Arrested development? Reconsidering dual-systems models of brain function in adolescence and disorders

Investigative Approaches to Resilient Emotion Regulation Neurodevelopment in a South African Birth Cohort

Understanding the neurobiology of resilient emotion regulation following adversities is critical for addressing mental health problems globally. However, the functional neurobiology of resilience has rarely been studied in low- and middle-income countries, which comprise 90% of the world's population and experience more consistent adversities. Here, we describe how we are investigating the neurodevelopment of resilient emotion regulation in adolescents (anticipated N = 525) from a South African birth cohort recruited from a low-income, high-adversity township. Across 2 longitudinal time points (13-14 and 15-16 years), magnetic resonance imaging, behavior, and self-report measures from adolescents and their caregivers are collected. These data are complemented by existing developmental histories (from the prenatal period to 8 years). The culturally adapted measures, protocols, and analytic plans for investigating resilient emotion regulation are presented. By characterizing neurodevelopmental correlates of adolescent resilience from an understudied low- and middle-income country, this research will provide deeper insights into mental health globally.

Fractionating impulsivity and reward-related phenotypes in adolescent mice

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by changes in the brain and behavior, including heightened reward seeking, increased impulsivity, and elevated risk-taking behavior. It is also a sensitive period for the development of a number of behavioral and psychiatric disorders associated with pathological phenotypes of reward processing and impulsivity. Landmark human studies are charting the development of impulsivity and other reward-related phenotypes to identify the facets and timecourse of the adolescent phenotype. Collecting similar data from mice is important to enable molecular, cellular, and circuit-level interrogation of adolescent maturation of reward, motivation, and impulsive behavior. These complex phenotypes have traditionally been difficult to assay in adolescent mice. Here, using a combination of approaches including homecage testing, we tested a number of facets of reward seeking, impulsivity, motivation, and incentive salience attribution during adolescent development. We found that adolescent mice show increased reward seeking, impulsive action, and motivation. Interestingly, we found no effect of adolescence on impulsive choice, sign-tracking, reward-learning, or conditioned reinforcement. Overall, our studies set the stage for approaches to study multi-faceted phenotypes related to impulsivity and other reward-related behaviors in adolescent mice to examine the developmental trajectories of brain and behavior.

Risk-Taking Behaviors of Young Children: The Role of Children's and Parents' Socioemotional and Cognitive Control Systems

To prevent young children's injuries, studies have considered both child (e.g., temperament, age, sex) and parent factors (e.g., parental supervision and style, attachment) associated with risk-taking behaviors. Building on risk-taking theory literature, Jonas and Kochanska (Jonas & Kochanska, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 46:1573-1583, 2018) adapted the dual systems model (Steinberg, Developmental Review 28:78-106, 2008) to children and suggested that risk-taking propensity arises from an imbalance between the overactivation of the child's socioemotional system (sensation seeking or traits of surgency) and the lower cognitive control system (lack of self-regulation or of effortful control). However, from an intergenerational transmission perspective, it is relevant to consider the role both parents' and the children's socioemotional and cognitive control systems have on a child's risk-taking behaviors. The current longitudinal study is the first to examines sensation seeking and lack of self-regulation in parents in addition to the child's surgency-effortful control imbalance to understand the child's risk-taking behaviors. The sample comprised 177 two-parent families (89 boys) observed at two time points (child age ranges: 12-18 months and 24-30 months). Both parents provided sociodemographic information and completed self-reported questionnaires on sensation seeking and self-regulation, child's temperament and risk-taking behaviors. Results showed that fathers' higher sensation-seeking and mothers' lack of self-regulation were associated with higher children's risk-taking behaviors. After controlling for these parent factors and child sex, child surgency-effortful imbalance was strongly associated with higher children's risk-taking behaviors. An adapted dual systems model including both parents (sensation seeking and self-regulation) and children (surgency-effortful imbalance) seems a promising avenue to a fuller understanding of children's risk-taking behaviors.

Disorganization of Small-World Functional Brain Networks in First-Episode, Treatment-Naïve Adolescents With Major Depressive Disorder

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD) is prevalent globally but often goes unnoticed due to differences in symptoms compared to adult criteria. Analyzing the brain from a network perspective provides new insights into higher-level brain functions and its pathophysiology. This study aimed to investigate changes in the topological organization of functional networks in adolescents with first-episode, treatment-naïve MDD.

METHOD

The study included 23 adolescents with depression and 27 matched healthy controls (HCs). Resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) was conducted, and whole-brain functional networks were constructed. Graph theory analysis was used to evaluate network topological properties. A machine-learning multivariate diagnostic model was developed using network metrics associated with depression severity.

RESULTS

Both the MDD and HC groups displayed small-world topology, with male MDD patients showing reduced global clustering efficiency (Cp). The nodal Cp (NCp) and local efficiency (NLE) in the bilateral pallidum were significantly positively correlated with depression severity. In contrast, nodal efficiency (NE) in the left medial orbital superior frontal gyri (ORBsupmed) showed a negative correlation with disease severity. A machine-learning multivariate model using regional network topological features produced an AUROC of 0.71 (95% CI: 0.54-0.92) and an F1 score of 0.65, successfully differentiating adolescent MDD from HCs.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest disruptions in small-world topology in both global and local brain networks in adolescent depression. These abnormal nodal properties may serve as novel neural markers of the disorder.

Adolescent digital emotion regulation

The maturation of effective emotion regulation (ER) skills is a core achievement of adolescence and youth are now developing their ER habits and skills in a hybrid reality of digital and non-digital experiences. We present a new model of adolescent digital emotion regulation as a conceptual framework to help guide burgeoning research in this area. We distinguish two primary processes: the regulation of emotions that have been elicited within digital contexts (i.e., the regulation of digitally induced emotions), and how youth regulate their emotions through digital means (i.e., digitally regulated emotion). Following the explication of different pathways in the model and consideration of the affordances of digital contexts, we highlight how this framework connects to theory and guides future research.

Developmental trajectories of non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence: The effect of social support and socioeconomic status

BACKGROUND

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in early adolescence has been amply documented. However, there has been little research on the progression of NSSI over time. Most studies have focused on the risk factors for NSSI, with less attention devoted to understanding the role of protective factors. This paper aimed to expand existing knowledge about the development of NSSI, with an emphasis on the impacts of protective factors such as social support and socioeconomic status (SES).

METHODS

A total of 436 adolescents completed self-report surveys that addressed social support including friend, family, and teacher support, objective and subjective SES, and NSSI at three different points in time for 2 years.

RESULTS

Latent growth curve analyses revealed that NSSI increased across early adolescence to mid-adolescence. Support from friends and family negatively predicted adolescents' initial NSSI level. Furthermore, subjective SES negatively predicted the rate of NSSI.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings contribute to an understanding of the influences of both social support and SES on NSSI over time. NSSI interventions and education should include considerations of both the value of support from friends and family as well as subjective SES.

Puberty and NeuroDevelopment in adolescents (PANDA): a study protocol

BACKGROUND

Biopsychosocial changes during adolescence are thought to confer risk for emotion dysregulation, and in particular, anxiety disorders. However, there are substantial gaps in our knowledge about the biological mechanisms underlying anxiety during adolescence, and whether this contributes to the higher prevalence in females. The Puberty and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescents (PANDA) study aims to examine links between biological (sex hormones, cortisol) and social environmental factors and brain function during adolescence, with a focus on key processes (emotion regulation, fear learning) identified as relevant for the development of anxiety disorders.

METHODS

PANDA is a cross-sectional study with an observational design that aims to recruit a total of 175 adolescents aged 11-16 (majority female) and their parents/guardians, from the community. Brain function will be examined using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including functional MRI tasks of emotion regulation and fear learning. Hormones will be measured from hair (i.e., cortisol) and weekly saliva samples (i.e., oestradiol, progesterone, five across a month in females). Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews will be used to assess mental health and social environmental factors such as parenting and adverse childhood experiences. An online study of 113 adolescents was also incorporated during the COVID-19 pandemic as a questionnaire-only sub-study.

DISCUSSION

Strengths of this study include the collection of multiple saliva samples to assess variability in hormone levels, examination of the timing of adverse childhood experiences, inclusion of both maternal and paternal parental factors, exploration of mechanisms through the examination of brain structure and function, and multi-method, multi-informant collection of mental health symptoms. This study addresses important gaps in the literature and will enhance knowledge of the biological and environmental contributors to emotion dysregulation and anxiety in adolescents.

The role (and limits) of developmental neuroscience in determining adolescents' autonomy rights: The case for reproductive and voting rights

Neuroscientific evidence documenting continued neural development throughout adolescence has been leveraged in advocacy for more lenient treatment of adolescents in the criminal justice system. In recent years, developmental science, including neuroscience, has progressed and enabled more nuanced interpretations of what continuing neural development in adolescence likely means functionally for adolescents' capabilities. However, oversimplified interpretations equating continuing neural development to overall "immaturity" are frequently used to make the case that adolescents should have fewer legal rights to make decisions on their own behalf, including regarding reproductive and voting rights. Here we address ongoing debates about adolescents' autonomy rights and whether such rights should be expanded or restricted. We review extant neuroscientific and developmental research that can inform these debates. We call for: (1) a more nuanced application of developmental neuroscience to specific rights issues in specific contexts; (2) additional research designed to inform our understanding of the developmental benefits or harms of rights-based policies on young people over time; and (3) the grounding of developmental neuroscientific research on adolescents within a human rights framework. We offer suggestions to developmental and neuroscience scholars on how to discuss the science of adolescent development with those seeking guidance in their design of law and policy.

Active Inference in Psychology and Psychiatry: Progress to Date?

The free energy principle is a formal theory of adaptive self-organising systems that emerged from statistical thermodynamics, machine learning and theoretical neuroscience and has since been translated into biologically plausible 'process theories' of cognition and behaviour, which fall under the banner of 'active inference'. Despite the promise this theory holds for theorising, research and practical applications in psychology and psychiatry, its impact on these disciplines has only now begun to bear fruit. The aim of this treatment is to consider the extent to which active inference has informed theoretical progress in psychology, before exploring its contributions to our understanding and treatment of psychopathology. Despite facing persistent translational obstacles, progress suggests that active inference has the potential to become a new paradigm that promises to unite psychology's subdisciplines, while readily incorporating the traditionally competing paradigms of evolutionary and developmental psychology. To date, however, progress towards this end has been slow. Meanwhile, the main outstanding question is whether this theory will make a positive difference through applications in clinical psychology, and its sister discipline of psychiatry.

Neural Markers of Emotion Reactivity and Regulation Before and After a Targeted Social Rejection: Differences Among Girls With and Without Suicidal Ideation and Behavior Histories

BACKGROUND

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are common among adolescent girls and increase risk for suicide death. Emotion regulation difficulties are linked with STBs, particularly in response to targeted social rejection. However, neural correlates of this link have not been investigated and may identify novel targets for interventions. Here, we examined neural correlates of emotion regulation before and after an experimentally delivered targeted social rejection in adolescent girls with STBs and girls without STBs (i.e., control participants).

METHODS

Girls (N = 138; age range, 9-15 years; mean [SD] age = 11.6 [1.79] years) completed a functional neuroimaging emotion regulation task. In the middle of the task, participants were socially rejected by an unfamiliar confederate whom the participants had elected to meet. Participants also completed a multimethod STB assessment.

RESULTS

Before rejection, girls with a history of STBs, compared with control participants, showed greater activation in the right superior frontal gyrus when passively viewing negative stimuli, and girls with suicidal behavior (SB) versus those without SB showed less activation in the right frontal pole during emotion regulation attempts. Following the rejection, girls with STBs, compared with control participants, showed greater activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus during emotion regulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Before social rejection, girls with SB versus without SB may not activate brain regions implicated in emotion regulation, suggesting a vulnerability to poor regulation at their baseline emotional state. After social rejection, girls with any history of STBs showed altered activation in a brain region strongly associated with inhibition and emotion regulation success, possibly reflecting increased effort at inhibiting emotional responses during regulation following stress exposure.

Dual-systems models of the genetic architecture of impulsive personality traits: neurogenetic evidence of distinct but related factors

BACKGROUND

Dual-systems models, positing an interaction between two distinct and competing systems (i.e. top-down self-control, and bottom-up reward- or emotion-based drive), provide a parsimonious framework for investigating the interplay between cortical and subcortical brain regions relevant to impulsive personality traits (IPTs) and their associations with psychopathology. Despite recent developments in multivariate analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), molecular genetic investigations of these models have not been conducted.

METHODS

Using IPT GWAS, we conducted confirmatory genomic structural equation models (GenomicSEM) to empirically evaluate dual-systems models of the genetic architecture of IPTs. Genetic correlations between dual-systems factors and relevant cortical and subcortical neuroimaging phenotypes (regional/structural volume, cortical surface area, cortical thickness) were estimated and compared.

RESULTS

GenomicSEM dual-systems models underscored important sources of shared and unique genetic variance between top-down and bottom-up constructs. Specifically, a dual-systems genomic model consisting of sensation seeking and lack of self-control factors demonstrated distinct but related sources of genetic influences (rg = 0.60). Genetic correlation analyses provided evidence of differential associations between dual-systems factors and cortical neuroimaging phenotypes (e.g. lack of self-control negatively associated with cortical thickness, sensation seeking positively associated with cortical surface area). No significant associations were observed with subcortical phenotypes.

CONCLUSIONS

Dual-systems models of the genetic architecture of IPTs tested were consistent with study hypotheses, but associations with relevant neuroimaging phenotypes were mixed (e.g. no associations with subcortical volumes). Findings demonstrate the utility of dual-systems models for studying IPT genetic influences, but also highlight potential limitations as a framework for interpreting IPTs as endophenotypes for psychopathology.

