Age-related changes in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation are associated with daily prosocial behaviors two years later

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, vol. 67, pp. 101394

Abstract

As adolescents acquire agency and become contributing members of society, it is necessary to understand how they help their community. Yet, it is unknown how prosocial behavior develops in the context of community-based prosocial behaviors that are relevant to adolescents, such as donating time to charities. In this longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging study, adolescents (N=172; mean age at wave 1=12.8) completed a prosocial task annually for three years (N=422 and 375 total behavioral and neural data points, respectively), and 14 days of daily diaries reporting on their prosocial behaviors two years later. During the task, adolescents decided how many minutes they would donate to a variety of local charities. We found that adolescents donated less time to charities from early to mid adolescence. Longitudinal whole-brain analyses revealed declines in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) activation, as well as inverted U-shaped changes in precuneus activation when adolescents donated their time from early to mid adolescence. A less steep decrease in vlPFC activation predicted greater real-life prosocial behaviors in youth's daily lives two years later. Our study elucidates the neurodevelopmental mechanisms of prosocial behavior from early to mid adolescence that have enduring effects on daily prosocial behaviors in late adolescence.

Authors 5

1. Seh‐Joo Kwon

   Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Newark, United States

   Department of Psychology, Rutgers University – Newark

2. Jorien van Hoorn Aachen Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, the Netherlands

   Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

3. Kristen A. Lindquist

   University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States

   Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

4. Mitchell J. Prinstein

   University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States

   Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

5. Eva H. Telzer

   University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States. Electronic address: ehtelzer@unc.edu

   Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill