Asymmetric neural tracking of gain and loss magnitude during adolescence

Abstract

Adolescence has been characterized as a developmental period of heightened reward seeking and attenuated aversive processing. However, it remains unclear how the neural bases of distinct outcome valuation processes shift during this stage of the lifespan. A total of 74 participants ranging in age from 13 to 20 years completed a value-modulated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task in which participants earn low and high magnitude monetary outcomes to test whether gain and loss magnitude tracking—the neural representation of relative value in context—change differentially over this age span. Results revealed that gain and loss magnitude tracking follow asymmetric developmental trajectories. Gain magnitude tracking is elevated in the striatum during early adolescence and then decreases with age. By contrast, loss magnitude tracking in the anterior insula follows a quadratic pattern, undergoing a temporary attenuation during mid–late adolescence. A typical comparison of gain vs loss outcomes (collapsing over magnitude effects) showed robust activity across a suite of brain regions sensitive to value based on prior work including the ventral striatum, but they exhibited no changes with age. These findings suggest that value coding subprocesses follow divergent developmental paths across adolescence, which may contribute to normative shifts in adolescent motivated behavior.

Neural tracking of subjective value under riskand ambiguity in adolescence

“…Tentatively, these disparate effects for gain and loss under risk and ambiguity suggest that neural patterns of subjective value under risk and ambiguity in a loss domain may result in different findings as well. For instance, a recent study on gain and loss magnitude tracking in adolescence (13 to 20 years; Insel & Somerville, 2018) observed that gain magnitude tracking was elevated in the striatum during early adolescence, which then gradually decreased across age. However, loss magnitude tracking in the anterior insula followed a quadratic pattern, with lowest activation patterns in mid-to-late adolescence.…”

Neurodevelopmental shifts in learned value transfer on cognitive control during adolescence

“…Functional MRI data were carefully evaluated for motion and signal outliers given the negative impact it can have on signal quality and GLM estimates. The following rules were imposed for exclusion of functional data as in our prior work (Insel et al, 2017; Insel and Somerville, 2018; Insel et al, 2019). Runs in which more than 10% of TRs were censored for motion (relative motion > 1 mm) or outlier signal intensity (exceeded the grand run median by 4.5 median absolute deviations) were excluded from analysis.…”

Neurodevelopmental shifts in learned value transfer on cognitive control during adolescence

“…Functional MRI data were carefully evaluated for motion and signal outliers given the negative impact it can have on signal quality and GLM estimates. The following rules were imposed for exclusion of functional data as in our prior work (Insel et al, 2017;Insel & Somerville, 2018). Runs in which more than 10% of TRs were censored for motion (relative motion > 1mm) or outlier signal intensity (exceeded the grand run median by 4.5 median absolute deviations) were excluded from analysis.…”