Major Depressive Disorder as a Driver of Dual Systems Model Development During Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood Among Justice-Involved Youth: Is Salience Age-Graded?

The dual systems model is a psychological framework centered on differential development of sensation-seeking and impulse control during adolescence and emerging adulthood with implications for understanding antisocial behavior. However, there is a dearth of research which has examined mental illness as a driver of differential development of these constructs. This study examined major depressive disorder as a risk factor for elevated sensation-seeking and diminished impulse control and tested to determine whether the salience differed by age. The Pathways to Desistance data were analyzed. Mixed effects models examined the direct effect of major depressive disorder on dual systems outcomes and test for moderation by age. Findings indicated that major depressive disorder at baseline was associated with increased sensation-seeking and diminished impulse control. Relationships did not differ in salience based on age. Results suggest that treatment effective for addressing depression may have relevance for mitigating the impact of the disorder on cognition.

Reappraising the role of dopamine in adolescent risk-taking behavior

Adolescence is characterized by increased risk-taking, which is often ascribed to developmental changes in dopaminergic signaling. Popular models propose that these behaviors are caused by dopamine-induced hypersensitivity to rewards, which overrides adolescents' immature self-control mechanisms. However, these models are often based on oversimplified notions about the workings and functions of dopamine. Here we discuss the relationship between changes in the dopaminergic system and adolescent behavior in light of current theories/models about the functions of dopamine. We show that dopamine is linked to learning, adaptive decision-making under uncertainty, and increased motivation to work for rewards. Thus, changes in the dopaminergic system contribute to the maturation of cognitive control through various mechanisms, contrary to the false dichotomy between reward processing and self-control. Finally, we note that dopamine interacts with a number of other neuromodulator systems, which also change during adolescence, but that have been largely ignored in the field of adolescent development. A full understanding of adolescent behavior will require these neurochemicals and their interactions with dopamine to be taken into account.

Dual-systems models of the genetic architecture of impulsive personality traits: Neurogenetic evidence of distinct but related factors

Background

Dual-systems models provide a parsimonious framework for understanding the interplay between cortical and subcortical brain regions relevant to impulsive personality traits (IPTs) and their associations with psychiatric disorders. Despite recent developments in multivariate analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), molecular genetic investigations of these models have not been conducted.

Methods

Using extant IPT GWAS, we conducted confirmatory genomic structural equation models (GenomicSEM) to empirically evaluate dual-systems models of the genetic architecture of IPTs. Genetic correlations between results of multivariate GWAS of dual-systems factors and GWAS of relevant cortical and subcortical neuroimaging phenotypes (regional/structural volume, cortical surface area, cortical thickness) were calculated and compared.

Results

Evaluation of GenomicSEM model fit indices for dual-systems models suggested that these models highlight important sources of shared and unique genetic variance between top-down and bottom-up constructs. Specifically, a dual-systems genomic model consisting of sensation seeking and lack of self-control factors demonstrated distinct but related sources of genetic influences ( r g =.60). Genetic correlation analyses provided evidence of differential associations between dual-systems factors and cortical neuroimaging phenotypes (e.g., lack of self-control negatively associated with cortical thickness, sensation seeking positively associated with cortical surface area). However, no significant associations were observed for subcortical phenotypes inconsistent with hypothesized functional localization of dual-systems constructs.

Conclusions

Dual-systems models of the genetic architecture of IPTs tested here demonstrate evidence of shared and unique genetic influences and associations with relevant neuroimaging phenotypes. These findings emphasize potential advantages in utilizing dual-systems models to study genetic influences for IPTs and transdiagnostic associations with psychiatric disorders.

Childhood trauma, earlier pubertal timing, and psychopathology in adolescence: The role of corticolimbic development

Earlier pubertal development appears to be one pathway through which childhood trauma contributes to psychopathology in adolescence. Puberty-related changes in neural networks involved in emotion processing, namely the amygdala-medial prefrontal (mPFC) circuit, may be a potential mechanism linking trauma and adolescent psychopathology. Our participants were 227 youth between 10 and 13 years of age who completed assessments of threat and deprivation-related experiences of adversity, pubertal stage, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. A subset (n = 149) also underwent a functional MRI scan while passively viewing fearful and calm faces. Potential mechanisms linking childhood trauma with psychopathology, encompassing earlier pubertal timing and neural response to aversive stimuli were explored. Earlier pubertal development was associated with childhood trauma as well as increased externalizing symptoms in boys only. Earlier pubertal timing in males and females was negatively associated with activation in bilateral amygdala, hippocampal, and fusiform regions when comparing fearful and calm faces. However, amygdala-mPFC connectivity showed no association with pubertal timing or psychopathology symptoms. These findings do not support accelerated amygdala-mPFC development as a mechanism linking childhood trauma and psychopathology, but instead provide support for the role of pubertal development in normative decreases in limbic activation across development.

Continuity versus change in latent profiles of emotion regulation and working memory during adolescence

Significant structural and functional brain development occurs during early adolescence. These changes underlie developments in central neurocognitive processes such as working memory (WM) and emotion regulation (ER). The preponderance of studies modeling trajectories of adolescent brain development use variable-centered approaches, omitting attention to individual differences that may undergird neurobiological embedding of early life stress and attendant psychopathology. This preregistered, data-driven study used latent transition analysis (LTA) to identify (1) latent profiles of neural function during a WM and implicit ER task, (2) transitions in profiles across 24 months, and 3) associations between transitions, parental support, and subsequent psychopathology. Using two waves of data from the ABCD Study (Mage T1 = 10; Mage T2 = 12), we found three unique profiles of neural function at both T1 and T2. The Typical, Emotion Hypo-response, and Emotion-Hyper response profiles were characterized by, respectively: moderate amygdala activation and fusiform deactivation; high ACC, fusiform, and insula deactivation; and high amygdala, ACC, and insula response to ER. While 69.5 % remained in the Typical profile from T1 to T2, 27.8 % of the sample moved from one profile at T1 to another at T2. However, neither latent profiles nor transitions exhibited associations between parental support or psychopathology symptoms.

Understanding Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A Narrative Review and Clinical Recommendations

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is consistently associated with a host of social problems, such as victimization and difficulties in maintaining close friendships. These problems are not limited to offline relations but also manifest in the online social world, as previous research shows that ADHD is associated with problematic use of social media. Given the ubiquitous nature of social media, the goal of the current review is to understand why adolescents with ADHD demonstrate more problematic social media use than their typically developing peers. To this end, we provide a narrative review on the evidence for the link between ADHD and social media use, and consequently present an integrative framework, which encompasses neurobiological mechanisms (i.e., imbalance theory of brain development and dual pathway model of ADHD) and social mechanisms, including influences from peers and parents. We conclude that empirical work shows most consistent evidence for the link between problematic social media use and ADHD (symptoms), while intensity of social media use is also associated with several other behaviors and outcomes. Finally, we hypothesize how existing interventions for ADHD may work on the identified mechanisms and provide at-hand clinical recommendations for therapists working with adolescents with ADHD who exhibit problematic social media use.

