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University of London Thesis 2 8 0 9 2 8 8 7 1 4 REFERENCE ONLY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON THESIS Degree plnib Year 2au^7 Name of Author COPYRIGHT *----------------- This is a thesis accepted for a Higher Degree of the University of London. It is an unpublished typescript and the copyright is held by the author. All persons consulting the thesis must read and abide by the Copyright Declaration below. COPYRIGHT DECLARATION I recognise that the copyright of the above-described thesis rests with the author and that no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. LOAN Theses may not be lent to individuals, but the University Library may lend a copy to approved libraries within the United Kingdom, for consultation solely on the premises of those libraries. Application should be made to: The Theses Section, University of London Library, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU. REPRODUCTION University of London theses may not be reproduced without explicit written permission from the University of London Library. Enquiries should be addressed to the Theses Section of the Library. Regulations concerning reproduction vary according to the date of acceptance of the thesis and are listed below as guidelines. A. Before 1962. Permission granted only upon the prior written consent of the author. (The University Library will provide addresses where possible). B. 1962 - 1974. In many cases the author has agreed to permit copying upon completion of a Copyright Declaration. C. 1975 - 1988. Most theses may be copied upon completion of a Copyright Declaration. D. 1989 onwards. Most theses may be copied. This thesis comes within category D. □ This copy has been deposited in the Library _____________of This copy has been deposited in the University of London Library, Senate □ House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU. T h e De v e l o p m e n t o f S o c ia l C o g n it io n Du r in g A d o l e s c e n c e Suparna Choudhury BSc. (Hons) Behavioural & Brain Sciences Unit, Institute of Child Health University College London, UK nwi A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of London Prepared under the supervision of Professor Tony Charman and Dr Sarah-Jayne Blakemore October 2006 1 UMI Number: U592712 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U592712 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 A bstract A b s t r a c t This thesis aims to investigate the development of social cognition during adolescence. Neuroimaging research has provided new evidence for significant developments of the brain during adolescence, contesting old notions that the human brain reaches maturity by childhood. The prefrontal, parietal and superior temporal cortices have been highlighted as the regions that undergo the most prolonged and profound structural change. Given the association of these brain areas with social cognitive tasks, including perspective taking, intention understanding and motor imagery, this series of studies have sought to investigate the social cognitive consequences of these brain developments. The first study in this thesis investigated the development of perspective taking between late childhood and adulthood and found that perspective taking develops in terms of efficiency and possibly strategy during adolescence. The second study investigated perspective taking in adult patients with positive symptoms of schizophrenia, including delusions of persecution, and suggested differences in processing one’s own and other people’s perspectives in patients compared to normal controls. The third study used fMRI to investigate the development of the neural circuitry for intentional causality during adolescence and found a shift from relatively higher activity in superior temporal cortex during adolescence to relatively higher activity in medial prefrontal cortex in adulthood. In light of motor theories of social cognition, the fourth study comprised three motor imagery experiments that investigated the development of action representation during adolescence. Results suggested that the action representation system is refined during adolescence. The final study compared action representation in typically developing adolescents and those with autism spectrum disorders and found no differences in performance between groups. Together, these studies have shown that certain social cognitive abilities develop during adolescence. The relation between social and motor cognition is discussed from a developmental perspective, as well as the link to brain maturation during adolescence. Finally speculations are made about how these processes may become dysfunctional in psychopathology. 2 Acknowledgements A cknowledgements My sincere thanks to Tony Charman and Sarah-Jayne Blakemore for their supervision and encouragement over the last three years. I am grateful to Tony for his constant ability to see the bigger picture and his wisdom about research and personal development, and to Sarah for her boundless energy and generosity with time since the beginning. Their expertise and the many lively discussions have given me an ideal mix of insights into developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience for this new area of social cognitive development. I am also grateful to Dr Jeremy Cook, my BSc Neuroscience tutor, for his continued support during my PhD, especially in providing a space for critical thinking. Our e- conversations about methods and madness have been formative for me. For guidance with my work in Versailles, I am thankful to Dr Yves Sarfati and his team. I also valued the interesting lessons on theory from Dr Elisabeth Pacherie in Paris. Special thanks to the BBSU group, who have made it a fun and extremely supportive group to belong to (with the best group trips), particularly Catherine, Jeni, Anita and Abi for help with data collection, useful comments and warm smiles, and to Rebecca for the tinkle of piano. Thanks also to the ICN group: to Stephanie B. and Cat for helpful feedback on my drafts, and to Steph for laughter and catharsis along the way. Thanks to Erin and Vicky for their assistance, too. I am grateful to my close friends and family for fuelling me with energy through kindness and music: to Jenny for keeping me inspired with shared idealism (on the dancefloor), Nick for his humour and acquiescence music, Steven and Daniela for bossa nova and Le Gave, Hamza for being a rock star with a cause, Mat for the tango fix and stories at the Honeybush, Didi and Michael for the collective experience and for providing a peaceful retreat, and Nicole for having a uniquely generous heart with the most musical rhythm, and also for teaching me how to jump the waves. Finally, I thank my mother for her constant care and calming influence, and my father for his perfect analogy about the creation of a thesis and the sculpture of Durga from bamboo, and the painting of her eyes. 3 Contents C o n t e n t s A bstr a ct ...................................................................................... 2 A cknowledgements ................................................................................................................................3 C o n t e n t s .......................................................................................................................................................4 G l o s s a r y .......................................................................................................................................................7 L ist of f ig u r es ............................................................................................................................................8 L ist of t a b l e s........................................................................................................................................... 10 T he development of t h e a d o l e sc e n t b r a in a n d c o g n it io n ..................................... 11 1. C hapter 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 12 1.1.Adolescence: psychological, social and physical transitions................................... 12 1.2. Evidence for the development of the adolescent brain .............................................13 1.2.1. The first experiments on adolescent brains...............................................................13 1.2.2. Viewing the adolescent brain with M RI....................................................................16 1.2.3. Gender differences in development of brain structure ..........................................23 1.2.4. Brain changes continue after adolescence.................................................................24 1.3. Changes in behaviour and cognition after puberty.................................................. 24 1.3.1. The development of executive function .................................................................... 25 1.4. Summary..................................................................................................................................
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