Review articleThe development of social cognition in adolescence: An integrated perspective
Introduction
Adolescence can be defined as the period of life between puberty and the achievement of self-sufficiency and independence (Blakemore and Mills, 2014). This transitional period of development has long been associated with physical, social, behavioural and cognitive changes. More recently, advances in brain imaging technology have enabled increased understanding of structural and functional changes in the human brain during this developmental period (Blakemore and Mills, 2014, Casey et al., 2008, Ernst and Fudge, 2009, Lenroot and Giedd, 2006), and how they relate to social cognitive development. This review integrates recent research on the development of social cognition in adolescence within the context of other aspects of adolescent neurocognitive development, such as motivational and affective processing, decision-making and cognitive control.
Section snippets
The social brain
Social cognition refers to the ability to make sense of the world through processing signals generated by other members of the same species (Frith, 2007) and encompasses a wide range of cognitive processes that enable individuals to understand and interact with one another (Adolphs, 1999, Frith and Frith, 2007). These include social perceptual processes such as face processing (Farroni et al., 2005), biological motion detection (Pelphrey and Carter, 2008), and joint attention (Carpenter et al.,
The social brain in adolescence
Many social changes occur during adolescence. These include the fact that, compared with children, adolescents form more complex and hierarchical peer relationships and are more sensitive to acceptance and rejection by their peers (Brown, 2004, Steinberg and Morris, 2001). Although the factors that underlie these social changes are likely to be multi-faceted, one possible contributing factor is the development of the social brain. Certain social cognitive processes, such as face processing (
Cognitive control and affective-motivational processing in adolescence
Developmental changes in social cognition and the structure and function of the social brain occur in the context of developments in a broad range of cognitive processes and the neural networks which support them. Several influential models of adolescent neurocognitive development have been proposed that focus on the relations between regulatory and affective-motivational processes and their associated neural circuits (Casey et al., 2008, Ernst and Fudge, 2009, Ernst et al., 2006, Steinberg,
Interactions between the social brain, cognitive control and affective-motivational processing in adolescence
Adolescence is a time of pronounced social-cognitive and social-affective development (Crone and Dahl, 2012), in which social factors increase in salience and value (Blakemore and Mills, 2014). While there is a growing body of work investigating the interplay between cognitive control and motivational-affective processing, less is known about the way in which these processes interact with social cognitive processes, social contexts and stimuli. Social interactions are a key source of elicited
Implications and future directions
The successful transition to adulthood requires the rapid refinement of socio-affective and regulatory abilities, social cognition, decision-making and planning in complex social contexts (Nelson et al., 2015, Nelson et al., 2005). Many adolescent-typical social behaviours, such as peer influence and sensitivity to social exclusion, involve the co-ordination of social cognition, motivational-affective processes and cognitive control, and the neural systems that support them. While all of these
Acknowledgements
EJK is supported by an MRC studentship. SJB is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, the Nuffield Foundation and the Jacobs Foundation.
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