Neural networks involved in adolescent reward processing: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies

Childhood anhedonia symptoms and stressful life events predict the development of reward-related brain activity across adolescence

The reward positivity (RewP) is an event-related potential that indexes reinforcement learning and reward system activation. The RewP has been shown to increase across adolescence; however, most studies have examined the RewP across two assessments, and no studies have examined within-person changes across adolescence into young adulthood. Moreover, the RewP has been identified as a neurobiological risk factor for adolescent-onset depression, but it is unclear whether childhood psychosocial risk factors might predict RewP development across adolescence. In a sample of 317 8- to 14-year-old girls (Mage = 12.4, SD = 1.8), the present study examined self-report measures of depression symptoms and stressful life events at baseline and the ΔRewP during the doors guessing task across three timepoints. Growth modeling indicated that, across all participants, the ΔRewP did not demonstrate linear change across adolescence. However, baseline anhedonia symptoms predicted within-person changes in the ΔRewP, such that individuals with low anhedonia symptoms demonstrated a linear increase in the ΔRewP, but individuals with high anhedonia symptoms had no change in the ΔRewP across adolescence. Similar patterns were observed for stressful life events. The present study suggests that childhood risk factors impact the development of reward-related brain activity, which might subsequently increase risk for psychopathology.

Make it worth it: Effort-reward modulations on reinforcement-learning and prediction-error signaling across adolescence

Adolescence is characterized by significant shifts in effort allocation. A well-known neuro-economic framework suggests that rewards help overcome potential effort costs. However, few studies have examined the neurobiological mechanisms by which rewards and associated effort costs drive adolescent learning. This study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging in a sample of adolescents (N = 146, 13-25 years) and employed a reinforcement-learning paradigm that manipulated effort and reward levels, by varying task demands and varying potential rewards. The analysis of trial-by-trial learning signals (reward prediction errors) and behavioral learning performance demonstrated that greater reward levels enhanced adolescent learning, especially when faced with greater effort demands. Moreover, this effect was more pronounced in those experiencing greater effort demands: younger adolescents and adolescents who place less value on effort for demanding tasks. Neuroimaging results revealed that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) was a key region in signaling the interaction between reward and effort demands. That is, greater reward strengthened prediction error coding in the dACC, particularly under conditions of greater task demands, with these effects being more pronounced in younger adolescents and adolescents who place less value on effort for demanding tasks. These findings support a role for dACC in the engagement of cognitive control, especially in situations where more cognitive control would be beneficial despite its associated effort costs, such as in high-demanding learning situations. This comprehensive approach aims to inform strategies for supporting effort allocation in learning during this crucial developmental period.

Frontostriatal Networks Undergo Functional Specialization During Adolescence that Follows a Ventral-Dorsal Gradient: Developmental Trajectories and Longitudinal Associations

Seminal studies in animal neuroscience demonstrate that frontostriatal circuits exhibit a ventral-dorsal functional gradient to integrate neural functions related to reward processing and cognitive control. Prominent neurodevelopmental models posit that heightened reward-seeking and risk-taking during adolescence result from maturational imbalances between frontostriatal neural systems underlying reward processing and cognitive control. The present study investigated whether the development of ventral (VS) and dorsal (DS) striatal resting-state connectivity (rsFC) networks along this proposed functional gradient relates to putative imbalances between reward and executive systems posited by a dual neural systems theory of adolescent development. 163 participants aged 11-25 years (54% female, 90% white) underwent resting scans at baseline and biennially thereafter, yielding 339 scans across four assessment waves. We observed developmental increases in VS rsFC with brain areas implicated in reward processing (e.g., subgenual cingulate gyrus and medial orbitofrontal cortex) and concurrent decreases with areas implicated in executive function (e.g., ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices). DS rsFC exhibited the opposite pattern. More rapid developmental increases in VS rsFC with reward areas were associated with developmental improvements in reward-based decision making, whereas increases in DS rsFC with executive function areas were associated with improved executive function, though each network exhibited some crossover in function. Collectively, these findings suggest that typical adolescent neurodevelopment is characterized by a divergence in ventral and dorsal frontostriatal connectivity that may relate to developmental improvements in affective decision-making and executive function.Significance Statement Anatomical studies in nonhuman primates demonstrate that frontostriatal circuits are essential for integration of neural functions underlying reward processing and cognition, with human neuroimaging studies linking alterations in these circuits to psychopathology. The present study characterized the developmental trajectories of frontostriatal resting state networks from childhood to young adulthood. We demonstrate that ventral and dorsal aspects of the striatum exhibit distinct age-related changes that predicted developmental improvements in reward-related decision making and executive function. These results highlight that adolescence is characterized by distinct changes in frontostriatal networks that may relate to normative increases in risk-taking. Atypical developmental trajectories of frontostriatal networks may contribute to adolescent-onset psychopathology.

Risk factor patterns define social anxiety subtypes in adolescents with brain and clinical feature differences

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in adolescents. The heterogeneity of both symptoms and etiology is an essential source of difficulties in the treatment and prevention of SAD. The study aimed to identify subtypes of adolescent SAD based on etiology-related phenotype dimensions and examine symptom and brain associations of the subtypes. We used a deeply phenotyped sample (47 phenotype subscales from 13 measures) of adolescents with SAD (n = 196) and healthy controls (n = 109) to extract etiology-relevant risk factors, based on which we identified subtypes of SAD. We compared the subtypes on clinical characteristics and brain morphometrics and functional connectivity, and examined subtype-specific links between risk factors, brain aberrance, and clinical characteristics. We identified six etiology-relevant risk factors and two subtypes of adolescent SAD. One subtype showed mainly elevated negative emotionality trait and coping style and diminished positive emotionality trait and coping style, while the other additionally had significantly high environmental risk factors, more severe impairments in social functioning, and significant abnormalities in brain structure and function. There were subtype-specific links between the risk factor profiles, brain aberrance, and clinical characteristics. The finding suggests two etiology-based subtypes of adolescent SAD, providing novel insights to the diversity of pathological pathways and precise intervention strategies.

Chronic Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol exposure in adolescent nonhuman primates: persistent abnormalities in economic demand and brain functional connectivity

Although chronic cannabis use during adolescence can alter brain function and impair complex behavioral processes, it is unclear whether such deficits persist into adulthood. Using a coordinated awake neuroimaging and behavioral approach in nonhuman primates, we addressed this issue by examining the impact of chronic adolescent exposure to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on brain functional connectivity and motivational processes during early adulthood. Female and male squirrel monkeys (n = 23) were treated daily for 6 months during adolescence with vehicle or either a low (0.32 mg/kg) or high dose (3.2 mg/kg) of THC. Regional homogeneity and seed-to-whole-brain functional connectivity were analyzed prior to, during, and following discontinuation of chronic treatment to examine changes in regions implicated in reward processing. Subsequently, motivation and reward sensitivity in these subjects, now young adults, were evaluated in economic demand studies by determining the relationship between escalating response requirements and consumption of differing magnitudes of a palatable food reinforcer. Results show that adolescent THC exposure led to persistent alterations in mOFC, caudate, and ventral striatum whole-brain connectivity. Moreover, subjects treated with vehicle during adolescence displayed an orderly and expected inverse relationship between reward magnitude and demand elasticity, whereas THC-treated subjects exhibited dosage-dependent disorder in reward sensitivity and motivational deficits. Changes in neural circuitry (local connectivity in ventral striatum and whole brain connectivity in mOFC) and economic demand were correlated with indices of reward sensitivity in vehicle- but not THC-treated subjects. Taken together, these data indicate that chronic adolescent THC exposure produced long-lasting neurocognitive abnormalities in reward processing.

Electrical brain activations in preadolescents during a probabilistic reward-learning task reflect cognitive processes and behavior strategies

Both adults and children learn through feedback to associate environmental events and choices with reward, a process known as reinforcement learning (RL). However, tasks to assess RL-related neurocognitive processes in children have been limited. This study validated a child version of the Probabilistic Reward Learning task in preadolescents (8-12 years) while recording event-related-potential (ERPs), focusing on: (1) reward-feedback sensitivity (frontal Reward-related Positivity, RewP), (2) late attention-related responses to feedback (parietal P300), and (3) attentional shifting toward favored stimuli (N2pc). Behaviorally, as expected, preadolescents could learn stimulus-reward outcome associations, but with varying performance levels. Poor learners showed greater RewP amplitudes compared to good learners. Learning strategies (i.e., Win-Lose-Stay-Shift) were reflected by feedback-elicited P300 amplitudes. Lastly, attention shifted toward to-be-chosen stimuli, as evidenced by the N2pc, but not toward more highly rewarded stimuli as in adults. These findings provide novel insights into the neural processes underlying RL in preadolescents.

Longitudinal Stability of Mood-Related Resting-State Networks in Youth with Symptomatic Bipolar-I/II Disorder

Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by temporal instability of mood and energy, but the neural correlates of this instability are poorly understood. In previous cross-sectional studies, mood state in BD has been associated with differential functional connectivity (FC) amongst several subcortical regions and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Here, we assess whether BD is associated with longitudinal instability within this mood-related network of interest (NOI). Young people with BD-I/II were scanned 4-6 times and healthy controls (HC) were scanned 4 times over 9 months. Following preprocessing of 20-minute resting-state scans, we assessed across-scan correlation of FC, focusing on FC between regions previously associated with BD mood state. Utilizing Bayesian models, we assessed the relationship between diagnostic group and within-person, across-scan correlation, adjusting for motion, time-of-day, and inter-scan interval; prediction intervals (PI) are reported. In a sample of 16 youth (11 BD, 5 HC; 16.3-23.3 years old) with 70 scans (50 BD, 20 HC), across-scan NOI stability was higher within-than between-person (0.70 vs. 0.54; p<.0001). BD (vs. HC) within-person scan-pairs showed lower NOI stability (mean -0.109; 95% PI -0.181, -0.038), distinguishing BD vs. HC with excellent accuracy (AUC=0.95). NOI instability was more pronounced with manic symptoms (mean -0.012; 95% PI -0.023, -0.0002) and in BD-II (vs. BD-I; mean -0.071; 90% PI -0.136, -0.007). Results persisted after accounting for medications, comorbidity, and sleep/arousal measures. Within this pilot sample, BD is characterized by less within-person stability of a mood-related NOI. While preliminary, these results highlight a possible role for precision imaging approaches to elucidate neural mechanisms underlying BD.

Multimodal quantitative magnetic resonance imaging alterations of the basal ganglia circuit underlie the severity of bulimia nervosa

Background

Neuroimaging alterations in the basal ganglia circuit have been reported to correlate with the severity of various eating or addictive disorders, but their relationship to the severity of bulimia nervosa (BN) remains largely unknown. This study sought to investigate the basal ganglia circuit structural and functional imaging differences in BN patients with different severity.

Methods

Based on the MRI data acquired from 34 mild BN patients, 35 moderate-to-extreme BN patients and 35 healthy controls (HCs), differences in gray matter volume (GMV), fractional anisotropy, fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF), and seed-based functional connectivity (FC) of basal ganglia circuit (including the caudate, globus pallidus, nucleus accumbens and putamen) were compared across the three groups.

Results

Compared to HCs, the mild patients only exhibited decreased fALFF in the left ventromedial putamen and increased FC between the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal cortex, without any structural imaging alterations. Whereas, the moderate-to-extreme patients exhibited significant basal ganglia imaging alterations, characterized by widespread higher FC between basal ganglia regions and several frontal-parietotemporal regions, and disrupted white matter integrity. Based on receiver operating characteristic curves, we discovered that seed-based FC had acceptable discriminatory values in classifying BN patients into mild or moderate-to-extreme groups.

Conclusion

This study reveals that basal ganglia circuit imaging alterations in BN patients become more pronounced with increasing disease severity, suggesting a crucial role of basal ganglia circuit in the progression of BN. Functional network reorganization between basal ganglia and other regions may serve as a potential risk imaging marker for BN progression.

The longitudinal association between reward processing and symptoms of video game addiction in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

Background and aims

Video games are a common form of entertainment in adolescents, which may result in gaming habits characterized by impairment to reward-related decision-making. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between reward processing and symptoms of gaming addiction in adolescents.

Methods

Data from three consecutive follow-up years (years 2, 3 and 4) of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study were analyzed (n = 6,143, total observations = 12,745, mean age at year-2 = 12 years). Participants completed the Video Game Addiction Questionnaire (VGAQ) at each visit. Discrete stages of reward processing were measured at the year-2 visit using the Monetary Incentive Delay task while the participant completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. Bayesian hierarchical linear models were employed to examine the longitudinal association between reward processing in regions of interest at year-2 and VGAQ scores over time.

Results

Lower activation in the bilateral caudate during the anticipation of a large reward (β = -0.87, 95% CI: -1.68, -0.07) was associated with greater VGAQ scores over time. This implies that for each one-unit increase in brain activity in the caudate, there was an associated 0.87-point decrease in symptoms of gaming addiction as measured by the VGAQ. No association was found between reward feedback and VGAQ scores.

Discussion and Conclusions

The findings suggest that abnormal reward processing in the caudate nucleus is associated with symptoms of gaming addiction in adolescents. These results provide a clearer understanding of the brain mechanisms involved in gaming addiction, which could inform future preventive and therapeutic strategies.

Development of Self-Reported Reward Responsiveness and Inhibitory Control and the Role of Clinical and Neural Predictors

OBJECTIVE

Understanding the development of adolescent reward responsiveness and inhibitory control is important as they are implicated in key outcomes, such as depression. However, relatively few studies have examined the self-reported experience of this development longitudinally, and past findings have been mixed. Here, we examined the longitudinal development of self-reported reward responsiveness and inhibitory control in youth, as well as clinical and neural measures as predictors of these longitudinal trajectories.

METHOD

We assessed 223 youth aged 9-17 across 36 months. We modeled growth trajectories of several measures of reward responsiveness and inhibitory control using multilevel models. We tested reward-related functional connectivity, depression symptoms, and parental risk for psychopathology as moderators of longitudinal growth.

RESULTS

Self-reported inhibitory control increased linearly across adolescence. However, contrary to hypotheses and common models of adolescent development, self-reported reward responsiveness decreased linearly across adolescence. Baseline functional connectivity and clinical risk measures did not significantly moderate trajectories.

CONCLUSION

Results suggest that within-person changes in the phenomenological experience of reward responsiveness may not match developmental expectations based on cross-sectional and neuroimaging studies. More attention is needed to the longitudinal study of subjective experience of reward responsiveness.

Revisiting the musical reminiscence bump: insights from neurocognitive and social brain development in adolescence

Music listening is enjoyed across the lifespan and around the world. This has spurred many theories on the evolutionary purpose of music. The Music for Social Bonding hypothesis posits that the human capacity to make music evolved for the purpose of creating and preserving relationships between one another. Considering different time periods of music use across the lifespan, adolescence is especially a period of social reorientation away from family towards peers, characterized by new social bonds and increased prosocial behavior. This shift is accompanied by notable structural and functional changes in brain networks supporting reward processing and prosocial behavior. Reviewing the extant literature on developmental cognitive neuroscience and adolescent music use, we propose that neurocognitive changes in the reward system make adolescence an ideal developmental time window for investigating interactions between prosocial behavior and reward processing, as adolescence constitutes a time of relative increase in music reward valuation. Testing this hypothesis may clarify our understanding of developmental trajectories in music reward valuation, and offer insights into why music from adults' adolescence holds a great deal of personal significance.

Functional connectivity between the nucleus accumbens and amygdala underlies avoidance learning during adolescence: Implications for developmental psychopathology

BACKGROUND

Reward and threat processes work together to support adaptive learning during development. Adolescence is associated with increasing approach behavior (e.g., novelty-seeking, risk-taking) but often also coincides with emerging internalizing symptoms, which are characterized by heightened avoidance behavior. Peaking engagement of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) during adolescence, often studied in reward paradigms, may also relate to threat mechanisms of adolescent psychopathology.

METHODS

47 typically developing adolescents (9.9-22.9 years) completed an aversive learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging, wherein visual cues were paired with an aversive sound or no sound. Task blocks involved an escapable aversively reinforced stimulus (CS+r), the same stimulus without reinforcement (CS+nr), or a stimulus that was never reinforced (CS-). Parent-reported internalizing symptoms were measured using Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scales.

