Page 15 - Like me, or else... - Michelle Achterberg

trait aggression (Peper et al., 2015). These studies in adults thus indicate that the lateral prefrontal cortex - and specifically the DLPFC - might serve as a regulating mechanism for aggression after social evaluation. However, relatively few studies have investigated aggression following social rejection in childhood, despite the fact that children deal with social evaluations from an early age. Moreover, as the prefrontal cortex and executive functioning are still developing throughout childhood, children may be more sensitive to aggressive behavior after social rejection, as they might experience more difficulty with social emotion regulation.
Figure 1. Brain regions implicated in social evaluation processing and social emotion regulation. ACC- anterior cingulate cortex, MPFF- medial prefrontal cortex, DLPFC- dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, AI- anterior insula, VS- ventral striatum.
Neurodevelopmental models
When it comes to social evaluation processing, studies in adults have shown that a network of ACC-AI, together with subcortical regions such as the VS, are involved in the direct effects of social rejection and acceptance. With regards to controlling social rejection related aggression, it seems that the DLPFC is involved. Exactly these networks are central to neurodevelopmental models such
1
General introduction
13