Social learning across adolescence: A Bayesian neurocognitive perspective

Adolescence is a period of social re-orientation in which we are generally more prone to peer influence and the updating of our beliefs based on social information, also called social learning, than in any other stage of our life. However, how do we know when to use social information and whose information to use and how does this ability develop across adolescence? Here, we review the social learning literature from a behavioral, neural and computational viewpoint, focusing on the development of brain systems related to executive functioning, value-based decision-making and social cognition. We put forward a Bayesian reinforcement learning framework that incorporates social learning about value associated with particular behavior and uncertainty in our environment and experiences. We discuss how this framework can inform us about developmental changes in social learning, including how the assessment of uncertainty and the ability to adaptively discriminate between information from different social sources change across adolescence. By combining reward-based decision-making in the domains of both informational and normative influence, this framework explains both negative and positive social peer influence in adolescence.

The early adolescent brain on music: Analysis of functional dynamics reveals engagement of orbitofrontal cortex reward system

Music listening plays a pivotal role for children and adolescents, yet it remains unclear how music modulates brain activity at the level of functional networks in this young population. Analysing the dynamics of brain networks occurring and dissolving over time in response to music can provide a better understanding of the neural underpinning of music listening. We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 17 preadolescents aged 10-11 years while listening to two similar music pieces separated by periods without music. We subsequently tracked the occurrence of functional brain networks over the recording time using a recent method that detects recurrent patterns of phase-locking in the fMRI signals: the leading eigenvector dynamics analysis (LEiDA). The probabilities of occurrence and switching profiles of different functional networks were compared between periods of music and no music. Our results showed significantly increased occurrence of a specific functional network during the two music pieces compared to no music, involving the medial orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortices-a brain subsystem associated to reward processing. Moreover, the higher the musical reward sensitivity of the preadolescents, the more this network was preceded by a pattern involving the insula. Our findings highlight the involvement of a brain subsystem associated with hedonic and emotional processing during music listening in the early adolescent brain. These results offer novel insight into the neural underpinnings of musical reward in early adolescence, improving our understanding of the important role and the potential benefits of music at this delicate age.

Task-based functional connectivity patterns: Links to adolescent emotion regulation and psychopathology

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by heightened emotional reactivity, neurobiological changes, and increased rates of anxiety and depression. Emotion regulation (ER) difficulties-or the inability to effectively regulate one's emotions-have been theoretically and empirically conceptualized as a transdiagnostic factor implicated in virtually all forms of psychopathology among youth. The current fMRI study investigates how young adolescents' ER abilities longitudinally mediate the relationship between their task-based (n=67) limbic-prefrontal functional connectivity values and subsequent levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Findings revealed that adolescents with stronger limbic-prefrontal connectivity when viewing negative emotional images reported more ER difficulties one year later which, in turn, predicted higher levels of adolescent-reported internalizing and externalizing symptoms (with the exception of ADHD) two years later. This is the only study to date that provides compelling-albeit preliminary-evidence that ER problems longitudinally mediate the association between task-based functional connectivity patterns and future psychological symptoms among adolescents. Of note, participants were only scanned at baseline, limiting our ability to assess change in adolescents' task-based functional connectivity patterns as a function of developing ER abilities or burgeoning psychological symptomology. In sum, rather than conferring risk for any particular disorder, our results suggest that functional connectivity and subsequent ER abilities may serve a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology. These findings may inform future emotion-focused prevention and intervention efforts aimed at youth susceptible to future internalizing and externalizing problems.

Adolescents and young adults differ in their neural response to and recognition of adolescent and adult emotional faces

Peer relationships become increasingly important during adolescence. The success of these relationships may rely on the ability to attend to and decode subtle or ambiguous emotional expressions that are common in social interactions. However, most studies examining youths' processing and labeling of facial emotion have employed adult faces and faces that depict emotional extremes as stimuli. In this study, 40 adolescents and 40 young adults viewed blends of angry-neutral, fearful-neutral, and happy-neutral faces (e.g., 100% angry, 66% angry, 33% angry, neutral) portrayed by adolescent and adult actors as electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Participants also labeled these faces according to the emotion expressed (i.e., angry, fearful, happy, or neutral). The Late Positive Potential (LPP), an event-related potential (ERP) component that reflects sustained attention to motivationally salient information, was scored from the EEG following face presentation. Among adolescents, as peer-age faces moved from ambiguous (33%) to unambiguous (100%) emotional expression, the LPP similarly increased. These effects were not found when adolescents viewed emotional face blends portrayed by adult actors. Additionally, while both adolescents and young adults showed greater emotion labeling accuracy as faces increased in emotional intensity from ambiguous to unambiguous emotional expression, adolescent participants did not show greater accuracy when labeling peer-compared to adult-age faces. Together, these data suggest that adolescents attend more to subtle differences in peer-age emotional faces, but they do not label these emotional expressions more accurately than adults.

A Comprehensive Review of the Literature on Sleep Difficulties and Suicidality in Youth to Inform an Integrative Developmental Model and Future Directions

Purpose of Review

Suicide is currently the second leading cause of death among youth. Identification of modifiable near-term risk factors can inform suicide prevention strategies. One promising, readily assessed factor is sleep. We critically review the literature on sleep and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among youth.

Recent Findings

Most studies examining the youth sleep-suicidality relationship are from epidemiological samples in which both sleep problems and suicidality were assessed over variable timeframes using limited items from scales not designed to measure these constructs. Nonetheless, these data overwhelmingly support an association between suicidality and a range of sleep difficulties (e.g., insomnia, short/long sleep, weekend oversleep), above and beyond depressive symptoms. Limited studies include clinical samples or prospective designs. We review potential mechanisms and present a developmentally-informed integrative model.

Summary

Literature supports a clear association between sleep difficulties and youth suicidality. Future directions include prospective longitudinal studies and targeted prevention efforts.

Individual differences in amygdala volumes predict changes in functional connectivity between subcortical and cognitive control networks throughout adolescence

Adolescence is a critical period of structural and functional neural maturation among regions serving the cognitive control of emotion. Evidence suggests that this process is guided by developmental changes in amygdala and striatum structure and shifts in functional connectivity between subcortical (SC) and cognitive control (CC) networks. Herein, we investigate the extent to which such developmental shifts in structure and function reciprocally predict one another over time. 179 youth (9-15 years-old) completed annual MRI scans for three years. Amygdala and striatum volumes and connectivity within and between SC and CC resting state networks were measured for each year. We tested for reciprocal predictability of within-person and between-person changes in structure and function using random-intercept cross-lagged panel models. Within-person shifts in amygdala volumes in a given year significantly and specifically predicted deviations in SC-CC connectivity in the following year, such that an increase in volume was associated with decreased SC-CC connectivity the following year. Deviations in connectivity did not predict changes in amygdala volumes over time. Conversely, broader group-level shifts in SC-CC connectivity were predictive of subsequent deviations in striatal volumes. We did not see any cross-predictability among amygdala or striatum volumes and within-network connectivity measures. Within-person shifts in amygdala structure year-to-year robustly predicted weaker SC-CC connectivity in subsequent years, whereas broader increases in SC-CC connectivity predicted smaller striatal volumes over time. These specific structure function relationships may contribute to the development of emotional control across adolescence.