RESULTS

Functional connectivity between the NAcc and amygdala differentiated the stimuli, such that connectivity increased for the CS+r (p = .023) but not for the CS+nr and CS-. Adolescents with greater internalizing symptoms demonstrated greater positive functional connectivity for the CS- (p = .041).

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents show heightened NAcc-amygdala functional connectivity during escape from threat. Higher anxiety and depression symptoms are associated with elevated NAcc-amygdala connectivity during safety, which may reflect poor safety versus threat discrimination.

Neural Sensitivity to Peer Feedback and Depressive Symptoms: Moderation by Executive Function

Theories of adolescent development suggest that elevated neural sensitivity to social evaluation confers tradeoffs for adolescents' wellbeing, promoting adaptation to changing social contexts but increasing risk for emotional distress and depression. This study investigated whether the association between neural processing of peer feedback and depressive symptoms depends on teacher-reported executive function (EF) ability in adolescent girls. Girls showed activation to negative and positive peer feedback in regions implicated in social-emotional processing that interacted with EF to predict depressive symptoms. Specifically, activation predicted more depression in youth with poorer EF but less depression in youth with better EF, suggesting that the impact of increased social sensitivity may depend on youths' ability to regulate this sensitivity in adaptive ways.

Common and separable neural alterations in adult and adolescent depression - Evidence from neuroimaging meta-analyses

Depression is a highly prevalent and debilitating mental disorder that often begins in adolescence. However, it remains unclear whether adults and adolescents with depression exhibit common or distinct brain dysfunctions during reward processing. We aimed to identify common and separable neurofunctional alterations during receipt of rewards and brain structure in adolescents and adults with depression. A coordinate-based meta-analysis was employed using Seed-based d mapping with permutation of subject images (SDM-PSI). Compared with healthy controls, both age groups exhibited common activity decreases in the right striatum (putamen, caudate) and subgenual ACC. Adults with depression showed decreased reactivity in the right putamen and subgenual ACC, while adolescents with depression showed decreased activity in the left mid cingulate, right caudate but increased reactivity in the right postcentral gyrus. This meta-analysis revealed shared (caudate) and separable (putamen and mid cingulate cortex) reward-related alterations in adults and adolescents with depression. The findings suggest age-specific neurofunctional alterations and stress the importance of adolescent-specific interventions that target social functions.

Aberrant high-beta band functional connectivity during reward processing in melancholic major depressive disorder: An MEG study

OBJECTIVE

To identify the spatial-temporal pattern variation of whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) during reward processing in melancholic major depressive disorder (MDD) patients, and to determine the clinical correlates of connectomic differences.

METHODS

61 MDD patients and 32 healthy controls were enrolled into the study. During magnetoencephalography (MEG) scanning, all participants completed the facial emotion recognition task. The MDD patients were further divided into two groups: melancholic (n = 31) and non-melancholic (n = 30), based on the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) assessment. Melancholic symptoms were examined by using the 6-item melancholia subscale from the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D6). The whole-brain orthogonalized power envelope connections in the high-beta band (20-35 Hz) were constructed in each period after the happy emotional stimuli (0-200 ms, 100-300 ms, 200-400 ms, 300-500 ms, and 400-600 ms). Then, the network-based statistic (NBS) was used to determine the specific abnormal connection patterns in melancholic MDD patients.

RESULTS

The NBS identified a sub-network difference at the mid-late period (300-500 ms) in response to happy faces among the three groups (corrected P = 0.035). Then, the post hoc and correlation analyses found five FCs were decreased in melancholic MDD patients and were related to HAM-D6 score, including FCs of left fusiform gyrus-right orbital inferior frontal gyrus (r = -0.52, P < 0.001), left fusiform gyrus-left amygdala (r = -0.26, P = 0.049), left posterior cingulate gyrus-right precuneus (r = -0.32, P = 0.025), left precuneus-right precuneus (r = -0.27, P = 0.049), and left precuneus-left inferior occipital gyrus (r = -0.32, P = 0.025).

CONCLUSION

In response to happy faces, melancholic MDD patients demonstrated a disrupted functional connective pattern (20-35 Hz, 300-500 ms), which involved brain regions in visual information processing and the limbic system. The aberrant functional connective pattern in reward processing might be a biomarker of melancholic MDD.

Neural response to monetary and social rewards in adolescent girls and their parents

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have indicated that the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system is heavily involved in all stages of reward processing. However, the majority of research has been conducted using monetary rewards and it is unclear to what extent other types of rewards, such as social rewards, evoke similar or different neural activation. There have also been few investigations into potential differences or similarities between reward processing in parents and offspring. The present study examined fMRI neural activation in response to monetary and social reward in a sample of 14-22-year-old adolescent girls (N = 145) and a biological parent (N = 124) and compared activation across adolescent-parent dyads (N = 82). Across all participants, both monetary and social reward elicited bilateral striatal activation, which did not differ between reward types or between adolescents and their parents. Neural activation in response to the different reward types were positively correlated in the striatum among adolescents and in the mPFC and OFC among parents. Overall, the present study suggests that both monetary and social reward elicit striatal activation regardless of age and provides evidence that neural mechanisms underlying reward processing may converge differentially among youth and adults.

The Role of the Human Cerebellum for Learning from and Processing of External Feedback in Non-Motor Learning: A Systematic Review

This review aimed to systematically identify and comprehensively review the role of the cerebellum in performance monitoring, focusing on learning from and on processing of external feedback in non-motor learning. While 1078 articles were screened for eligibility, ultimately 36 studies were included in which external feedback was delivered in cognitive tasks and which referenced the cerebellum. These included studies in patient populations with cerebellar damage and studies in healthy subjects applying neuroimaging. Learning performance in patients with different cerebellar diseases was heterogeneous, with only about half of all patients showing alterations. One patient study using EEG demonstrated that damage to the cerebellum was associated with altered neural processing of external feedback. Studies assessing brain activity with task-based fMRI or PET and one resting-state functional imaging study that investigated connectivity changes following feedback-based learning in healthy participants revealed involvement particularly of lateral and posterior cerebellar regions in processing of and learning from external feedback. Cerebellar involvement was found at different stages, e.g., during feedback anticipation and following the onset of the feedback stimuli, substantiating the cerebellum's relevance for different aspects of performance monitoring such as feedback prediction. Future research will need to further elucidate precisely how, where, and when the cerebellum modulates the prediction and processing of external feedback information, which cerebellar subregions are particularly relevant, and to what extent cerebellar diseases alter these processes.

Within-person biological mechanisms of mood variability in childhood and adolescence

Mood variability, the day-to-day fluctuation in mood, differs between individuals and develops during adolescence. Because adolescents show higher mood variability and average mood than children and adults, puberty might be a potential biological mechanism underlying this increase. The goal of this preregistered developmental study was to examine the neural and hormonal underpinnings of adolescent-specific within-person changes in mood variability, with a specific focus on testosterone, cortisol, pubertal status, and resting-state functional brain connectivity. Data from two longitudinal cohorts were used: the L-CID twin study (aged 7-13, N at the first timepoint = 258) and the accelerated Leiden Self-Concept study (SC; aged 11-21, N at the first timepoint = 138). In both studies resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data was collected, as well as daily mood. Additionally, in the SC study self-reported puberty testosterone and cortisol were collected. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) were used to study the within-person relations between these biological measures and mood variability and average mood. Mood variability and average mood peaked in adolescence and testosterone levels and self-reported puberty also showed an increase. Connectivity between prefrontal cortex (dlPFC and vmPFC) and subcortical regions (caudate, amygdala) decreased across development. Moreover, higher testosterone predicted average negative mood at the next time point, but not vice versa. Further, stronger vmPFC-amygdala functional connectivity predicted decreases in mood variability. Here, we show that brain connectivity during development is an important within-person biological mechanism of the development of mood in adolescents. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Mood variability peaks in adolescence. Within-person changes in testosterone predict within-person changes in mood. Within-person changes in vmPFC-amygdala connectivity predict within-person changes in mood variability.

