Age differences in the impact of peers on adolescents’ and adults’ neural response to reward

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2014.08.010Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • The effect of peers on brain activity during reward processing is examined.

  • Peers increase adolescents’ striatal activation during receipt of rewards.

  • Adults’ striatal response to receipt of reward is not dependent on social context.

  • Peer influence on adolescents’ reward sensitivity is not limited to risk-taking.

Abstract

Prior research suggests that increased adolescent risk-taking in the presence of peers may be linked to the influence of peers on the valuation and processing of rewards during decision-making. The current study explores this idea by examining how peer observation impacts the processing of rewards when such processing is isolated from other facets of risky decision-making (e.g. risk-perception and preference, inhibitory processing, etc.). In an fMRI paradigm, a sample of adolescents (ages 14–19) and adults (ages 25–35) completed a modified High/Low Card Guessing Task that included rewarded and un-rewarded trials. Social context was manipulated by having participants complete the task both alone and while being observed by two, same-age, same-sex peers. Results indicated an interaction of age and social context on the activation of reward circuitry during the receipt of reward; when observed by peers adolescents exhibited greater ventral striatal activation than adults, but no age-related differences were evinced when the task was completed alone. These findings suggest that, during adolescence, peers influence recruitment of reward-related regions even when they are engaged outside of the context of risk-taking. Implications for engagement in prosocial, as well as risky, behaviors during adolescence are discussed.

Keywords

Adolescence
Peer influence
Reward processing
Neuroimaging
Striatum
Development

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Available online 2 September 2014