Adolescent decision making: A decade in review

Research in the past decade has highlighted the nuances of adolescent decision making. In this review article, we summarize several themes evident in the field of developmental science including the redefinition of adolescence and the ways in which adolescent decision-making capabilities converge with or diverge from those of adults. While the decision-making process is similar for adolescents and adults in contexts that encourage deliberation and reflection, adolescents and adults differ in contexts which preclude deliberation vis-à-vis high emotional arousal. We also discuss the reconceptualization of adolescent behavior, including risk taking, as adaptive. That is, characteristics of adolescence, including impulsivity, the importance of peers, and novelty seeking, are normative, evolutionarily advantageous, and essential for positive development. While these features manifest in negative, health-compromising ways (e.g., risky driving and criminal behavior), they also foster growth and exploration. We conclude with a discussion of potential avenues for future research.

Adolescent Brain Development and Contextual Influences: A Decade in Review

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by substantial psychological, biological, and neurobiological changes. This review discusses the past decade of research on the adolescent brain, as based on the overarching framework that development is a dynamic process both within the individual and between the individual and external inputs. As such, this review focuses on research showing that the development of the brain is influenced by multiple ongoing and dynamic elements. It highlights the implications this body of work on behavioral development and offers areas of opportunity for future research in the coming decade.

Cultural group differences in the association of neural sensitivity to social feedback and social anxiety among diverse adolescents

Social anxiety disproportionately impacts individuals from certain cultural and developmental groups, namely those from Latinx and Asian American cultures and adolescents. Neural sensitivity to social feedback has been shown to vary across individuals and could contribute to this disparity by further exacerbating differences; thus, this could be an important phenomenon for understanding, preventing, and treating social anxiety. The goal of the present study was to examine the association of social anxiety with a neural correlate of feedback processing, the feedback-related negativity (FRN), and determine if there was a moderating effect of racial/ethnic group. A community sample of 104 Latinx (n = 41), Asian American (n = 24), and non-Latinx White (NLW; n = 39) adolescents (ages 13-17) completed a computerized peer feedback task while continuous electroencephalogram was recorded. Social anxiety and FRN measures were differentially associated as a function of race/ethnicity. NLW adolescents demonstrated greater FRN responses to acceptance feedback as social anxiety increased, whereas FRN responses to both rejection and acceptance feedback were related to greater social anxiety for Asian American adolescents. Notably, the Latinx group showed the greatest FRN responses yet endorsed the least amount of social anxiety, with no relation between social anxiety and FRN detected. Results highlight cultural variation in the relation between neural correlates of self-regulatory processes and social anxiety. This information could guide culturally-informed models of social anxiety that adopt a multiple units of analysis framework.

The Development of Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors Among Youth With or Without a Family History of Substance Use Disorder: The Indirect Effects of Early-Life Stress and Impulsivity

Youth with a family history of substance use disorder (FH+) are more prone to have externalizing and internalizing problems compared to youth without a family history of substance use disorder (FH-), increasing the likelihood of later maladjustment. However, mechanisms for this association remain understudied. In this longitudinal study, we examined if FH+ youth are more likely to experience early-life stressors (ELS), which in turn would increase impulsivity and the expression of externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Data were collected from youth and a parent (n = 386) during a baseline assessment (age 10-12 years) and every six months when the youth was 13-16 years old. In support of the primary hypothesis, FH+ youth reported higher levels of externalizing and internalizing behaviors through ELS to impulsivity providing a developmental pathway through which FH+ youth are more prone to externalizing and internalizing problems.

The Developing Brain in the Digital Era: A Scoping Review of Structural and Functional Correlates of Screen Time in Adolescence

The widespread diffusion of screen-based devices in adolescence has fueled a debate about the beneficial and detrimental effects on adolescents' well-being and development. With the aim of summarizing the existing literature on the associations between screen time (including Internet-related addictions) and adolescent brain development, the present scoping review summarized evidence from 16 task-unrelated and task-related neuroimaging studies, published between 2010 and 2020. Results highlight three important key messages: (i) a frequent and longer duration of screen-based media consumption (including Internet-related addictive behaviors) is related to a less efficient cognitive control system in adolescence, including areas of the Default Mode Network and the Central Executive Network; (ii) online activities act as strong rewards to the brain and repeated screen time augments the tendency to seek short-term gratifications; and (iii) neuroscientific research on the correlates between screen time and adolescent brain development is still at the beginning and in urgent need for further evidence, especially on the underlying causality mechanisms. Methodological, theoretical, and conceptual implications are discussed.

Revisiting the Neural Architecture of Adolescent Decision-Making: Univariate and Multivariate Evidence for System-Based Models

Understanding adolescent decision-making is significant for informing basic models of neurodevelopment as well as for the domains of public health and criminal justice. System-based theories posit that adolescent decision-making is guided by activity related to reward and control processes. While successful at explaining behavior, system-based theories have received inconsistent support at the neural level, perhaps because of methodological limitations. Here, we used two complementary approaches to overcome said limitations and rigorously evaluate system-based models. Using decision-level modeling of fMRI data from a risk-taking task in a sample of 2000+ decisions across 51 human adolescents (25 females, mean age = 15.00 years), we find support for system-based theories of decision-making. Neural activity in lateral PFC and a multivariate pattern of cognitive control both predicted a reduced likelihood of risk-taking, whereas increased activity in the NAcc predicted a greater likelihood of risk-taking. Interactions between decision-level brain activity and age were not observed. These results garner support for system-based accounts of adolescent decision-making behavior.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Adolescent decision-making behavior is of great import for basic science, and carries equally consequential implications for public health and criminal justice. While dominant psychological theories seeking to explain adolescent decision-making have found empirical support, their neuroscientific implementations have received inconsistent support. This may be partly because of statistical approaches used by prior neuroimaging studies of system-based theories. We used brain modeling, an approach that predicts behavior from brain activity, of univariate and multivariate neural activity metrics to better understand how neural components of psychological systems guide decision behavior in adolescents. We found broad support for system-based theories such that neural systems involved in cognitive control predicted a reduced likelihood to make risky decisions, whereas value-based systems predicted greater risk-taking propensity.

