During adolescence, self-concept develops profoundly, accompanied by major changes in hormone levels. Self-evaluations become more complex, and peers and their opinions increasingly salient. Neuroimaging studies have investigated self- and other-related processing in adolescents, however, the influence of similarity of peers on these processes is still unclear, as well as functional connectivity underlying such processes. We investigated the effect of peer similarity on neural activity and connectivity underlying self- and other-referential processing, by distinguishing between a similar and dissimilar peer when making other-evaluations. Moreover, we explored the association between testosterone and brain activity during self-evaluations. Sixty-six young adolescents underwent functional MRI while performing a trait judgement task in which they indicated whether an adjective described themselves, a similar or a dissimilar classmate. The ventral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) showed increased engagement in self-referential processing, and the posterior cingulate cortex and right temporal parietal junction during other-evaluations. However, activity did not differ between the similar and dissimilar other conditions. Functional connectivity of the ventral MPFC included the striatum when evaluating the similar peer and frontoparietal regions when evaluating the dissimilar peer. Furthermore, inter-individual differences in testosterone levels were positively associated with dorsal MPFC activity in males. This study provides insight into the influence of peer similarity on activity and connectivity underlying other-referential processing in young adolescents, and suggests that testosterone affects neural correlates of self-referential processing.

中文翻译：

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青少年自我和其他参照加工的神经相关性以及睾酮和同伴相似性的影响

在青春期，自我概念深刻发展，伴随着激素水平的重大变化。自我评价变得更加复杂，同行和他们的意见越来越突出。神经影像学研究调查了青少年的自我和其他相关处理，然而，同伴的相似性对这些过程的影响以及这些过程背后的功能连接仍不清楚。我们通过在进行其他评估时区分相似和不同的同伴，研究了同伴相似性对自我和他人参照处理的神经活动和连通性的影响。此外，我们在自我评估过程中探索了睾酮和大脑活动之间的关联。66 名青少年在执行特征判断任务时接受了功能性 MRI 检查，在任务中他们指出形容词是否描述了自己、相似或不同的同学。腹侧内侧前额叶皮层 (MPFC) 在自我参照处理中表现出增加的参与度，在其他评估期间，后扣带回皮层和右侧颞顶叶交界处显示出更多的参与。然而，活性在相似和不同的其他条件之间没有差异。腹侧 MPFC 的功能连接包括在评估不同对等时评估相似对等和额顶区域时的纹状体。此外，睾酮水平的个体间差异与男性背侧 MPFC 活性呈正相关。