Examining neural responses to anticipating or receiving monetary rewards and the development of binge eating in youth. A registered report using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study

Binge eating is characterized as eating a large amount of food and feeling a loss of control while eating. However, the neurobiological mechanisms associated with the onset and maintenance of binge eating are largely unknown. Recent neuroimaging work has suggested that increased responsivity within reward regions of the brain to the anticipation or receipt of rewards is related to binge eating; however, limited longitudinal data has precluded understanding of the role of reward responsivity in the development of binge eating. The current study used data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development® (ABCD) longitudinal study dataset to assess whether heightened neural responses to different phases of reward processing (reward anticipation and receipt) (1) differentiated individuals with binge eating from matched controls, and (2) predicted the onset of binge eating in an "at risk" sample. Consistent with hypotheses, heightened neural responsivity in the right caudate and bilateral VS during reward anticipation differentiated youth with and without binge eating. Moreover, greater VS response to reward anticipation predicted binge eating two years later. Neural responses to reward receipt also were consistent with hypotheses, such that heightened VS and OFC responses differentiated youth with and without binge eating and predicted the presence of binge eating two years later. Findings from the current study suggest that hypersensitivity to rewards may contribute to the development of binge eating during early adolescence.

Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS): A team science effort to predict societal trajectories in adolescence and young adulthood

Our society faces a great diversity of opportunities for youth. The 10-year Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS) program has the long-term goal to understand which combination of measures best predict societal trajectories, such as school success, mental health, well-being, and developing a sense of belonging in society. Our leading hypothesis is that self-regulation is key to how adolescents successfully navigate the demands of contemporary society. We aim to test these questions using socio-economic, questionnaire (including experience sampling methods), behavioral, brain (fMRI, sMRI, EEG), hormonal, and genetic measures in four large cohorts including adolescents and young adults. Two cohorts are designed as test and replication cohorts to test the developmental trajectory of self-regulation, including adolescents of different socioeconomic status thereby bridging individual, family, and societal perspectives. The third cohort consists of an entire social network to examine how neural and self-regulatory development influences and is influenced by whom adolescents and young adults choose to interact with. The fourth cohort includes youth with early signs of antisocial and delinquent behavior to understand patterns of societal development in individuals at the extreme ends of self-regulation and societal participation, and examines pathways into and out of delinquency. We will complement the newly collected cohorts with data from existing large-scale population-based and case-control cohorts. The study is embedded in a transdisciplinary approach that engages stakeholders throughout the design stage, with a strong focus on citizen science and youth participation in study design, data collection, and interpretation of results, to ensure optimal translation to youth in society.

Unlocking the age-old secrets of reward and substance use

Although substance use is widespread across the lifespan from early adolescence to older adulthood, the prevalence of substance use disorder (SUD) differs between age groups. These age differences in SUD rates necessitate an investigation into how age moderates reward sensitivity, and consequently influences the risks and consequences related to substance use. This theoretical review integrates evidence from the literature to address the dynamic interplay between age and reward in the context of substance use. Overall, increasing evidence demonstrates that age moderates reward sensitivity and underlying reward system neurobiology. Reward sensitivity undergoes a non-linear trajectory across the lifespan. Low levels of reward sensitivity are associated with childhood and late adulthood. In contrast, high levels are associated with early to late adolescence, followed by a decline in the twenties. These fluctuations in reward sensitivity across the lifespan contribute to complex associations with substance use. This lends support to adolescence and young adulthood as vulnerable periods for the risk of subsequent SUD. More empirical research is needed to investigate reward sensitivity during SUD maintenance and recovery. Future research should also involve larger sample sizes and encompass a broader range of age groups, including older adults.

Genetic variation in endocannabinoid signaling: Anxiety, depression, and threat- and reward-related brain functioning during the transition into adolescence

BACKGROUND

The endocannabinoid system modulates neural activity throughout the lifespan. In adults, neuroimaging studies link a common genetic variant in fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH C385A)-an enzyme that regulates endocannabinoid signaling-to reduced risk of anxiety and depression, and altered threat- and reward-related neural activity. However, limited research has investigated these associations during the transition into adolescence, a period of substantial neurodevelopment and increased psychopathology risk.

METHODS

This study included FAAH genotype and longitudinal neuroimaging and neurobehavioral data from 4811 youth (46% female; 9-11 years at Baseline, 11-13 years at Year 2) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM Study. Linear mixed models examined the effects of FAAH and the FAAH x time interaction on anxiety and depressive symptoms, amygdala reactivity to threatening faces, and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) response to happy faces during the emotional n-back task.

RESULTS

A significant main effect of FAAH on depressive symptoms was observed, such that depressive symptoms were lower across both timepoints in those with the AA genotype compared to both AC and CC genotypes (p's<0.05). There were no significant FAAH x time interactions for anxiety, depression, or neural responses (p's>0.05). Additionally, there were no main effects of FAAH on anxiety or neural responses (p's>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings add to emerging evidence linking the FAAH C385A variant to lower risk of psychopathology, and extend these findings to a developmental sample. In particular, we found lower depressive symptoms in FAAH AA genotypes compared to AC and CC genotypes. Future research is needed to characterize the role of the FAAH variant and the eCB system more broadly in neurodevelopment and psychiatric risk.

Experience-dependent neurodevelopment of self-regulation in adolescence

Adolescence is a period of rapid biobehavioral change, characterized in part by increased neural maturation and sensitivity to one's environment. In this review, we aim to demonstrate that self-regulation skills are tuned by adolescents' social, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts. We discuss adjacent literatures that demonstrate the importance of experience-dependent learning for adolescent development: environmental contextual influences and training paradigms that aim to improve regulation skills. We first highlight changes in prominent limbic and cortical regions-like the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex-as well as structural and functional connectivity between these areas that are associated with adolescents' regulation skills. Next, we consider how puberty, the hallmark developmental milestone in adolescence, helps instantiate these biobehavioral adaptations. We then survey the existing literature demonstrating the ways in which cultural, socioeconomic, and interpersonal contexts drive behavioral and neural adaptation for self-regulation. Finally, we highlight promising results from regulation training paradigms that suggest training may be especially efficacious for adolescent samples. In our conclusion, we highlight some exciting frontiers in human self-regulation research as well as recommendations for improving the methodological implementation of developmental neuroimaging studies and training paradigms.

Neuroscience-informed classification of prevention interventions in substance use disorders: An RDoC-based approach

Neuroscience has contributed to uncover the mechanisms underpinning substance use disorders (SUD). The next frontier is to leverage these mechanisms as active targets to create more effective interventions for SUD treatment and prevention. Recent large-scale cohort studies from early childhood are generating multiple levels of neuroscience-based information with the potential to inform the development and refinement of future preventive strategies. However, there are still no available well-recognized frameworks to guide the integration of these multi-level datasets into prevention interventions. The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) provides a neuroscience-based multi-system framework that is well suited to facilitate translation of neurobiological mechanisms into behavioral domains amenable to preventative interventions. We propose a novel RDoC-based framework for prevention science and adapted the framework for the existing preventive interventions. From a systematic review of randomized controlled trials using a person-centered drug/alcohol preventive approach for adolescents, we identified 22 unique preventive interventions. By teasing apart these 22 interventions into the RDoC domains, we proposed distinct neurocognitive trajectories which have been recognized as precursors or risk factors for SUDs, to be targeted, engaged and modified for effective addiction prevention.

A cognitive-computational account of mood swings in adolescence

Teenagers have a reputation for being fickle, in both their choices and their moods. This variability may help adolescents as they begin to independently navigate novel environments. Recently, however, adolescent moodiness has also been linked to psychopathology. Here, we consider adolescents' mood swings from a novel computational perspective, grounded in reinforcement learning (RL). This model proposes that mood is determined by surprises about outcomes in the environment, and how much we learn from these surprises. It additionally suggests that mood biases learning and choice in a bidirectional manner. Integrating independent lines of research, we sketch a cognitive-computational account of how adolescents' mood, learning, and choice dynamics influence each other, with implications for normative and psychopathological development.

