Increased Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Adolescence Benefits Prosocial Reinforcement Learning.

ABSTRACT: Learning which of our behaviors benefit others contributes to forming social relationships. An important period for the development of (pro)social behavior is adolescence, which is characterized by transitions in social connections. It is, however, unknown how learning to benefit others develops across adolescence and what the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms are. In this functional neuroimaging study, we assessed learning for self and others (i.e., prosocial learning) and the concurring neural tracking of prediction errors across adolescence (ages 9-21, N = 74). Participants performed a two-choice probabilistic reinforcement learning task in which outcomes resulted in monetary consequences for themselves, an unknown other, or no one. Participants from all ages were able to learn

SUBMITTER: Westhoff B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8529395 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature