Frontal alpha asymmetry predicts subsequent social decision-making: A dynamic multilevel, neural, and developmental perspective

Social motivation, the human desire to engage with others, is likely to underlie higher levels of social cognition and the formation of interpersonal relationships. Yet, this topic has been understudied in adolescents despite the critical developmental and maturational changes that occur during this period and the relevance of social motivation to clinical and neurodevelopmental disorders. Using electroencephalography (EEG) and an implicit-association paradigm (Choose-A-Movie Task; Dubey et al., 2015), we examined how brain responses underlying socially motivated decisions informed future decisions in 54 youth (aged 10–14 years) and 50 young adults (aged 18–33 years). As the first study to use this task during EEG recording, we implemented time-frequency analyses and a trial-by-trial dynamic statistical approach. Results suggested that both age groups preferred low-effort choices and increasingly preferred nonsocial choices over time. P3 amplitude also increased over time and was sensitive to effortful decisions, particularly for adults, but not social content. Both groups showed larger leftward frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) during nonsocial feedback, and FAA predicted future decisions differently for adults than youth. The current study highlights FAA and trial-by-trial analyses as useful tools in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying socially motivated decisions, which differ across development, time, and individuals.