Chronic Childhood Peer Rejection is Associated with Heightened Neural Responses to Social Exclusion During Adolescence.

ABSTRACT: This functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study examined subjective and neural responses to social exclusion in adolescents (age 12-15) who either had a stable accepted (n = 27; 14 males) or a chronic rejected (n = 19; 12 males) status among peers from age 6 to 12. Both groups of adolescents reported similar increases in distress after being excluded in a virtual ball-tossing game (Cyberball), but adolescents with a history of chronic peer rejection showed higher activity in brain regions previously linked to the detection of, and the distress caused by, social exclusion. Specifically, compared with stably accepted adolescents, chronically rejected adolescents displayed: 1) higher activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) during social exclusion and 2) higher activity

SUBMITTER: Will GJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4715124 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature