Sarah Louise Dziura

Neural reward network sensitivity in youth is proposed to differentially impact the effects of social environments on social outcomes. The COVID‐19 pandemic provided an opportunity to test this hypothesis within a context of diminished in‐person social interaction. We examined whether neural sensitivity to interactive social reward moderates the relationship between a frequency of interactive or passive social activity and social satisfaction. Survey reports of frequency of interactions with friends, passive social media use, and loneliness and social satisfaction were gathered in 2020 during mandated precautions limiting in‐person contact. A subset of participants (age = 10–17) previously participated in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study examining social‐interactive reward during a simulated peer interaction (surveyn = 76; survey + fMRIn = 40). We found evidence of differential response to social context, such that youth with higher neural reward sensitivity showed a negative association between a frequency of interactive connections with friends and a combined loneliness and social dissatisfaction component (LSDC) score, whereas those with lower sensitivity showed the opposite effect. Further, high reward sensitivity was associated with greater LSDC as passive social media use increased, whereas low reward sensitivity showed the opposite. This indicates that youth with greater sensitivity to social‐interactive reward may be more susceptible to negative effects of infrequent contact than their low reward‐sensitive counterparts, who instead maintain social well‐being through passive viewing of social content. These differential outcomes could have implications for supporting youth during times of major social disruption as well as ensuring mental health and well‐being more broadly.

Social interactions are a ubiquitous part of engaging in the world around us, and determining what makes an interaction successful is necessary for social well-being. This study examined the separate contributions of individual social cognitive ability and partner similarity toward social interaction success among strangers, measured by a cooperative communication task and self-reported interaction quality. Sixty participants engaged in a one-hour virtual social interaction with an unfamiliar partner (a lab confederate) including a 30-minute cooperative “mind-reading” game, and then completed several individual tasks and surveys. They then underwent a separate fMRI session in which they passively viewed video clips that varied in content. The neural responses to these videos were correlated with those of their confederate interaction partners to yield a measure of pairwise neural similarity. We found that trait empathy (assessed by the interpersonal reactivity index) and neural similarity to partner both predicted communication success in the mind-reading game. In contrast, perceived similarity to partner and (to a much lesser extent) trait mind-reading motivation predicted self-reported interaction quality. These results highlight the importance of sharing perspectives in successful communication, as well as differences between neurobiological similarity and perceived similarity in supporting different types of interaction success.

Social interactions are a ubiquitous part of engaging in the world around us, and determining what makes an interaction successful is necessary for social well-being. This study examined the separate contributions of individual social cognitive ability and partner similarity to social interaction success among strangers, measured by a cooperative communication task and self-reported interaction quality. Sixty participants engaged in a 1-h virtual social interaction with an unfamiliar partner (a laboratory confederate) including a 30-min cooperative ‘mind-reading’ game and then completed several individual tasks and surveys. They then underwent a separate functional MRI session in which they passively viewed video clips that varied in content. The neural responses to these videos were correlated with those of their confederate interaction partners to yield a measure of pairwise neural similarity. We found that trait empathy (assessed by the interpersonal reactivity index) and neural similarity to partner both predicted communication success in the mind-reading game. In contrast, perceived similarity to partner and (to a much lesser extent) trait mind-reading motivation predicted self-reported interaction quality. These results highlight the importance of sharing perspectives in successful communication as well as differences between neurobiological similarity and perceived similarity in supporting different types of interaction success.

Neural reward network sensitivity in adolescence is proposed to differentially impact the effects of social environments on social outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to test this hypothesis within a context of diminished in-person social interaction. We examined whether neural sensitivity to interactive social reward moderates the relationship between frequency of interactive or passive social activity and social satisfaction. Survey reports of frequency of interactions with friends, non-interactive social media use, feelings of social needs being met, and loneliness were gathered in 2020 during mandated precautions limiting in-person contact. A subset of participants previously participated in an fMRI study examining social interactive reward during a simulated peer interaction (Survey n = 76; Survey + fMRI n = 40). We found evidence of differential response to social context, such that adolescents with higher neural reward sensitivity had a strong positive association between frequency of interactive connections with friends and social needs met, while those with lower sensitivity showed no effect. Further, high reward sensitive adolescents reported higher levels of loneliness with increasing social media use, whereas low reward sensitive adolescents reported the opposite with the same behaviors. This indicates that youth with greater sensitivity to social interactive reward are more susceptible to negative effects of infrequent contact, whereas low reward sensitive adolescents are less susceptible and instead maintain social well-being through passive viewing of social content. These differential outcomes have implications for supporting youth during times of major social disruption as well as ensuring mental health and well-being more broadly.

Sharing emotional experiences impacts how we perceive and interact with the world, but the neural mechanisms that support this sharing are not well characterized. In this study, participants (N = 52) watched videos in an MRI scanner in the presence of an unfamiliar peer. Videos varied in valence and social context (i.e., participants believed their partner was viewing the same (joint condition) or a different (solo condition) video). Reported togetherness increased during positive videos regardless of social condition, indicating that positive contexts may lessen the experience of being alone. Two analysis approaches were used to examine both sustained neural activity averaged over time and dynamic synchrony throughout the videos. Both approaches revealed clusters in the medial prefrontal cortex that were more responsive to the joint condition. We observed a time‐averaged social‐emotion interaction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, although this region did not demonstrate synchrony effects. Alternatively, social‐emotion interactions in the amygdala and superior temporal sulcus showed greater neural synchrony in the joint compared to solo conditions during positive videos, but the opposite pattern for negative videos. These findings suggest that positive stimuli may be more salient when experienced together, suggesting a mechanism for forming social bonds.

Background: The goal of the current study was to characterize the impact of COVID-19 mitigation efforts (i.e., stay-at-home orders) on children’s mental health and parenting quality, as well as to assess predictors of children’s mental health during the pandemic. Methods: Seventy-nine children (18 with autism, 61 without) and their parents who participated in a previous study and were at least 10 years old (M = 13.8, SD = 1.7) were invited to participate in three online follow-up surveys post initiation of the stay-at-home-order (during May through November 2020). Children were predominantly White (49.4%) and not Hispanic or Latino (78.5%). Parents reported on children’s anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as their own parenting practices. Family togetherness, conflict, financial problems, and parental mental health during the pandemic were also collected. Results: Children without autism experienced a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms across the beginning of the pandemic and a significant increase in depressive symptoms from pre- to post-stay-at-home-order. Children with autism experienced a significant decrease in depressive symptoms from pre- to post- stay-at-home-order. Parents of children without autism reported a significant decrease in positive parenting from pre- to post stay-at-home-order. Higher levels of permissive parenting and financial problems were associated with children’s depressive symptoms. Higher levels of parent mental health difficulties and permissive parenting were associated with higher levels of children’s anxiety symptoms. Conclusions: Children are experiencing both improvements and declines in mental health relative to pre-pandemic. Parenting quality and parental mental health have direct impacts on children’s functioning during the pandemic.

Sharing emotional experiences impacts how we perceive and interact with the world, but the neural mechanisms that support this sharing are not well characterized. In this study, participants (N = 52) watched videos in an MRI scanner in the presence of an unfamiliar peer. Videos varied in valence and social context (i.e., participants believed their partner was viewing the same (joint condition) or a different (solo condition) video). Reported togetherness increased during positive videos regardless of social condition, indicating that positive contexts may lessen the experience of being alone. Two analysis approaches were used to examine both sustained neural activity averaged over time and dynamic synchrony throughout the videos. Both approaches revealed clusters in the medial prefrontal cortex that were more responsive to the joint condition. We observed a time-averaged social-emotion interaction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, although this region did not demonstrate synchrony effects. Alternatively, social-emotion interactions in the amygdala and superior temporal sulcus showed greater neural synchrony in the joint compared to solo conditions during positive videos, but the opposite pattern for negative videos. These findings suggest that positive stimuli may be more salient when experienced together, suggesting a mechanism for forming social bonds.

Brainhack is an innovative meeting format that promotes scientific collaboration and education in an open and inclusive environment. Departing from the formats of typical scientific workshops, these events are based on grassroots projects and training, and foster open and reproducible scientific practices. We describe here the multifaceted, lasting benefits of Brainhacks for individual participants, particularly early career researchers. We further highlight the unique contributions that Brainhacks can make to the research community, contributing to scientific progress by complementing opportunities available in conventional formats.

Published paper can be found at https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12781. This study aimed to examine changes in depression and anxiety symptoms from before to during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of 1,339 adolescents from three countries (9-18 years old, 59% female). We also examined if age, race/ethnicity, disease burden, or strictness of government restrictions moderated change in symptoms. Data from 12 longitudinal studies (10 U.S., 1 Netherlands, 1 Peru) were combined. Linear mixed effect models showed that depression symptoms increased significantly (median increase=28%), whereas anxiety symptoms remained stable overall. The most negative mental health impacts were reported by multiracial adolescents and those under ‘lockdown’ restrictions. Policy makers need to consider these impacts by investing in ways to support adolescents’ mental health during the pandemic.

Humans can rapidly encode information from faces to support social judgments and facilitate interactions with others. We can also recall complex knowledge about those individuals, such as their social relationships with others, but the time course of this process has not been examined in detail. This study addressed the temporal dynamics of emerging visual and social relationship information using EEG and representational similarity analysis. Participants (female = 23, male = 10) became familiar with a 10-person social network, and were then shown faces of that network's members while EEG was recorded. To examine the temporal dynamics of the cognitive processes related to face perception, we compared the similarity structure of neural pattern responses to models of visual processing, face shape similarity, person identity, and social relationships. We found that all types of information are associated with neural patterns after a face is seen. Visual models became significant early after image onset, and identity across a change in facial expression was uniquely associated with neural patterns at several points throughout the time course. Additionally, a model reflecting perceived frequency of social interaction was present beginning at ∼110 ms, even in the absence of an explicit task to think about the relationships among the network members. This study highlights the speed and salience of social information relating to group dynamics that are present in the brain during person perception.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTWe live our lives in social groups where complex relationships form among and around us. It is likely that some of the information about social relationships that we observe is integral during person perception, to better help us interact in differing situations with a variety of people. However, when exactly this information becomes relevant has been unclear. In this study, we present evidence that information reflecting observed relationships among a social network is spontaneously represented in whole-brain patterns shortly following presentation of a face. These results are consistent with neuroimaging studies showing spontaneous spatial representation of social network characteristics, and contribute novel insights into the timing of these neural processes.