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Emotion modulation of the body-selective areas in the developing brain
Paddy Ross1, Beatrice de Gelder2, Frances Crabbe3
1Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK; Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
|May 26, 2019
Summary
Brain areas for recognizing body movements mature through adolescence. However, the ability to modulate emotions in these areas is adult-like from age seven, showing early emotional processing development.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Recognizing emotions from body movement develops throughout childhood and adolescence.
- Few studies link behavioral observations of emotion recognition to functional brain development.
- No studies have explored the development of emotion modulation in body-selective brain areas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related differences in brain activity during passive viewing of body movements.
- To examine the development of emotion modulation in body-selective brain regions across different age groups.
- To compare brain activity in children, adolescents, and adults viewing dynamic body postures conveying emotions.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan participants.
- Participants included 25 children (6-11 years), 18 adolescents (12-17 years), and 26 adults.
- Participants passively viewed short videos of angry, happy, or neutral body movements.
Main Results:
- Adults exhibited higher activity than children in bilateral body-selective areas (EBA, FBA, pSTS) and amygdala (AMY) when viewing dynamic bodies.
- Adults showed greater activity than adolescents in the right hemisphere of these areas.
- No significant age differences were found in the emotion modulation of activity within these brain regions.
Conclusions:
- Brain activity in body-selective areas increases from childhood to adulthood.
- Emotion modulation in these key brain areas is mature by age seven, suggesting early development of emotional processing.
- This study reveals a dissociation between the maturation of body perception and emotion modulation in the brain.
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