Sex and pubertal variation in reward-related behavior and neural activation in early adolescents

This study aimed to characterize the role of sex and pubertal markers in reward motivation behavior and neural processing in early adolescence. We used baseline and two-year follow-up data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive DevelopmentSM study (15844 observations; 52% from boys; age 9-13). Pubertal development was measured with parent-reported Pubertal Development Scale, and DHEA, testosterone, and estradiol levels. Reward motivation behavior and neural processing at anticipation and feedback stages were assessed with the Monetary Incentive Delay task. Boys had higher reward motivation than girls, demonstrating greater accuracy difference between reward and neutral trials and higher task earnings. Girls had lower neural activation during reward feedback than boys in the nucleus accumbens, caudate, rostral anterior cingulate, medial orbitofrontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus and posterior cingulate. Pubertal stage and testosterone levels were positively associated with reward motivation behavior, although these associations changed when controlling for age. There were no significant associations between pubertal development and neural activation during reward anticipation and feedback. Sex differences in reward-related processing exist in early adolescence, signaling the need to understand their impact on typical and atypical functioning as it unfolds into adulthood.

Learning whom not to trust across early and middle adolescence: A longitudinal neuroimaging study to trusting behavior involving an uncooperative other

Longitudinal changes in trusting behavior across adolescence and their neural correlates were examined. Neural regions of interest (ROIs) included the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), left anterior insula (AI), bilateral ventral striatum (VS), and right dorsal striatum (DS). Participants (wave 1 age: M = 12.90) played the investor in a Trust Game with an uncooperative trustee three times (1-year interval). Analyses included 77 primarily Dutch participants (33 females). Participants decreased their investments with wave. Furthermore, activity was heightened in mPFC, dACC, and DS during investment and repayment, and in right VS (investment) and AI (repayment). Finally, DS activity during repayment increased with wave. These findings highlight early-middle adolescence as an important period for developing sensitivity to uncooperative behavior.

A multi-sample evaluation of the measurement structure and function of the modified monetary incentive delay task in adolescents

Interpreting the neural response elicited during task functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) remains a challenge in neurodevelopmental research. The monetary incentive delay (MID) task is an fMRI reward processing task that is extensively used in the literature. However, modern psychometric tools have not been used to evaluate measurement properties of the MID task fMRI data. The current study uses data for a similar task design across three adolescent samples (N = 346 [Agemean 12.0; 44 % Female]; N = 97 [19.3; 58 %]; N = 112 [20.2; 38 %]) to evaluate multiple measurement properties of fMRI responses on the MID task. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to evaluate an a priori theoretical model for the task and its measurement invariance across three samples. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is used to identify the data-driven measurement structure across the samples. CFA results suggest that the a priori model is a poor representation of these MID task fMRI data. Across the samples, the data-driven EFA models consistently identify a six-to-seven factor structure with run and bilateral brain region factors. This factor structure is moderately-to-highly congruent across the samples. Altogether, these findings demonstrate a need to evaluate theoretical frameworks for popular fMRI task designs to improve our understanding and interpretation of brain-behavior associations.

Fractionation of neural reward processing into independent components by novel decoding principle

How to retrieve latent neurobehavioural processes from complex neurobiological signals is an important yet unresolved challenge. Here, we develop a novel approach, orthogonal-Decoding multi-Cognitive Processes (DeCoP), to reveal underlying latent neurobehavioural processing and show that its performance is superior to traditional non-orthogonal decoding in terms of both false inference and robustness. Processing value and salience information are two fundamental but mutually confounded pathways of reward reinforcement essential for decision making. During reward/punishment anticipation, we applied DeCoP to decode brain-wide responses into spatially overlapping, yet functionally independent, evaluation and readiness processes, which are modulated differentially by meso‑limbic vs nigro-striatal dopamine systems. Using DeCoP, we further demonstrated that most brain regions only encoded abstract information but not the exact input, except for dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and insula. Furthermore, we anticipate our novel analytical principle to be applied generally in decoding multiple latent neurobehavioral processes and thus advance both the design and hypothesis testing for cognitive tasks.

Striatal correlates of Bayesian beliefs in self-efficacy in adolescents and their relation to mood and autonomy: a pilot study

Major depressive disorder often originates in adolescence and is associated with long-term functional impairment. Mechanistically characterizing this heterogeneous illness could provide important leads for optimizing treatment. Importantly, reward learning is known to be disrupted in depression. In this pilot fMRI study of 21 adolescents (16-20 years), we assessed how reward network disruption impacts specifically on Bayesian belief representations of self-efficacy (SE-B) and their associated uncertainty (SE-U), using a modified instrumental learning task probing activation induced by the opportunity to choose, and an optimal Hierarchical Gaussian Filter computational model. SE-U engaged caudate, nucleus accumbens (NAcc), precuneus, posterior parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFWE < 0.005). Sparse partial least squares analysis identified SE-U striatal activation as associating with one's sense of perceived choice and depressive symptoms, particularly anhedonia and negative feelings about oneself. As Bayesian uncertainty modulates belief flexibility and their capacity to steer future actions, this suggests that these striatal signals may be informative developmentally, longitudinally and in assessing response to treatment.

Working memory training for reward processing in university students with subsyndromal depression: The influence of baseline severity of depression

Previous studies have tentatively suggested that working memory training (WMT) has the potential to improve reward processing, but it is not known how long this improvement lasts, whether there is a lag effect, or whether it is reflected in neurophysiological indicators. In this study, 40 university students with subsyndromal depression were randomly assigned to a training group or a control group and completed a 20-day working memory training task and a simple memory task, respectively. All participants completed the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) and a doors task with electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded simultaneously on a pre- and post-test and a 3-month follow-up. The reward-related positivity (RewP) amplitude, theta power, and their differences between conditions (i.e., ΔRewP and Δtheta power, respectively) in the doors task were the primary outcomes, and the score on TEPS was the secondary outcome. The results indicated no group-related effects were demonstrated in primary and secondary outcomes at post-test and 3-month follow-up. Furthermore, the differences in the pre- and post-test in Δtheta power were moderated by the baseline severity of depression. This was primarily driven by the fact that the change values in the control group increased with the severity of depression, while the change values in the training group had high homogeneity. Our findings did not provide support for the effect of WMT on reward processing across the whole sample, but without intervention, there would be high heterogeneity in the change in the cognitive control ability to loss feedback, which is detrimental to individuals with high depression severity.

Risk-related brain activation is linked to longitudinal changes in adolescent health risk behaviors

Middle adolescence is the period of development during which youth begin to engage in health risk behaviors such as delinquent behavior and substance use. A promising mechanism for guiding adolescents away from risky choices is the extent to which adolescents are sensitive to the likelihood of receiving valued outcomes. Few studies have examined longitudinal change in adolescent risky decision making and its neural correlates. To this end, the present longitudinal three-wave study (Nw1 = 157, Mw1= 13.50 years; Nw2 = 148, Mw2= 14.52 years; Nw3 = 143, Mw3= 15.55 years) investigated the ontogeny of mid-adolescent behavioral and neural risk sensitivity, and their baseline relations to longitudinal self-reported health risk behaviors. Results showed that adolescents became more sensitive to risk both in behavior and the brain during middle adolescence. Across three years, we observed lower risk-taking and greater risk-related activation in the bilateral insular cortex. When examining how baseline levels of risk sensitivity were related to longitudinal changes in real-life health risk behaviors, we found that Wave 1 insular activity was related to increases in self-reported health risk behaviors over the three years. This research highlights the normative maturation of risk-related processes at the behavioral and neural levels during mid-adolescence.