Associations of developmental imbalance between sensation seeking and premeditation in adolescence and heavy episodic drinking in emerging adulthood

BACKGROUND

Dual systems theories suggest that greater imbalance between higher reward sensitivity and lower cognitive control across adolescence conveys risk for behaviors such as heavy episodic drinking (HED). Prior research demonstrated that psychological analogues of these systems, sensation seeking and premeditation, change from childhood through emerging adulthood, and each has been independently linked with HED. However, few studies have assessed whether change over time in these developing analogues is prospectively associated with HED. Moreover, we know of no research that has shown whether within-person differences between higher sensation seeking and relatively lower premeditation across the adolescent period predict HED in emerging adulthood.

METHODS

Prospective data from the National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence study (n = 715) were used to examine the association of sensation seeking and premeditation with HED among adolescents ages 16 to 20 years. We used novel applications of latent difference score modeling and growth curve analysis to test whether increasing sensation seeking, premeditation, and their imbalance over time are associated with HED across the study period, and whether these associations differed by sex.

RESULTS

Whereas premeditation increased linearly from adolescence through emerging adulthood across sexes, males reported growth and females reported decline in sensation seeking. Sensation seeking in adolescence (and not premeditation) was associated with higher levels of HED by emerging adulthood. Importantly, greater imbalance between sensation seeking and premeditation was associated with higher levels of HED by emerging adulthood though we note that variability capturing this imbalance correlated highly (r = 0.86) with baseline levels of sensation seeking.

CONCLUSIONS

Developmental imbalance between higher sensation seeking and lower premeditation in late adolescence may be a risk factor for greater HED in emerging adulthood.

The ups and downs of relating nondrug reward activation to substance use risk in adolescents

Purpose of review

A wealth of epidemiological and cohort research, together with a healthy dose of anecdote, has characterized late-adolescence and emerging adulthood as a time of increased substance use and other risky behaviors. This review will address whether differences between adolescents or between adolescents and other age groups in dopaminergic mesolimbic recruitment by (non-drug) rewards inferred from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) could partially explain morbidity and mortality from risky-behavior-related causes in adolescents.

Recent findings

Recent findings do not suggest a definitive directionality with regard to whether increased vs decreased mesolimbic responsiveness to nondrug rewards correlates with real-world risk-taking. Inconsistent relationships between reward-activation and real-world risky behavior in these reports reflect in part methodological differences as well as conceptual differences between populations in terms of whether tepid mesolimbic recruitment by rewards is a marker of psychiatric health.

Summary

There are several potential reasons why the directionality of relationships between reward-elicited brain activation and substance use risk (specifically) might differ. These factors include differences between adolescents in histories/exposure of substance use, motivation for substance use, the component of the instrumental behavior being studied, and the cognitive demands of the incentive tasks. Systematic manipulation of these discrepant study factors might offer a way forward to clarify how motivational neurocircuit function relates to addiction risk in adolescents.

The influence of social motivation on neural correlates of cognitive control in girls

Motivation influences cognitive control, particularly in childhood and adolescence. Previous work finds that the error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related potential (ERP) linked to cognitive control following errors, is influenced by social motivation. However, it is unclear whether the influences of social motivation on the ERN extend to stimulus-locked neural correlates of cognitive control. This study reexamines how social motivation influences cognitive control in adolescence by exploring motivational influences on two stimulus-locked ERPs; the N2 and P3. Adolescent girls (8-17 years of age) completed a flanker task under two different conditions. In the social condition, girls were led to believe that they were evaluated by a peer during a flanker task. In the nonsocial condition, girls completed a flanker task while evaluated by a computer. Results revealed that all girls exhibited a larger P3 in social as compared to nonsocial contexts, whereas the N2 was not different between contexts. In addition, the largest P3 enhancements were observed among younger girls. These findings suggest that social motivation influences some ERP components related to cognitive control, and such influences change across development. Additionally, findings suggest the importance of including multiple ERPs when interpreting the functional significance of motivation on cognitive control.

Functional connectivity of posterior cingulate gyrus in heroin dependents treated by methadone maintenance and protracted abstinence measures: an event-related fMRI study

Protracted abstinence (PA) and Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) are two main types of heroin addiction treatment, however, the effects of both measures on the functional connectivity (FC) of the brain in heroin dependents in the drug cue event-related response are unclear. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) based drug cue-reactivity task has been widely used in addiction research, which may provide a new way to understand the change of brain function during a certain period of treatment. The default function network (DMN) with posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) as the core is generally involved in the process of addiction. The aim of the present study was to explore the brain response of FC in patients with heroin-dependent during PA, MMT treatment under task-fMRI. Twenty-two heroin-dependent patients during PA, 18 heroin-dependent patients during MMT and 16 healthy control (HC) individuals were included to conduct the heroin cue-reactivity task during fMRI. The MMT and PA patients' subjective craving for heroin was evaluated. The psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis of SPM12 was used to get FC during the task state. There was a significant difference on FC between PCC and the right medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC) in three groups. The post-hoc analysis showed that there was a significant difference of brain regions between the MMT and the PA group. The FC of PCC-mPFC in the MMT group was significantly stronger than that in the PA group. Compared with the PA group, the FC of the DMN in the MMT group was significantly increased under drug cue response. Therefore, PA is more beneficial for the heroin-dependent patients to lower the salience value of drug related cues, in turn to reduce relapse risks. It also reflected the important role of PCC-mPFC pathway in heroin dependents induced by heroin cues.

The Brain Emotional Systems in Addictions: From Attachment to Dominance/Submission Systems

Human development has become particularly complex during the evolution. In this complexity, adolescence is an extremely important developmental stage. Adolescence is characterized by biological and social changes that create the prerequisites to psychopathological problems, including both substance and non-substance addictive behaviors. Central to the dynamics of the biological changes during adolescence are the synergy between sexual and neurophysiological development, which activates the motivational/emotional systems of Dominance/Submission. The latter are characterized by the interaction between the sexual hormones, the dopaminergic system and the stress axis (HPA). The maturation of these motivational/emotional systems requires the integration with the phylogenetically more recent Attachment/CARE Systems, which primarily have governed the subject's relationships until puberty. The integration of these systems is particularly complex in the human species, due to the evolution of the process of competition related to sexual selection: from a simple fight between two individuals (of the same genus and species) to a struggle for the acquisition of a position in rank and the competition between groups. The latter is an important evolutionary acquisition and believed to be the variable that has most contributed to enhancing the capacity for cooperation in the human species. The interaction between competition and cooperation, and between competition and attachment, characterizes the entire human relational and emotional structure and the unending work of integration to which the BrainMind is involved. The beginning of the integration of the aforementioned motivational/emotional systems is currently identified in the prepubertal period, during the juvenile stage, with the development of the Adrenarche-the so-called Adrenal Puberty. This latter stage is characterized by a low rate of release of androgens, the hormones released by the adrenal cortex, which activate the same behaviors as those observed in the PLAY system. The Adrenarche and the PLAY system are biological and functional prerequisites of adolescence, a period devoted to learning the difficult task of integrating the phylogenetically ancient Dominance/Submission Systems with the newer Attachment/CARE Systems. These systems accompany very different adaptive goals which can easily give rise to mutual conflict and can in turn make the balance of the BrainMind precarious and vulnerable to mental suffering.

Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation in Adolescents and Emerging Adults: A Meta-analytic Study

BACKGROUND

The development of adaptive implicit and explicit emotion regulation skills is crucial for mental health. Adolescence and emerging adulthood are periods of heightened risk for psychopathology associated with emotion dysregulation, and neurodevelopmental mechanisms have been proposed to account for this increased risk. However, progress in understanding these mechanisms has been hampered by an incomplete knowledge of the neural underpinnings of emotion regulation during development.

METHODS

Using activation likelihood estimation, we conducted a quantitative analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in healthy developmental samples (i.e., adolescence [10-18 years of age] and emerging adulthood [19-30 years of age]) investigating emotion reactivity (N studies = 48), and implicit (N studies = 41) and explicit (N studies = 19) emotion regulation processes.

RESULTS

Explicit emotion regulation was associated with activation in frontal, temporal, and parietal regions, whereas both implicit regulation and emotion reactivity were associated with activation in the amygdala and posterior temporal regions. During implicit regulation, adolescents exhibited more consistent activation of the amygdala, fusiform gyrus, and thalamus than emerging adults, who showed more consistent activation in the posterior superior temporal sulcus.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that emotion reactivity and regulation in developmental samples engage a robust group of regions that are implicated in bottom-up and top-down emotional responding. Adolescents are also more likely to recruit regions involved in early stages of emotion processing during implicit regulation, while emerging adults recruit higher-order regions involved in the extraction of semantic meaning. Findings have implications for future research aiming to better understand the neurodevelopmental mechanisms underlying risk for psychopathology.

Expectations of Social Consequences Impact Anticipated Involvement in Health-Risk Behavior During Adolescence

This study examined how individual differences in expectations of social consequences relate to individuals' expected involvement in health-risk behaviors (HRBs). A total of 122 adolescents (aged 11-17) reported their expected involvement in a number of risk behaviors and whether or not they expect to be liked more or less by engaging in the behavior: the expected social benefit. Higher perceived social benefit was associated with higher anticipated involvement in said behavior. This relationship was stronger for adolescents who reported a higher degree of peer victimization, supporting the hypothesis that experiencing victimization increases the social value of peer interactions. Findings suggest that adolescents incorporate expectations of social consequences when making decisions regarding their involvement in HRBs.

A Lifespan Model of Interference Resolution and Inhibitory Control: Risk for Depression and Changes with Illness Progression

The cognitive processes involved in inhibitory control accuracy (IC) and interference resolution speed (IR) or broadly - inhibition - are discussed in this review, and both are described within the context of a lifespan model of mood disorders. Inhibitory control (IC) is a binary outcome (success or no for response selection and inhibition of unwanted responses) for any given event that is influenced to an extent by IR. IR refers to the process of inhibition, which can be manipulated by task design in earlier and later stages through use of distractors and timing, and manipulation of individual differences in response proclivity. We describe the development of these two processes across the lifespan, noting factors that influence this development (e.g., environment, adversity and stress) as well as inherent difficulties in assessing IC/IR prior to adulthood (e.g., cross-informant reports). We use mood disorders as an illustrative example of how this multidimensional construct can be informative to state, trait, vulnerability and neuroprogression of disease. We present aggregated data across numerous studies and methodologies to examine the lifelong development and degradation of this subconstruct of executive function, particularly in mood disorders. We highlight the challenges in identifying and measuring IC/IR in late life, including specificity to complex, comorbid disease processes. Finally, we discuss some potential avenues for treatment and accommodation of these difficulties across the lifespan, including newer treatments using cognitive remediation training and neuromodulation.

Maternal Antecedents to Adolescent Girls' Neural Regulation of Emotion

The purpose of this study was to investigate contributions of maternal emotional resources to individual differences in adolescents' functional connectivity during emotion regulation. Participants included 35 adolescent girls who completed an implicit emotion regulation task during fMRI. Mothers reported on the quality of their adult attachment and emotional awareness when youth were in elementary school. Higher anxious attachment and lower emotional awareness were significantly correlated with more positive amygdala-right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex connectivity, a pattern linked in prior research with ineffective emotion regulation and emotional difficulties. Further, there was an indirect effect of anxious attachment on adolescent connectivity through emotional awareness. These results suggest that compromised maternal emotional resources in childhood may be linked to atypical neural processing of emotions.

Cortical and subcortical response to the anticipation of reward in high and average/low risk-taking adolescents

Since the first neurodevelopmental models that sought to explain the influx of risky behaviors during adolescence were proposed, there have been a number of revisions, variations and criticisms. Despite providing a strong multi-disciplinary heuristic to explain the development of risk behavior, extant models have not yet reliably isolated neural systems that underlie risk behaviors in adolescence. To address this gap, we screened 2017 adolescents from an ongoing longitudinal study that assessed 15-health risk behaviors, targeting 104 adolescents (Age Range: 17-to-21.4), characterized as high-or-average/low risk-taking. Participants completed the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) fMRI task, examining reward anticipation to "big win" versus "neutral". We examined neural response variation associated with both baseline and longitudinal (multi-wave) risk classifications. Analyses included examination of a priori regions of interest (ROIs); and exploratory non-parametric, whole-brain analyses. Hypothesis-driven ROI analysis revealed no significant differences between high- and average/low-risk profiles using either baseline or multi-wave classification. Results of whole-brain analyses differed according to whether risk assessment was based on baseline or multi-wave data. Despite significant mean-level task activation, these results do not generalize prior neural substrates implicated in reward anticipation and adolescent risk-taking. Further, these data indicate that whole-brain differences may depend on how risk-behavior profiles are defined.

Towards an integrated account of the development of self-regulation from a neurocognitive perspective: A framework for current and future longitudinal multi-modal investigations

Self-regulation is the ability to monitor and modulate emotions, behaviour, and cognition in order to adapt to changing circumstances. Developing adequate self-regulation is associated with better social coping and higher educational achievement later in life; poor self-regulation has been linked to a variety of detrimental developmental outcomes. Here, we focus on the development of neurocognitive processes essential for self-regulation. We outline a conceptual framework emphasizing that this is inherently an integrated, dynamic process involving interactions between brain maturation, child characteristics (genetic makeup, temperament, and pre- and perinatal factors) and environmental factors (family characteristics, parents and siblings, peers, and broader societal influences including media development). We introduce the Consortium of Individual Development (CID), which combines a series of integrated large-scale, multi-modal, longitudinal studies to take essential steps towards the ultimate goal of understanding and supporting this process.

Does cognitive control ability mediate the relationship between reward-related mechanisms, impulsivity, and maladaptive outcomes in adolescence and young adulthood?

