Neuroscientists who have studied bullying have primarily focused on the psychopathology of diagnosable offenders or the resulting symptomatology of victimization. Less attention has been given to theories that suggest that bullying may be an interpersonal strategy. In an exploratory study, we recruited a sample of adolescents (N = 24) who engaged in high rates of delinquent behavior and collected self-report ratings of bullying behaviors. During an fMRI scan, adolescents observed instances of social exclusion and social inclusion. The adolescents' self-reported bullying was associated with greater ventral striatum, amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and insula activation when viewing social exclusion > social inclusion. Activation in these regions is commonly associated with reward-learning, salience monitoring, and motivational processes, suggesting that bullies show altered processing of interpersonal cues and social dynamic experiences in their environment. Our findings highlight the need for developmental neuroscientists to further explore the role of social motivation in processing socio-affective information, with a particular focus on goal-directed antisocial behavior.

中文翻译：

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青少年欺凌与观看社会排斥的神经激活之间的联系。


研究欺凌行为的神经科学家主要关注可诊断的犯罪者的精神病理学或由此产生的受害症状。人们较少关注那些表明欺凌可能是一种人际策略的理论。在一项探索性研究中，我们招募了犯罪行为发生率较高的青少年样本（N = 24），并收集了欺凌行为的自我报告评级。在功能磁共振成像扫描期间，青少年观察到社会排斥和社会包容的情况。当青少年看到社会排斥>社会包容时，自我报告的欺凌行为与大腹侧纹状体、杏仁核、内侧前额叶皮层和岛叶激活有关。这些区域的激活通常与奖励学习、显着性监控和动机过程相关，这表明欺凌者在其环境中表现出对人际线索和社会动态体验的处理方式的改变。我们的研究结果强调了发展神经科学家需要进一步探索社会动机在处理社会情感信息中的作用，特别关注目标导向的反社会行为。