning salivary testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and estradiol. Contrary to preregistered hypotheses, neither age nor pubertal development were related to neural activation during self-evaluation. We further examined whether activation in two regions-of-interest, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and perigenual anterior cingulate (pgACC), was associated with trial-level self-evaluative behavior. In line with preregistered hypotheses, higher vmPFC and pgACC activation during self-evaluation were both associated with a higher probability of endorsing negative adjectives, and a lower probability of endorsing positive adjectives. Future studies should examine neural trajectories of self-evaluation longitudinally, and investigate the predictive value of the neural correlates of self-evaluation for adolescent mental health.