Healthy Adolescentsʼ Neural Response to Reward: Associations With Puberty, Positive Affect, and Depressive Symptoms

Abstract

Objective Changes in reward-related behavior are an important component of normal adolescent affective development. Understanding the neural underpinnings of these normative changes creates a foundation for investigating adolescence as a period of vulnerability to affective disorders, substance use disorders, and health problems. Studies of reward-related brain function have revealed conflicting findings regarding developmental change in the reactivity of the striatum and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and have not considered puberty. The current study focused on puberty-specific changes in brain function and their association with mood. Method A sample of 77 healthy adolescents (26 pre/early pubertal, 51 mid/late pubertal) recruited in a narrow age range (M=11.94 years, SD=.75) were assessed for sexual maturation and circulating testosterone, completed an fMRI guessing task with monetary reward, and underwent experience sampling of mood in natural environments. For comparison, 19 healthy adults completed the fMRI assessment. Results Adolescents with more advanced pubertal maturation exhibited less striatal and more mPFC reactivity during reward outcome than similarly aged adolescents with less advanced maturation. Testosterone was positively correlated with striatal reactivity in boys during reward anticipation and negatively correlated with striatal reactivity in girls and boys during reward outcome. Striatal reactivity was positively correlated with real-world subjective positive affect and negatively correlated with depressive symptoms. mPFC reactivity was positively correlated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions Reward-related brain function changes with puberty and is associated with adolescents' positive affect and depressive symptoms. Increased reward-seeking behavior at this developmental point could serve to compensate for these changes.

Enhanced Striatal Sensitivity to Aversive Reinforcement in Adolescents versus Adults

“…Instead, these data suggest that, although adolescents may not neurobiologically differ from adults during the anticipation of punishment (responses to aversive cues), regions that process aversive outcomes are actually more engaged in the consummatory component (delivery of aversive liquid). This adds to the growing literature suggesting that a more nuanced interpretation regarding developmental responses to reward is warranted (Bjork et al, 2011;Forbes et al, 2010;Geier et al, 2010). Geier and Luna (2011) report that temporally distinct stages of reward processing show unique developmental profiles in which the VS showed attenuated and heightened activation patterns during cue assessment and reward anticipation, respectively, in adolescents versus adults .…”

Asymmetric neural tracking of gain and loss magnitude during adolescence

“…(2015) reported a peak in reward activity around age 17 years when testing a sample range of 8 to 27 years old. That said, this study joins several others in their failure to identify adolescent-elevated reward reactivity in the ventral striatum (May et al ., 2004; Forbes et al ., 2010). This could suggest that developmental trends in reward processing are subtler than previously appreciated (Sherman et al ., 2017).…”

Altered Neural Activity in the Anterior and Posterior Insula in Individuals with Problematic Internet Use

“…number of selections) of the control group showed no statistical differences between men and women ( t s <1.25). Nevertheless, there have been studies showing a modulatory role of sex hormones in neural responses to winning in a monetary reward leaning task [38,39,40]. A follow-up study on a larger scale is required to address the contribution of gender, sex hormones, and their interactions.…”