Adolescence is a sensitive period for the development of adaptive social behaviors and social anxiety, possibly due to aspects of brain development. However, research is needed to examine interactions among age, social anxiety, and social dynamics previously shown to influence neural responding. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study examines brain function in 8–18 year-olds with varying levels of social anxiety. Interactions are examined among age, social anxiety, and two key task factors: valence and predictability of social interactions. Results demonstrate age, social anxiety severity, and each of the two key task-based factors interact to predict neural response in the caudate, middle and superior temporal gyri. In particular, among adolescents less-than 13 years of age, higher social anxiety predicted greater responding to unpredictable negative evaluations. However, in this same age group, the opposite pattern emerged during receipt of unpredictable positive evaluations, with less neural response in more anxious youth. Adolescents aged 13 and older overall showed less robust effects. We discuss these findings in terms of age- and anxiety-related differences in socioemotional processing.

青春期是适应性社交行为和社交焦虑发展的敏感时期，这可能是由于大脑发育的各个方面所致。然而，还需要研究来检验年龄、社交焦虑和社交动态之间的相互作用，这些相互作用先前已被证明会影响神经反应。目前的功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 研究检查了 8-18 岁社交焦虑程度不同的人的大脑功能。研究了年龄、社交焦虑和两个关键任务因素之间的相互作用：社交互动的效价和可预测性。结果表明，年龄、社交焦虑严重程度以及两个关键的基于任务的因素相互作用，可预测尾状核、颞中回和颞上回的神经反应。特别是，在 13 岁以下的青少年中，较高的社交焦虑预示着他们对不可预测的负面评价会有更大的反应。然而，在同一年龄组中，在收到不可预测的积极评价时出现了相反的模式，焦虑的年轻人的神经反应较少。 13 岁及以上的青少年总体上表现出不太明显的影响。我们根据社会情绪处理中与年龄和焦虑相关的差异来讨论这些发现。