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Development of the social brain from age three to twelve years

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Listed:
  • Hilary Richardson

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Grace Lisandrelli

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Alexa Riobueno-Naylor

    (Wellesley College)

  • Rebecca Saxe

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Human adults recruit distinct networks of brain regions to think about the bodies and minds of others. This study characterizes the development of these networks, and tests for relationships between neural development and behavioral changes in reasoning about others’ minds (‘theory of mind’, ToM). A large sample of children (n = 122, 3–12 years), and adults (n = 33), watched a short movie while undergoing fMRI. The movie highlights the characters’ bodily sensations (often pain) and mental states (beliefs, desires, emotions), and is a feasible experiment for young children. Here we report three main findings: (1) ToM and pain networks are functionally distinct by age 3 years, (2) functional specialization increases throughout childhood, and (3) functional maturity of each network is related to increasingly anti-correlated responses between the networks. Furthermore, the most studied milestone in ToM development, passing explicit false-belief tasks, does not correspond to discontinuities in the development of the social brain.

Suggested Citation

  • Hilary Richardson & Grace Lisandrelli & Alexa Riobueno-Naylor & Rebecca Saxe, 2018. "Development of the social brain from age three to twelve years," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-03399-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03399-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Bianchi, Pascal & Elgui, Kevin & Portier, François, 2023. "Conditional independence testing via weighted partial copulas," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Pircalabelu, Eugen, 2022. "WB-graphs: a within versus between group similarity interplay," LIDAM Discussion Papers ISBA 2022007, Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA).
    3. Pedro L Ferreira & Francisco C Santos & Sérgio Pequito, 2021. "Risk sensitivity and theory of mind in human coordination," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(7), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Walbrin, Jon & Koldewyn, Kami, 2019. "Dyadic interaction processing in the posterior temporal cortex," OSF Preprints 5vygk, Center for Open Science.

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