Enhanced Striatal Sensitivity to Aversive Reinforcement in Adolescents versus Adults

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Galván ◽  
Kristine M. McGlennen
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Aversive Stimulus ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Aversive Events ◽  
Adolescent Risk ◽  
Adolescents And Adults ◽  
Negative Factors

Neurodevelopmental changes in mesolimbic regions are associated with adolescent risk-taking behavior. Numerous studies have shown exaggerated activation in the striatum in adolescents compared with children and adults during reward processing. However, striatal sensitivity to aversion remains elusive. Given the important role of the striatum in tracking both appetitive and aversive events, addressing this question is critical to understanding adolescent decision-making, as both positive and negative factors contribute to this behavior. In this study, human adult and adolescent participants performed a task in which they received squirts of appetitive or aversive liquid while undergoing fMRI, a novel approach in human adolescents. Compared with adults, adolescents showed greater behavioral and striatal sensitivity to both appetitive and aversive stimuli, an effect that was exaggerated in response to delivery of the aversive stimulus. Collectively, these findings contribute to understanding how neural responses to positive and negative outcomes differ between adolescents and adults and how they may influence adolescent behavior.

scholarly journals Moderated mediation of the link between parent-adolescent conflict and adolescent risk-taking: The role of physiological regulation and hostile behavior in an experimentally controlled investigation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Thomas ◽  
Anjali Jain ◽  
Tristan Wilson ◽  
Danielle E. Deros ◽  
Irene Jacobs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Behavioral Arousal ◽  
Physiological Regulation ◽  
Regulatory Ability ◽  
Related Risk ◽  
Adolescent Risk ◽  
Adolescent Conflict ◽  
Risk Taking Behavior

Compared to childhood and adulthood, adolescence is a time of greater risk-taking behavior, potentially resulting in serious consequences. Theories of adolescent brain development highlight the imbalance between neural circuitry for reward vs. regulation. Although this imbalance may make adolescents more vulnerable to impaired decision-making in the context of heightened arousal, not all adolescents exhibit problematic risk behavior, suggesting other factors are involved. Relatedly, parent-adolescent conflict increases in mid-adolescence, and is linked to negative outcomes like substance use related risk-taking. However, the mechanism by which parent-adolescent conflict and risk-taking are linked is still unknown. Therefore, we investigated this association using a multi-method experimental design. Parent-adolescent dyads were randomly assigned to complete a discussion task together on the topic of either the adolescent’s dream vacation or an adolescent-identified conflict topic. During the task, adolescent peripheral psychophysiology was measured for later calculation of heart rate variability (HRV), an index of self-regulation. Immediately after the discussion task, adolescents completed a performance-based measure of risk-taking propensity that indexes real-world risk behaviors. We hypothesized that parent-adolescent conflict would predict greater adolescent risk-taking propensity, and that increased behavioral arousal in the context of conflict, coupled with impaired self-regulation, would explain this link. Results indicated no direct effect of parent-adolescent conflict on adolescent risk-taking propensity. However, there was a significant conditional indirect effect: lower HRV, indexing worse regulatory ability, mediated the relation between conflict and risk-taking propensity but only for adolescents exhibiting behavioral arousal during the discussion task. We discuss implications for understanding adolescent risk-taking behavior.

Adolescent risk-taking behavior: A review of the role of parental involvement

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 67-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina L. Hindelang ◽  
William O. Dwyer ◽  
Frank C. Leeming
Keyword(s):  
Parental Involvement ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Adolescent Risk ◽  
Risk Taking Behavior

A Preliminary Study of Anxiety, Negative Affect, Experiential Avoidance, and Delaying of Aversive Events

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault ◽  
James W. Diller
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Experiential Avoidance ◽  
Time Delays ◽  
Aversive Stimulus ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Aversive Events ◽  
Electric Shocks ◽  
Preliminary Study

The current study examined the role of anxiety, negative affect, and trait experiential avoidance in choices between immediate and delayed aversive outcomes. Undergraduate students (N = 34) completed self-report measures and a laboratory-based delay-discounting task in which they made choices between electric shocks delivered immediately versus shocks delivered after various time delays. The hypotheses that higher levels of anxiety, greater negative affectivity, and greater tendency to engage in experiential avoidance would predict choices of an objectively worse delayed aversive stimulus over an immediate (but less severe) aversive stimulus were supported. These findings may have implications for interventions that target behavioural and experiential avoidance in anxiety.

scholarly journals Adolescent risk-taking: comparison between adolescents' and adults' opinion

2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (38) ◽  
pp. 357-364
Author(s):  
Neslihan Güney Karaman ◽  
Figen Çok
Keyword(s):  
Life Events ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Adolescent Risk ◽  
Economic Background ◽  
Adolescents And Adults

Adolescent risk-taking is one of the most important issues in current research on adolescence. This study aimed to exam the opinion of adolescents and adults regarding adolescent risk-taking. A total of 10 adults aged between 40-50 and 10 adolescents aged between 16-19 from middle socio-economic background residing in Ankara, Turkey, were interviewed. Adults' and adolescents' definitions and examples of risk-taking, and their perspectives regarding its sources were studied. Interviews were transcribed. Results showed that adolescents' beliefs regarding risk-taking lack a long-term perspective as they do not consider consequences of their actions and future results. Adults' beliefs on adolescent risk-taking seem to be more realistic and more related to life events than that of adolescents. Future research comparing views of both groups is needed.

scholarly journals The Role of Probabilistic Reasoning Abilities on Adolescent Risk Taking

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 262-274
Author(s):  
Maria Anna Donati ◽  
Francesca Chiesi ◽  
Caterina Primi
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Probabilistic Reasoning ◽  
Reasoning Abilities ◽  
Adolescent Risk

scholarly journals Meaningful Family Relationships: Neurocognitive Buffers of Adolescent Risk Taking

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva H. Telzer ◽  
Andrew J. Fuligni ◽  
Matthew D. Lieberman ◽  
Adriana Galván
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Ventral Striatum ◽  
Family Relationship ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Family Obligation ◽  
Adolescent Risk

Discordant development of brain regions responsible for cognitive control and reward processing may render adolescents susceptible to risk taking. Identifying ways to reduce this neural imbalance during adolescence can have important implications for risk taking and associated health outcomes. Accordingly, we sought to examine how a key family relationship—family obligation—can reduce this vulnerability. Forty-eight adolescents underwent an fMRI scan during which they completed a risk-taking and cognitive control task. Results suggest that adolescents with greater family obligation values show decreased activation in the ventral striatum when receiving monetary rewards and increased dorsolateral PFC activation during behavioral inhibition. Reduced ventral striatum activation correlated with less real-life risk-taking behavior and enhanced dorsolateral PFC activation correlated with better decision-making skills. Thus, family obligation may decrease reward sensitivity and enhance cognitive control, thereby reducing risk-taking behaviors.

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