TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal changes in behavioral approach system sensitivity and brain structures involved in reward processing during adolescence
AU - Urošević, Snežana
AU - Collins, Paul
AU - Muetzel, Ryan
AU - Lim, Kelvin
AU - Luciana, Monica
PY - 2012/9
Y1 - 2012/9
N2 - Adolescence is a period of radical normative changes and increased risk for substance use, mood disorders, and physical injury. Researchers have proposed that increases in reward sensitivity (i.e., sensitivity of the behavioral approach system [BAS]) and/or increases in reactivity to all emotional stimuli (i.e., reward and threat sensitivities) lead to these phenomena. The present study is the first longitudinal investigation of changes in reward (i.e., BAS) sensitivity in 9- to 23-year-olds across a 2-year follow-up. Support was found for increased reward sensitivity from early to late adolescence, and evidence was found for decline in the early 20s. This decline is combined with a decrease in left nucleus accumbens (Nacc) volume, a key structure for reward processing, from the late teens into the early 20s. Furthermore, we found longitudinal increases in sensitivity to reward to be predicted by individual differences in the Nacc and medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volumes at baseline in this developmental sample. Similarly, increases in sensitivity to threat (i.e., behavioral inhibition system sensitivity) were qualified by sex, with only females participants experiencing this increase, and predicted by individual differences in lateral OFC volumes at baseline.
AB - Adolescence is a period of radical normative changes and increased risk for substance use, mood disorders, and physical injury. Researchers have proposed that increases in reward sensitivity (i.e., sensitivity of the behavioral approach system [BAS]) and/or increases in reactivity to all emotional stimuli (i.e., reward and threat sensitivities) lead to these phenomena. The present study is the first longitudinal investigation of changes in reward (i.e., BAS) sensitivity in 9- to 23-year-olds across a 2-year follow-up. Support was found for increased reward sensitivity from early to late adolescence, and evidence was found for decline in the early 20s. This decline is combined with a decrease in left nucleus accumbens (Nacc) volume, a key structure for reward processing, from the late teens into the early 20s. Furthermore, we found longitudinal increases in sensitivity to reward to be predicted by individual differences in the Nacc and medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volumes at baseline in this developmental sample. Similarly, increases in sensitivity to threat (i.e., behavioral inhibition system sensitivity) were qualified by sex, with only females participants experiencing this increase, and predicted by individual differences in lateral OFC volumes at baseline.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Behavioral approach system (BAS)
KW - Reward sensitivity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84861676127&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84861676127&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/a0027502
DO - 10.1037/a0027502
M3 - Article
C2 - 22390662
AN - SCOPUS:84861676127
SN - 0012-1649
VL - 48
SP - 1488
EP - 1500
JO - Developmental Psychology
JF - Developmental Psychology
IS - 5
ER -