ABSTRACT

Studies have shown that adolescents are more likely than adults to take risks in the presence of peers than when alone, and that young adolescents’ risk perception is more influenced by other teenagers than by adults. The current fMRI study investigated the effect of social influence on risk perception in female adolescents (aged 12–14) and adults (aged 23–29). Participants rated the riskiness of everyday situations and were then informed about the (alleged) risk ratings of a social influence group (teenagers or adults), before rating each situation again. The results showed that adolescents adjusted their ratings to conform with others more than adults did, and both age groups were influenced more by adults than by teenagers. When there was a conflict between the participants’ own risk ratings and the ratings of the social influence group, activation was increased in the posterior medial frontal cortex, dorsal cingulate cortex and inferior frontal gyrus in both age groups. In addition, there was greater activation during no-conflict situations in the right middle frontal gyrus and bilateral parietal cortex in adults compared with adolescents. These results suggest that there are behavioral and neural differences between adolescents and adults in conflict and no-conflict social situations.

摘要

研究表明，在同龄人在场的情况下，青少年比成年人更容易冒险，而且青少年的风险感知更容易受到其他青少年的影响，而不是成年人。当前的 fMRI 研究调查了社会影响对女性青少年（12-14 岁）和成人（23-29 岁）风险感知的影响。参与者对日常情况的风险进行评级，然后被告知社会影响群体（青少年或成人）的（所谓的）风险评级，然后再对每种情况进行评级。结果表明，与成年人相比，青少年更能调整自己的评级以与他人保持一致，而且这两个年龄组受成年人的影响都比受青少年的影响要大。当参与者自身的风险评级与社会影响群体的评级存在冲突时，两个年龄组的后内侧额叶皮层、背扣带回皮层和额下回的激活增加。此外，与青少年相比，成年人的右额中回和双侧顶叶皮层在无冲突情况下的激活更大。这些结果表明，处于冲突和非冲突社会环境中的青少年和成人之间存在行为和神经差异。