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Within-subject neural reactivity to reward and threat is inverted in young adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

M. E. Thomason  and
H. A. Marusak
M. E. Thomason*
Affiliation:
Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA Perinatology Research Branch, NICHD/NIH/DHHS, Bethesda, MD, USA
H. A. Marusak
Affiliation:
Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: M. E. Thomason, Ph.D., Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute, 71 E. Ferry Street, Detroit, MI 48202, USA. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

As children mature, they become increasingly independent and less reliant on caregiver support. Changes in brain systems are likely to stimulate and guide this process. One mechanistic hypothesis suggests that changes in neural systems that process reward and threat support the increase in exploratory behavior observed in the transition to adolescence. This study examines the basic tenets of this hypothesis by performing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during well-established reward and threat processing tasks in 40 children and adolescents, aged 9–15 years.

Method

fMRI responses in the striatum and amygdala are fit to a model predicting that striatal reward and amygdala threat-responses will be unrelated in younger participants (aged 9–12 years), while older participants (aged 13–15 years) will differentially engage these structures.

Results

Our data are consistent with this model. Activity in the striatum and amygdala are comparable in younger children, but in older children, they are inversely related; those more responsive to reward show a reduced threat-response. Analyses testing age as a continuous variable yield consistent results. In addition, the proportion of threat to reward-response relates to self-reported approach behavior in older but not younger youth, exposing behavioral relevance in the relative level of activity in these structures.

Conclusions

Results are consistent with the notion that both individual and developmental differences drive reward-seeking behavior in adolescence. While these response patterns may serve adaptive functions in the shift to independence, skew in these systems may relate to increased rates of emotional psychopathology and risk-taking observed in adolescence.

Keywords

Childrenfunctional magnetic resonance imagingrewardthreattriadic model
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 47 , Issue 9 , July 2017 , pp. 1549 - 1560
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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