Neural processing of observed performance-based errors and rewards in the context of friends and unfamiliar peers across adolescence

Adolescence is characterized by changes in performance monitoring, whereby action outcomes are monitored to subsequently adapt behavior and optimize performance. Observation of performance-based outcomes (i.e., errors and rewards) received by others forms the basis of observational learning. Adolescence is also a period of increasing importance of peers, especially friends, and observing peers forms a crucial aspect of learning in the social context of the classroom. However, to our knowledge, no developmental fMRI studies have examined the neural mechanisms underlying observed performance monitoring of errors and rewards in the context of peers. The current fMRI study investigated the neural correlates of observing performance-based errors and rewards of peers in adolescents aged 9-16 years (N = 80). In the scanner, participants observed either their best friend or an unfamiliar peer play a shooting game resulting in performance-dependent rewards (based on hits) or losses (based on misses, i. e, errors), where outcomes affected both the player and the observing participant. Findings showed higher activation in the bilateral striatum and bilateral anterior insula when adolescents observed peers (i.e., best friend and unfamiliar peer) receive performance-based rewards compared to losses. This might reflect the heightened salience of observed reward processing in the peer context in adolescence. Our results further revealed lower activation in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ) while adolescents observed the performance-based outcomes (rewards and losses) for their best friend than for an unfamiliar peer. Considering that observation of others' performance-based errors and rewards forms the basis of observational learning, this study provides a crucial first step in understanding and potentially improving adolescent observational learning in the peer context.

Neural responses to reward valence and magnitude from pre- to early adolescence

BACKGROUND

Neural activation during reward processing is thought to underlie critical behavioral changes that take place during the transition to adolescence (e.g., learning, risk-taking). Though literature on the neural basis of reward processing in adolescence is booming, important gaps remain. First, more information is needed regarding changes in functional neuroanatomy in early adolescence. Another gap is understanding whether sensitivity to different aspects of the incentive (e.g., magnitude and valence) changes during the transition into adolescence. We used fMRI from a large sample of preadolescent children to characterize neural responses to incentive valence vs. magnitude during anticipation and feedback, and their change over a period of two years.

METHODS

Data were taken from the Adolescent Cognitive and Brain DevelopmentSM (ABCD®) study release 3.0. Children completed the Monetary Incentive Delay task at baseline (ages 9-10) and year 2 follow-up (ages 11-12). Based on data from two sites (N = 491), we identified activation-based Regions of Interest (ROIs; e.g., striatum, prefrontal regions, etc.) that were sensitive to trial type (win $5, win $0.20, neutral, lose $0.20, lose $5) during anticipation and feedback phases. Then, in an independent subsample (N = 1470), we examined whether these ROIs were sensitive to valence and magnitude and whether that sensitivity changed over two years.

RESULTS

Our results show that most ROIs involved in reward processing (including the striatum, prefrontal cortex, and insula) are specialized, i.e., mainly sensitive to either incentive valence or magnitude, and this sensitivity was consistent over a 2-year period. The effect sizes of time and its interactions were significantly smaller (0.002≤η2≤0.02) than the effect size of trial type (0.06≤η2≤0.30). Interestingly, specialization was moderated by reward processing phase but was stable across development. Biological sex and pubertal status differences were few and inconsistent. Developmental changes were mostly evident during success feedback, where neural reactivity increased over time.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest sub-specialization to valence vs. magnitude within many ROIs of the reward circuitry. Additionally, in line with theoretical models of adolescent development, our results suggest that the ability to benefit from success increases from pre- to early adolescence. These findings can inform educators and clinicians and facilitate empirical research of typical and atypical motivational behaviors during a critical time of development.

Neural bases of reward anticipation in healthy individuals with low, mid, and high levels of schizotypy

A growing body of research has placed the ventral striatum at the center of a network of cerebral regions involved in anticipating rewards in healthy controls. However, little is known about the functional connectivity of the ventral striatum associated with reward anticipation in healthy controls. In addition, few studies have investigated reward anticipation in healthy humans with different levels of schizotypy. Here, we investigated reward anticipation in eighty-four healthy individuals (44 females) recruited based on their schizotypy scores. Participants performed a variant of the Monetary Incentive Delay Task while undergoing event-related fMRI.Participants showed the expected decrease in response times for highly rewarded trials compared to non-rewarded trials. Whole-brain activation analyses replicated previous results, including activity in the ventral and dorsal striatum. Whole-brain psycho-physiological interaction analyses of the left and right ventral striatum revealed increased connectivity during reward anticipation with widespread regions in frontal, parietal and occipital cortex as well as the cerebellum and midbrain. Finally, we found no association between schizotypal personality severity and neural activity and cortico-striatal functional connectivity. In line with the motivational, attentional, and motor functions of rewards, our data reveal multifaceted cortico-striatal networks taking part in reward anticipation in healthy individuals. The ventral striatum is connected to regions of the salience, attentional, motor and visual networks during reward anticipation and thereby in a position to orchestrate optimal goal-directed behavior.

Longitudinal neural and behavioral trajectories of charity contributions across adolescence

This study examined the development of prosocial charity donations and neural activity in the ventral striatum when gaining rewards for self and for charity. Participants 10-22 years (95% European heritage) participated in three annual behavioral-fMRI waves (T1: n = 160, T2: n = 167, T3: n = 175). Behaviorally, donations to charity as measured with an economic Dictator Game increased with age. Perspective taking also increased with age. In contrast, self-gain and charity-gain enjoyment decreased with age. Ventral striatum activity was higher for rewards for self than for charity, but this difference decreased during adolescence. Latent growth curve models revealed that higher donations were associated with a smaller difference between ventral striatum activation for self and charity. These findings show longitudinal brain-donations associations in adolescence.

Expecting the unexpected: a review of learning under uncertainty across development

Many of our decisions take place under uncertainty. To successfully navigate the environment, individuals need to estimate the degree of uncertainty and adapt their behaviors accordingly by learning from experiences. However, uncertainty is a broad construct and distinct types of uncertainty may differentially influence our learning. We provide a semi-systematic review to illustrate cognitive and neurobiological processes involved in learning under two types of uncertainty: learning in environments with stochastic outcomes, and with volatile outcomes. We specifically reviewed studies (N = 26 studies) that included an adolescent population, because adolescence is a period in life characterized by heightened exploration and learning, as well as heightened uncertainty due to experiencing many new, often social, environments. Until now, reviews have not comprehensively compared learning under distinct types of uncertainties in this age range. Our main findings show that although the overall developmental patterns were mixed, most studies indicate that learning from stochastic outcomes, as indicated by increased accuracy in performance, improved with age. We also found that adolescents tended to have an advantage compared with adults and children when learning from volatile outcomes. We discuss potential mechanisms explaining these age-related differences and conclude by outlining future research directions.

The Added Value of Crosstalk Between Developmental Circuit Neuroscience and Clinical Practice to Inform the Treatment of Adolescent Anxiety

Significant advances have been made in recent years regarding the developmental trajectories of brain circuits and networks, revealing links between brain structure and function. Emerging evidence highlights the importance of developmental trajectories in determining early psychiatric outcomes. However, efforts to encourage crosstalk between basic developmental neuroscience and clinical practice are limited. Here, we focus on the potential advantage of considering features of neural circuit development when optimizing treatments for adolescent patient populations. Drawing on characteristics of adolescent neurodevelopment, we highlight two examples, safety cues and incentives, that leverage insights from neural circuit development and may have great promise for augmenting existing behavioral treatments for anxiety disorders during adolescence. This commentary seeks to serve as a framework to maximize the translational potential of basic research in developmental populations for strengthening psychiatric treatments. In turn, input from clinical practice including the identification of age-specific clinically relevant phenotypes will continue to guide future basic research in the same neural circuits to better reflect clinical practices. Encouraging reciprocal communication to bridge the gap between basic developmental neuroscience research and clinical implementation is an important step toward advancing both research and practice in this domain.

Cortical Grey Matter Mediates Increases in Model-Based Control and Learning from Positive Feedback from Adolescence to Adulthood

Cognition and brain structure undergo significant maturation from adolescence into adulthood. Model-based (MB) control is known to increase across development, which is mediated by cognitive abilities. Here, we asked two questions unaddressed in previous developmental studies. First, what are the brain structural correlates of age-related increases in MB control? Second, how are age-related increases in MB control from adolescence to adulthood influenced by motivational context? A human developmental sample (n = 103; age, 12-50, male/female, 55:48) completed structural MRI and an established task to capture MB control. The task was modified with respect to outcome valence by including (1) reward and punishment blocks to manipulate the motivational context and (2) an additional choice test to assess learning from positive versus negative feedback. After replicating that an age-dependent increase in MB control is mediated by cognitive abilities, we demonstrate first-time evidence that gray matter density (GMD) in the parietal cortex mediates the increase of MB control with age. Although motivational context did not relate to age-related changes in MB control, learning from positive feedback improved with age. Meanwhile, negative feedback learning showed no age effects. We present a first report that an age-related increase in positive feedback learning was mediated by reduced GMD in the parietal, medial, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Our findings indicate that brain maturation, putatively reflected in lower GMD, in distinct and partially overlapping brain regions could lead to a more efficient brain organization and might thus be a key developmental step toward age-related increases in planning and value-based choice.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Changes in model-based decision-making are paralleled by extensive maturation in cognition and brain structure across development. Still, to date the neuroanatomical underpinnings of these changes remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that parietal GMD mediates age-dependent increases in model-based control. Age-related increases in positive feedback learning were mediated by reduced GMD in the parietal, medial, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. A manipulation of motivational context did not have an impact on age-related changes in model-based control. These findings highlight that brain maturation in distinct and overlapping cortical regions constitutes a key developmental step toward improved value-based choices.

