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Developmental changes in visual responses to social interactions

Jon Walbrin1, Ioana Mihai1, Julia Landsiedel1

  • 1School of Psychology, Bangor University, Wales, United Kingdom.

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
|May 27, 2020
PubMed

Insights

The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) responds to social interactions in both children and adults. However, this response becomes more selective and widespread in the brain as individuals mature into adulthood.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Social Cognition

Background:

  • The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) is known to be selective for visually observed social interactions in adults.
  • Neural mechanisms underlying social interaction perception in children remain largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the pSTS is tuned to social interactions in children.
  • To compare the selectivity and characteristics of pSTS responses to social interactions in children versus adults.
  • To examine developmental trends in brain regions associated with social perception.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed to study brain activity.
  • Participants included children (6-12 years) and adults.
  • Brain regions analyzed included the pSTS, extrastriate body area, face selective STS, fusiform face area, and temporo-parietal junction.

Main Results:

  • Both children and adults exhibited social interaction selectivity in the right pSTS.
  • Adults showed bilateral selectivity in the pSTS, whereas children only showed it in the right hemisphere.
  • Adults demonstrated more focal and greater selectivity than children, with developmental differences observed in both hemispheres.

Conclusions:

  • The neural processing of social interactions in the pSTS becomes more selective, focal, and bilateral during development.
  • These findings suggest a continuous developmental trajectory for social interaction selectivity in the pSTS, extending into adolescence.

Keywords:
Category selectivityDevelopmentSocial interactionfMRIpSTS

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