just thought interesting fyi

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Subject: BRAIN EMOTION CIRCUIT SPARKS AS TEEN GIRLS SIZE UP PEERS

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
NIH News National Institute of Mental Health
(NIMH)<http://www.nimh.nih.gov/> Embargoed for Release: Wednesday, July 15,
2009, 12:01 AM EDT 

CONTACT: 
Jules Asher, NIMH press office, 301-443-4536, <e-mail:
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BRAIN EMOTION CIRCUIT SPARKS AS TEEN GIRLS SIZE UP PEERS 

What is going on in teenagers' brains as their drive for peer approval
begins to eclipse their family affiliations?  Brain scans of teens sizing
each other up reveal an emotion circuit activating more in girls as they
grow older, but not in boys. The study by Daniel Pine, M.D., of the National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of National Institutes of Health,
and colleagues, shows how emotion circuitry diverges in the male and female
brain during a developmental stage in which girls are at increased risk for
developing mood and anxiety disorders.

"During this time of heightened sensitivity to interpersonal stress and
peers' perceptions, girls are becoming increasingly preoccupied with how
individual peers view them, while boys tend to become more focused on their
status within group pecking orders," explained Pine. "However, in the study,
the prospect of interacting with peers activated brain circuitry involved in
approaching others, rather than circuitry responsible for withdrawal and
fear
<http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2008/social-phobia-patients-have-heigh
tened-reactions-to-negative-comments.shtml>, which is associated with
anxiety
<http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml>and
depression <http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml>."
  
Pine, Amanda Guyer, Ph.D., Eric Nelson, Ph.D., and colleagues at NIMH and
Georgia State University, report on one of the first studies to reveal the
workings of the teen brain in a simulated real-world social interaction, in
the July, 2009 issue of the journal Child Development. 

Thirty-four psychiatrically healthy males and females, aged 9 to 17, were
ostensibly participating in a study of teenagers' communications via
Internet chat rooms. They were told that after an fMRI (functional magnetic
resonance imaging) scan, which visualizes brain activity, they would chat
online with another teen from a collaborating study site. Each participant
was asked to rate his or her interest in communicating with each of 40 teens
presented on a computer screen, so they could be matched with a high
interest participant (see picture below). 

Two weeks later, the teens viewed the same faces while in an fMRI scanner.
But this time they were asked to instead rate how interested they surmised
each of the other prospective chatters would be in interacting with them. 

Only after they exited the scanner did they learn that, in fact, the faces
were of actors, not study participants, and that there would be no Internet
chat. The scenario was intended to keep the teens engaged -- maintain a high
level of anticipation/motivation -- during the tasks. This helped to ensure
that the scanner would detect contrasts in brain circuit responses to high
interest versus low interest peers.

Although the faces were selected by the researchers for their happy
expressions, their attractiveness was random, so that they appeared to be a
mix of typical peers encountered by teens.  

As expected, the teen participants deemed the same faces they initially
chose as high interest to be the peers most interested in interacting with
them. Older participants tended to choose more faces of the opposite sex
than younger ones.  When they appraised anticipated interest from peers of
high interest compared with low interest, older females showed more brain
activity than younger females in circuitry that processes social emotion.  

"This developmental shift suggested a change in socio-emotional calculus
from avoidance to approach," noted Pine.  The circuit is made up of the
nucleus accumbens (reward and motivation), hypothalamus (hormonal
activation), hippocampus (social memory) and insula (visceral/subjective
feelings).

By contrast, males showed little change in the activity of most of these
circuit areas with age, except for a decrease in activation of the insula.
This may reflect a waning of interpersonal emotional ties over time in
teenage males, as they shift their interest to groups, suggest Pine and
colleagues.  

"In females, absence of activation in areas associated with mood and anxiety
disorders, such as the amygdala, suggests that emotional responses to peers
may be driven more by a brain network related to approach than to one
related to fear and withdrawal," said Pine.  "This reflects resilience to
psychosocial stress among healthy female adolescents during this vulnerable
period." 

(PICTURE 1) Brain areas activated in approach circuit.
<http://www.nimh.nih.gov/images1/news-items/teen-anticipation-circuit-nodes.
jpg>
Nodes of a brain circuit for social emotion and approach behavior activated
more in teenage girls than in boys with age. Functional MRI data (red)
superimposed on anatomical MRI images.  Source: NIMH Emotion and Development
Branch

(PICTURE 2) Teens rated interest in peers.
<http://www.nimh.nih.gov/images1/news-items/teen-anticipation-task.jpg>
Teenage participants were first asked to rate their interest in peers with
whom they might communicate in an internet chat room (left). Two weeks
later, while in a brain scanner, they were asked to rate how interested the
same peers were in interacting with them (right).Source: NIMH Emotion and
Development Branch
 
###

The mission of the NIMH is to transform the understanding and treatment of
mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for
prevention, recovery and cure. For more information, visit the
www.nimh.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research
Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency
for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical
research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs,
visit <www.nih.gov>.
-----------------------------
REFERENCE:
Probing the neural correlates of anticipated peer evaluation in adolescence.
Guyer AE, McClure-Tone EB, Shiffrin ND, Pine DS, Nelson EE. July 2009,
"Child Development."

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