Social network position, trust behavior and neural activity in young adolescents.

Our social interactions take place within numerous social networks, in which our relationships with others define our position within these networks. In this study, we examined how the centrality of positions within social networks was associated with trust behavior and neural activity in 49 adolescents (M = 12.8 years, SD = 0.4 years). Participants played a trust game with a cartoon animation as a partner, which showed adaptive behavior in response to the participant and was in general untrustworthy. Social network positions were obtained in secondary school classrooms where participants and their classmates reported on who their friends were. Using social network analysis, a score was calculated that indicated the centrality of everyone's position within the friendship network. Results showed that more central social network positions were associated with higher levels of initial trust behavior, although no evidence was found for a relationship between network position and the adaptation of trust behavior. Functional MRI analyses showed that the centrality of the network positions was positively associated with caudate activity when making trust decisions. Furthermore, adolescents with more central network positions also showed stronger increases of caudate activity when the partner's return was processed. The current study provides initial evidence that social network positions in friendship networks relate to socio-cognitive behavior and neural activity in adolescents.