Cortical thickness and prosocial behavior in school-age children: A population-based MRI study

Abstract

Prosocial behavior plays an important role in establishing and maintaining relationships with others and thus may have important developmental implications. This study examines the association between cortical thickness and prosocial behavior in a population-based sample of 6- to 9-year-old children. The present study was embedded within the Generation R Study. Magnetic resonance scans were acquired from 464 children whose parents had completed the prosocial scale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. To study the association between cortical thickness and prosocial behavior, we performed whole-brain surface-based analyses. Prosocial behavior was related to a thicker cortex in a cluster that covers part of the left superior frontal and rostral middle frontal cortex (p < .001). Gender moderated the association between prosocial behavior and cortical thickness in a cluster including the right rostral middle frontal and superior frontal cortex (p < .001) as well as in a cluster covering the right superior parietal cortex, cuneus, and precuneus (p < .001). Our results suggest that prosocial behavior is associated with cortical thickness in regions related to theory of mind (superior frontal cortex, rostral middle frontal cortex cuneus, and precuneus) and inhibitory control (superior frontal and rostral middle frontal cortex).

Keywords:

• Prosocial behavior
• Structural MRI
• Cortical thickness
• Superior frontal cortex

The Generation R Study is conducted by the Erasmus Medical Center in close collaboration with the Erasmus University Rotterdam, School of Law and Faculty of Social Sciences, the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam area, Rotterdam, the Rotterdam Homecare Foundation, Rotterdam, and the Stichting Trombosedienst & Artsenlaboratorium Rijnmond (STAR), Rotterdam. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of general practitioners, hospitals, midwives, and pharmacies in Rotterdam.

Additional information

Funding

Dr Frank C. Verhulst is the contributing editor of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, from which he receives remuneration. The first phase of the Generation R Study is made possible by financial support from Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, and the Ministry of Youth and Families. In addition, this study is financially supported through ZonMw TOP project number 91211021 and through the NWO Brain & Cognition (Hersenen & Cognitie) project number 433-09-228. MJB-K and MHvIJ were supported by research awards from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research [MHvIJ: SPINOZA prize; MJBK: VICI grant] and by the Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research [NWO grant number 024.001.003].