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Developmental Sex Differences in Negative Emotion Decision-Making Dynamics: Computational Evidence and
Jiahua Xu1,2, Lei Hao1,2, Menglu Chen1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|October 13, 2021
Summary
Girls show more cautious decision-making and boys more impulsive responses to negative emotions, linked to distinct brain development patterns. These findings reveal neurodevelopmental sex differences in emotional processing and decision-making from childhood to adulthood.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Computational Psychiatry
Background:
- Sex differences in emotion and decision-making emerge early in development.
- Neurodevelopmental mechanisms underlying these sex differences are not well understood.
- Understanding these differences is crucial for typical and atypical neurodevelopmental trajectories.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate developmental sex differences in decision-making dynamics during negative emotion processing.
- Examine related neurocognitive pathways using a computational approach.
- Identify sex-specific neurodevelopmental trajectories in emotional decision-making.
Main Methods:
- Developmental functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 243 school-aged children and 78 young adults.
- Computational modeling to analyze latent decision-making dynamics.
- Analysis of brain maturity, emotional response, and functional connectivity.
Main Results:
- Girls exhibited higher response caution and evidence accumulation; boys showed more impulsive responses to negative stimuli.
- Sex differences in brain maturity correlated with evidence accumulation and emotional response.
- Girls showed age-related decreases in basolateral amygdala (BLA)-medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) coupling; boys showed increases in centromedial amygdala (CMA)-insula coupling.
Conclusions:
- Neurocomputational mechanisms underlie developmental sex differences in emotion and decision-making.
- Findings illuminate sex-specific neurodevelopmental trajectories in emotional processing.
- Implications for understanding sex differences in typical and atypical child neurodevelopment.
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