How Obstructed Action Efficacy Impacts Reward-based Decision-making in Adolescent Depression: An fMRI Study

OBJECTIVE

Disruption of reward seeking behavior by unforeseen obstacles can promote negative affect, including frustration and irritability, in adolescents. Repeated experiences of obstructed reward may in fact contribute to the development of depression in adolescents. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms whereby goal disruption impacts reward processing in adolescent depression have not yet been characterized. The present study addresses this gap using neuroimaging and a novel paradigm to assess how incidental action obstruction impacts reward-based decision-making.

METHOD

We assessed 62 unmedicated adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD; mean age=15.6, SD=1.4, 67% female participants) and 68 matched healthy control participants (mean age=15.3, SD=1.4, 50% female participants) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they played a card game in which they had to guess between two options to earn points, in low- and high-stake conditions. Functioning of button presses through which they made decisions was intermittently blocked, thereby blocking action efficacy.

RESULTS

Participants with MDD made fewer button press repetitions in response to action efficacy obstruction, which was more apparent in the low-stake condition (Rate Ratio =0.85, p=0.034). During response repetition across stake conditions, MDDs exhibited higher activation in regions in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, caudate, and putamen (F_(1,125)= 16.4-25.6, df=1,125; ps<0.001; Hedges' g=0.85-0.98).

CONCLUSION

Adolescent with depression tend to exhibit less flexible behavioral orientation in the face of blocked action efficacy, and abnormalities in neural systems critical to regulating negative affect during reward-based decision-making. This research highlights possible mechanisms relevant to understanding and treating affective dysregulation in adolescent depression.

Clarifying the role of Cortico-Cortical and Amygdalo-Cortical brain dysconnectivity associated with Conduct Problems

A recent meta-analysis of resting-state functional connectivity studies revealed that individuals exhibiting antisocial behaviors or conduct problems may show disrupted brain connectivity in networks underpinning socio-affective and attentional processes. However, studies included in the meta-analysis generally rely on small sample sizes and substantially differ in terms of psychometric scales and neuroimaging methodologies. Therefore, we aimed to identify reliable functional brain connectivity alterations associated with severity of conduct problems using a large sample of adolescents and two measures of conduct problems. In a sample of 1416 children and adolescents, mass-univariate analyses of connectivity measures between 333 cortical parcels were conducted to examine the relationship between resting-state functional cortical-cortical connectome and the severity of conduct problems using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). At a liberal threshold, results showed that the functional brain connectivity significantly associated with conduct problems largely differ between the two scales. Indeed, only 21 pairs of brain regions overlapped between the CBCL and SDQ. Permutation feature importance of these 21 brain connectivity measures revealed that connectivity between precentral/postcentral gyri and lateral prefrontal cortex (both ventral and dorsal) were the most important features in explaining variance in conduct problems. The current study highlights that psychometric measures may yield distinct functional connectivity results. Moreover, severity of conduct problems in children and adolescents was mainly associated with deficient functional connectivity of somatomotor and ventral attention networks indicating potential alterations in motor, cognitive and reward processes.

Adolescents' neural reactivity to acute psychosocial stress: dysfunctional regulation habits are linked to temporal gyrus response

Mid-adolescence is a critical time for the development of stress-related disorders and it is associated with significant social vulnerability. However, little is known about normative neural processes accompanying psychosocial stress at this time. Previous research found that emotion regulation strategies critically influence the relationship between stress and the development of psychiatric symptoms during adolescence. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined neural responses to acute stress and analyzed whether the tendency to use adaptive or maladaptive emotion regulation strategies is related to neural and autonomic stress responses. Results show large linear activation increases from low to medium to high stress levels mainly in medial prefrontal, insulae and temporal areas. Caudate and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, neural areas related to reward and affective valuations, showed linearly decreasing activation. In line with our hypothesis, the current adolescent neural stress profile resembled social rejection and was characterized by pronounced activation in insula, angular and temporal cortices. Moreover, results point to an intriguing role of the anterior temporal gyrus. Stress-related activity in the anterior temporal gyrus was positively related to maladaptive regulation strategies and stress-induced autonomic activity. Maladaptive coping might increase the social threat and reappraisal load of a stressor, relating to higher stress sensitivity of anterior temporal cortices.

Sex and pubertal influences on the neurodevelopmental underpinnings of schizophrenia: A case for longitudinal research on adolescents

Sex is a significant source of heterogeneity in schizophrenia, with more negative symptoms in males and more affective symptoms and internalizing comorbidity in females. In this narrative review, we argue that there are likely sex differences in the pathophysiological mechanisms of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SZ) that originate during puberty and relate to the sex-specific impacts of pubertal maturation on brain development. Pubertal maturation might also trigger underlying (genetic or other) vulnerabilities in at-risk individuals, influencing brain development trajectories that contribute to the emergence of SZ. This review is the first to integrate links between pubertal development and neural development with cognitive neuroscience research in SZ to form and evaluate these hypotheses, with a focus on the frontal-striatal and frontal-limbic networks and their hypothesized contribution to negative and mood symptoms respectively. To test these hypotheses, longitudinal research with human adolescents is needed that examines the role of sex and pubertal development using large cohorts or high risk samples. We provide recommendations for such studies, which will integrate the fields of psychiatry, developmental cognitive neuroscience, and developmental endocrinology towards a more nuanced understanding of the role of pubertal factors in the hypothesized sex-specific pathophysiological mechanisms of schizophrenia.

The Effects of Acute Cannabis With and Without Cannabidiol on Neural Reward Anticipation in Adults and Adolescents

BACKGROUND

Adolescents may respond differently to cannabis than adults, yet no previous functional magnetic resonance imaging study has examined acute cannabis effects in this age group. In this study, we investigated the neural correlates of reward anticipation after acute exposure to cannabis in adolescents and adults.

METHODS

This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, crossover experiment. Forty-seven adolescents (n = 24, 12 females, ages 16-17 years) and adults (n = 23, 11 females, ages 26-29 years) matched on cannabis use frequency (0.5-3 days/week) completed the Monetary Incentive Delay task during functional magnetic resonance imaging after inhaling cannabis with 0.107 mg/kg Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol ("THC") (8 mg THC for a 75-kg person) or with THC plus 0.320 mg/kg cannabidiol ("THC+CBD") (24 mg CBD for a 75-kg person), or placebo cannabis. We investigated reward anticipation activity with whole-brain analyses and region of interest analyses in the right and left ventral striatum, right and left anterior cingulate cortex, and right insula.

RESULTS

THC reduced anticipation activity compared with placebo in the right (p = .005, d= 0.49) and left (p = .003, d = 0.50) ventral striatum and the right insula (p = .01, d = 0.42). THC+CBD reduced activity compared with placebo in the right ventral striatum (p = .01, d = 0.41) and right insula (p = .002, d = 0.49). There were no differences between "THC" and "THC+CBD" conditions and no significant drug by age group interaction effect, supported by Bayesian analyses. There were no significant effects in the whole-brain analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

In weekly cannabis users, cannabis suppresses the brain's anticipatory reward response to money, and CBD does not modulate this effect. Furthermore, the adolescent reward circuitry is not differentially sensitive to acute effects of cannabis on reward anticipation.

