Prosocial behavior and empathy are important aspects of developing social relations in childhood. Prior studies showed protracted structural development of social brain regions associated with prosocial behavior. However, it remains unknown how structure of the social brain is influenced by genetic or environmental factors, and whether overlapping heritability factors explain covariance in structure of the social brain and behavior. The current study examined this hypothesis in a twin sample (aged 7–9-year; N = 512). Bilateral measures of surface area and cortical thickness of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), and precuneus were analyzed. Results showed genetic contributions to surface area and cortical thickness for all brain regions. We found additional shared environmental influences for TPJ, suggesting that this region might be relatively more sensitive to social experiences. Genetic factors also influenced parent-reported prosocial behavior (A = 45%) and empathy (A = 59%). We provided initial evidence that the precuneus shares genetically determined variance with empathy, suggesting a possible small genetic overlap (9%) in brain structure and empathy. These findings show that structure of the social brain and empathy are driven by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, with some factors overlapping for brain structure and behavior.

亲社会的行为和同理心是儿童时期发展社会关系的重要方面。先前的研究表明，与亲社会行为相关的社交脑区域的结构发展持续时间较长。但是，尚不清楚遗传或环境因素如何影响社交大脑的结构，以及遗传力因素是否重叠解释社交大脑结构和行为的协方差。当前的研究在双胞胎样本（年龄7–9岁； N = 512）中检验了该假设。分析了前额内侧皮层（mPFC），颞顶顶交界处（TPJ），颞上颞沟（pSTS）和前突的表面积和皮质厚度的双边测量值。结果表明，遗传对所有大脑区域的表面积和皮质厚度都有贡献。我们发现TPJ有其他共同的环境影响，这表明该地区对社会经历可能相对较敏感。遗传因素也影响父母报告的亲社会行为（A = 45％）和同理心（A = 59％）。我们提供了初步证据，即早孕与移情共享遗传决定的方差，表明脑结构和移情可能存在小的遗传重叠（9％）。这些发现表明，社交大脑和共情的结构是由遗传和环境因素共同驱动的，其中一些因素在大脑结构和行为上重叠。我们提供了初步证据，即早孕与移情共享遗传决定的方差，表明脑结构和移情可能存在小的遗传重叠（9％）。这些发现表明，社交大脑和共情的结构是由遗传和环境因素共同驱动的，其中一些因素在大脑结构和行为上重叠。我们提供了初步证据，即早孕与移情共享遗传决定的方差，表明脑结构和移情可能存在小的遗传重叠（9％）。这些发现表明，社交大脑和共情的结构是由遗传和环境因素共同驱动的，其中一些因素在大脑结构和行为上重叠。