Neurobiological models explain increased risk-taking behaviours in adolescence and young adulthood as arising from staggered development of subcortical reward networks and prefrontal control networks. In this study, we examined whether individual variability in impulsivity and reward-related mechanisms is associated with higher level of engagement in risky behaviours and vulnerability to maladaptive outcomes and whether this relationship is mediated by cognitive control ability. A community sample of adolescents, young adults, and adults (age = 15-35 years) completed self-report measures and behavioural tasks of cognitive control, impulsivity, and reward-related mechanisms, and self-reported level of maladaptive outcomes. Behavioural, event-related potential (ERP), and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) measures of proactive control were derived from a task-switching paradigm. Adolescents, but not young adults, reported higher levels of impulsivity, reward-seeking behaviours and maladaptive outcomes than adults. They also had lower cognitive control ability, as measured by both self-report and task-based measures. Consistent with models of risk-taking behaviour, self-reported level of cognitive control mediated the relationship between self-reported levels of impulsivity and psychological distress, but the effect was not moderated by age. In contrast, there was no mediation effect of behavioural or EEG-based measures of cognitive control. These findings suggest that individual variability in cognitive control is more crucial to the relationship between risk-taking/impulsivity and outcomes than age itself. They also highlight large differences in measurement between self-report and task-based measures of cognitive control and decision-making under reward conditions, which should be considered in any studies of cognitive control.

Developmental trajectories to reduced activation of positive valence systems: A review of biological and environmental contributions

Reduced activation of positive valence systems (PVS), including blunted neural and physiological responses to pleasant stimuli and rewards, has been shown to prospectively predict the development of psychopathology. Yet, little is known about how reduced PVS activation emerges across development or what implications it has for prevention. We review genetic, temperament, parenting, and naturalistic and laboratory stress research on neural measures of PVS and outline developmentally-informed models of trajectories of PVS activation. PVS function is partly heritable and appears to reflect individual differences in early-emerging temperament traits. Although lab-induced stressors blunt PVS activation, effects of parenting and naturalistic stress on PVS are mixed and depend on the type of stressor, developmental timing, and interactions amongst risk factors. We propose that there may be multiple, dynamic developmental trajectories to reduced PVS activation in which combinations of genes, temperament, and exposure to severe, prolonged, or uncontrollable stress may exert direct and interactive effects on PVS function. Critically, these risk factors may alter PVS developmental trajectories and/or PVS sensitivity to proximal stressors. Distinct factors may converge such that PVS activation proceeds along a typical, accelerated, chronically low, or stress-reactive trajectory. Finally, we present directions for future research with translational implications.

Associations between performance-based and self-reported prospective memory, impulsivity and encoding support

Prospective memory (PM) is the ability to execute future intended actions and may be negatively affected by impulsivity. The current study aimed to address questions on (1) relationships of PM with facets of impulsivity; (2) psychometric properties of a PM task, in particular convergent validity with self-reported PM; and (3) whether external support of the encoding process would improve PM or affect relationships with impulsivity. 245 participants performed the experiment online. Participants completed either a baseline version of the task, which combined blocks of an ongoing working memory task with PM trials involving a varying stimulus requiring an alternative response; or a version that provided external support of encoding by requesting that participants visualize and execute the intended prospective action before each block. The Prospective-Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) and Short Version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (SUPPS) were used to assess self-reported prospective memory and facets of impulsivity. Reliability of PM performance was good and remained acceptable even with the exclusion of participants with low scores. PM performance was associated with self-reported PM, explaining variance in addition to that explained by working memory performance. PM performance was also negatively associated with impulsivity, in particular sensation seeking and positive urgency, but only in the baseline task. Support did not cause overall improvements in performance. In conclusion, results provided further evidence for a relationship between facets of impulsivity and PM. PM as assessed via the current task has good psychometric properties.

Balancing act: Neural correlates of affect dysregulation in youth depression and substance use - A systematic review of functional neuroimaging studies

Both depression and substance use problems have their highest incidence during youth (i.e., adolescence and emerging adulthood), and are characterized by emotion regulation deficits. Influential neurodevelopmental theories suggest that alterations in the function of limbic and frontal regions render youth susceptible to these deficits. However, whether depression and substance use in youth are associated with similar alterations in emotion regulation neural circuitry is unknown. In this systematic review we synthesized the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies investigating the neural correlates of emotion regulation in youth depression and substance use. Resting-state fMRI studies focusing on limbic connectivity were also reviewed. While findings were largely inconsistent within and between studies of depression and substance use, some patterns emerged. First, youth depression appears to be associated with exaggerated amygdala activity in response to negative stimuli; second, both depression and substance use appear to be associated with lower functional connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex during rest. Findings are discussed in relation to support for existing neurodevelopmental models, and avenues for future work are suggested, including studying neurodevelopmental trajectories from a network perspective.

Distorted Cognitive Processes in Major Depression: A Predictive Processing Perspective

The cognitive model of depression has significantly influenced the understanding of distorted cognitive processes in major depression; however, this model's conception of cognition has recently been criticized as possibly too broad and unspecific. In this review, we connect insights from cognitive neuroscience and psychiatry to suggest that the traditional cognitive model may benefit from a reformulation that takes current Bayesian models of the brain into account. Appealing to a predictive processing account, we explain that healthy human learning is normally based on making predictions and experiencing discrepancies between predicted and actual events or experiences. We present evidence suggesting that this learning mechanism is distorted in depression: current research indicates that people with depression tend to negatively reappraise or disregard positive information that disconfirms negative expectations, thus resulting in sustained negative predictions and biased learning. We also review the neurophysiological correlates of such deficits in processing prediction errors in people with depression. Synthesizing these findings, we propose a novel mechanistic model of depression suggesting that people with depression have the tendency to predominantly expect negative events or experiences, which they subjectively feel confirmed due to reappraisal of disconfirming evidence, thus creating a self-reinforcing negative feedback loop. Computationally, we consider too much precision afforded to negative prior beliefs as the main candidate of pathology, accompanied by an attenuation of positive prediction errors. We conclude by outlining some directions for future research into the understanding of the behavioral and neurophysiological underpinnings of this model and point to clinical implications of it.

Modernizing conceptions of valuation and cognitive control deployment in adolescent risk taking

Heightened risk taking in adolescence has long been attributed to valuation systems overwhelming the deployment of cognitive control. However, this explanation of why adolescents engage in risk taking is insufficient given increasing evidence that risk-taking behavior can be strategic and involve elevated cognitive control. We argue that applying the Expected Value of Control (EVC; Shenhav, Botvinick, & Cohen, 2013) computational model to adolescent risk taking can clarify under what conditions control is elevated or diminished during risky decision making. Through this lens, we review research examining when adolescent risk taking might be due to-rather than a failure of-effective cognitive control and suggest compelling ways to test such hypotheses. This effort can not only resolve when risk taking arises from an immaturity of the control system itself versus differences in what adolescents value relative to adults, but also identify promising avenues for channeling cognitive control towards adaptive outcomes in adolescence.