Anhedonia, Apathy, Pleasure, and Effort-Based Decision-Making in Adult and Adolescent Cannabis Users and Controls

BACKGROUND

Cannabis use may be linked with anhedonia and apathy. However, previous studies have shown mixed results, and few have examined the association between cannabis use and specific reward sub-processes. Adolescents may be more vulnerable than adults to harmful effects of cannabis. This study investigated (1) the association between non-acute cannabis use and apathy, anhedonia, pleasure, and effort-based decision-making for reward; and (2) whether these relationships were moderated by age group.

METHODS

We used data from the "CannTeen" study. Participants were 274 adult (26-29 years) and adolescent (16-17 years) cannabis users (1-7 d/wk use in the past 3 months) and gender- and age-matched controls. Anhedonia was measured with the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (n = 274), and apathy was measured with the Apathy Evaluation Scale (n = 215). Effort-based decision-making for reward was measured with the Physical Effort task (n = 139), and subjective wanting and liking of rewards was measured with the novel Real Reward Pleasure task (n = 137).

RESULTS

Controls had higher levels of anhedonia than cannabis users (F1,258 = 5.35, P = .02, η p2 = .02). There were no other significant effects of user-group and no significant user-group*age-group interactions. Null findings were supported by post hoc Bayesian analyses.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that cannabis use at a frequency of 3 to 4 d/wk is not associated with apathy, effort-based decision-making for reward, reward wanting, or reward liking in adults or adolescents. Cannabis users had lower anhedonia than controls, albeit at a small effect size. These findings are not consistent with the hypothesis that non-acute cannabis use is associated with amotivation.

Feature Signature Discovery for Autism Detection: An Automated Machine Learning Based Feature Ranking Framework

Autism spectrum disorder is the most used umbrella term for a myriad of neuro-degenerative/developmental conditions typified by inappropriate social behavior, lack of communication/comprehension skills, and restricted mental and emotional maturity. The intriguing factor of this disorder is attributed to the fact that it can be detected only by close monitoring of developmental milestones after childbirth. Moreover, the exact causes for the occurrence of this neurodevelopmental condition are still unknown. Besides, autism is prevalent across individuals irrespective of ethnicity, genetic/familial history, and economic/educational background. Although research suggests that autism is genetic in nature and early detection of this disorder can greatly enhance the independent lifestyle and societal adaptability of affected individuals, there is still a great dearth of information to support the statement of proven facts and figures. This research work places emphasis on the application of automated machine learning incorporated with feature ranking techniques to generate significant feature signatures for the early detection of autism. Publicly available datasets based on the Q-chat scores of individuals across diverse age groups-toddlers, children, adolescents, and adults have been employed in this study. A machine learning framework based on automated hyperparameter optimization is proposed in this work to rank the potential nonclinical markers for autism. Moreover, this study aimed at ranking the AutoML models based on Mathew's correlation coefficient and balanced accuracy via which nonclinical markers were identified from these datasets. Besides, the feature signatures and their significance in distinguishing between classes are being reported for the first time in autism detection. The proposed framework yielded ∼90% MCC and ∼95% balanced accuracy across all four age groups of autism datasets. Deep learning approaches have yielded a maximum of 92.7% accuracy on the same datasets but are limited in their ability to extract significant markers, have not reported on MCC for unbalanced data, and cannot adapt automatically to new data entries. However, AutoML approaches are more flexible, easier to implement, and provide automated optimization, thereby yielding the highest accuracy with minimal user intervention.

Is loss avoidance differentially rewarding in adolescents versus adults? Differences in ventral striatum and anterior insula activation during the anticipation of potential monetary losses

Avoiding loss is a crucial, adaptive guide to human behavior. While previous developmental research has primarily focused on gaining rewards, less attention has been paid to loss processing and its avoidance. In daily life, it is often unknown how likely an action will result in a loss, making the role of uncertainty in loss processing particularly important. By using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the influence of varying outcome probabilities (12%, 34%, and 67%) on brain regions implicated in loss processing (ventral striatum (VS), anterior insula (AI)) by comparing 28 adolescents (10-18 years) and 24 adults (22-32 years) during the anticipation of potential monetary loss.Overall, results revealed slower RTs in adolescents compared to adults with both groups being faster in the experimental (monetary condition) vs. control trials (verbal condition). Fastest RTs were observed for the 67% outcome probability in both age groups. An age group × outcome probability interaction effect revealed the greatest differences between the groups for the 12% vs. the 67% outcome probability. Neurally, both age groups demonstrated a higher percent signal change in the VS and AI during the anticipation of potential monetary loss versus the verbal condition. However, adults demonstrated an even greater activation of VS and AI than adolescents during the anticipation of potential monetary loss, but not during the verbal condition. This may indicate that adolescents differ from adults regarding their experience of avoiding losing monetary rewards.

Risks and rewards in adolescent decision-making

Adolescent decision-making has been characterized as risky, and a heightened reward sensitivity may be one of the aspects contributing to riskier choice-behavior. Previous studies have targeted reward-sensitivity in adolescence and the neurobiological mechanisms of reward processing in the adolescent brain. In recent examples, researchers aim to disentangle the contributions of risk- and reward-sensitivity to adolescent risk-taking. Here, we discuss recent findings of adolescent's risk preferences and the associated neural mechanisms. We highlight potential frameworks that target individual differences in risk preferences in an effort to understand adolescent risk-taking, and with an ultimate goal of leveraging undesirable levels of risk taking.

Shared and distinct neural activity during anticipation and outcome of win and loss: A meta-analysis of the monetary incentive delay task

Reward and punishment motivate decision making and behavioral changes. Numerous studies have examined regional activities during anticipation and outcome of win and loss in the monetary incentive delay task (MIDT). However, the great majority of studies reported findings of anticipation or outcome and of win or loss alone. It remains unclear how the neural correlates share and differentiate amongst these processes. We conducted an Activation Likelihood Estimation meta-analysis of 81 studies of the MIDT (5,864 subjects), including 24 published since the most recent meta-analysis, to identify and, with conjunction and subtraction, contrast regional responses to win anticipation, loss anticipation, win outcome, and loss outcome. Win and loss anticipation engaged a shared network of bilateral anterior insula (AI), striatum, thalamus, supplementary motor area (SMA), and precentral gyrus. Win and loss outcomes did not share regional activities. Win and loss outcome each engaged higher activity in medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Bilateral striatum and right occipital cortex responded to both anticipation and outcome of win, and right AI to both phases of loss. Win anticipation vs. outcome engaged higher activity in bilateral AI, striatum, SMA and precentral gyrus and right thalamus, and lower activity in bilateral mOFC and posterior cingulate cortex as well as right inferior frontal and angular gyri. Loss anticipation relative to outcome involved higher activity in bilateral striatum and left AI. These findings collectively suggest shared and distinct regional responses during monetary wins and losses. Delineating the neural correlates of these component processes may facilitate empirical research of motivated behaviors and dysfunctional approach and avoidance in psychopathology.

Reward sensitivity and internalizing symptoms during the transition to puberty: An examination of 9-and 10-year-olds in the ABCD Study

Early pubertal timing has been linked to increased risk for internalizing psychopathology in adolescents. Work in older adolescents and adults suggests that heightened reward sensitivity may buffer risk for internalizing symptoms. However, few studies have investigated these associations during the early transition to puberty, a window of vulnerability to mental health risk. In this preregistered study, we investigated the associations among pubertal timing, internalizing symptoms, and reward sensitivity in a large, population-based sample of 11,224 9-10 year-olds from the ABCD Study®. Using split-half analysis, we tested for within-sample replications of hypothesized effects across two age- and sex-matched subsets of the sample. Early pubertal timing was associated with higher internalizing symptoms in female and male participants across samples, with 9-10 year-olds in the mid-pubertal stage at the highest risk for internalizing symptoms. Additionally, early pubertal timing was robustly associated with greater self-reported reward sensitivity in both female and male participants. We observed inconsistent evidence for a moderating role of reward sensitivity across measurement domains (self-report, behavioral, and fMRI data), several of which differed by sex, but none of these interactions replicated across samples. Together, these findings provide unique insights into early indicators of risk for internalizing psychopathology during the transition to puberty in a large, population-based, demographically diverse sample of youth.