Humans can resist temptations by exerting willpower, the effortful inhibition of impulses. But willpower can be disrupted by emotions and depleted over time. Luckily, humans can deploy alternative ...self-control strategies like precommitment, the voluntary restriction of access to temptations. Here, we examined the neural mechanisms of willpower and precommitment using fMRI. Behaviorally, precommitment facilitated choices for large delayed rewards, relative to willpower, especially in more impulsive individuals. While willpower was associated with activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and inferior frontal gyrus, precommitment engaged lateral frontopolar cortex (LFPC). During precommitment, LFPC showed increased functional connectivity with DLPFC and PPC, especially in more impulsive individuals, and the relationship between impulsivity and LFPC connectivity was mediated by value-related activation in ventromedial PFC. Our findings support a hierarchical model of self-control in which LFPC orchestrates precommitment by controlling action plans in more caudal prefrontal regions as a function of expected value.
•Precommitment is the voluntary restriction of access to temptations•Precommitment is a more effective self-control strategy than willpower•Precommitment engages LFPC; willpower engages DLPFC and PPC•During precommitment, LFPC increases connectivity with DLPFC and PPC
Crocket et al. show that during precommitment, which involves voluntarily restricting access to temptations, lateral frontopolar cortex is activated and increases functional connectivity with dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex—the same regions associated with actively resisting temptations.
Adolescents take more risks when peers monitor their behavior. However, it is largely unknown how different types of peer influence affect adolescent decision‐making. In this study, we investigate ...how information about previous choices of peers differentially influences decision‐making in adolescence and young adulthood. Participants (N = 99, age range 12–22) completed an economic choice task in which choice options were systematically varied on levels of risk and ambiguity. On each trial, participants selected between a safer choice (low variability in outcome) and a riskier choice (high variability in outcome). Participants made choices in three conditions: a solo condition in which they made choices with no additional information, a social condition in which they saw choices of supposed peers, and a computer condition in which they saw choices of a computer. Results showed that participants’ choices conform to the choices made by the peers, but not a computer. Furthermore, when peers chose the safe option, late adolescents were especially likely to make a safe choice. Conversely, when the peer made a risky choice, late adolescents were least likely to follow choices made by the peer. We did not find evidence for differential influence of social information on decisions depending on their level of risk and ambiguity. These results show that information about previous decisions of peers are a powerful modifier for behavior and that the effect of peers on adolescents’ decisions is less ubiquitous and more specific than previously assumed.
We investigated developmental changes in the impact of peers’ choices on risky and ambiguous choices. Results show that social information is a more powerful modifier than computer generated information. Furthermore, adolescents were most influenced by safe decisions of others, and this age group was least influenced by risky decisions of others. Here, we show that the effect of peer on adolescents’ decisions is less ubiquitous and more specific than previously assumed.
•Adolescent motivated behavior changes prominently, emphasizing potential rewards.•We review developmental changes in reward-related brain function and behavior.•Neural reward-sensitivity may lead to ...adaptive and maladaptive behavioral outcomes.•Behavioral-models may further refine our understanding of adolescents’ motivation.•A better conceptualization of adolescence is key in studying motivational change
Adolescence is characterized by pronounced changes in motivated behavior, during which emphasis on potential rewards may result in an increased tendency to approach things that are novel and bring potential for positive reinforcement. While this may result in risky and health-endangering behavior, it may also lead to positive consequences, such as behavioral flexibility and greater learning. In this review we will discuss both the maladaptive and adaptive properties of heightened reward-sensitivity in adolescents by reviewing recent cognitive neuroscience findings in relation to behavioral outcomes. First, we identify brain regions involved in processing rewards in adults and adolescents. Second, we discuss how functional changes in reward-related brain activity during adolescence are related to two behavioral domains: risk taking and cognitive control. Finally, we conclude that progress lies in new levels of explanation by further integration of neural results with behavioral theories and computational models. In addition, we highlight that longitudinal measures, and a better conceptualization of adolescence and environmental determinants, are of crucial importance for understanding positive and negative developmental trajectories.
Prior studies have highlighted adolescence as a period of increased risk-taking, which is postulated to result from an overactive reward system in the brain. Longitudinal studies are pivotal for ...testing these brain-behavior relations because individual slopes are more sensitive for detecting change. The aim of the current study was twofold: (1) to test patterns of age-related change (i.e., linear, quadratic, and cubic) in activity in the nucleus accumbens, a key reward region in the brain, in relation to change in puberty (self-report and testosterone levels), laboratory risk-taking and self-reported risk-taking tendency; and (2) to test whether individual differences in pubertal development and risk-taking behavior were contributors to longitudinal change in nucleus accumbens activity. We included 299 human participants at the first time point and 254 participants at the second time point, ranging between ages 8-27 years, time points were separated by a 2 year interval. Neural responses to rewards, pubertal development (self-report and testosterone levels), laboratory risk-taking (balloon analog risk task; BART), and self-reported risk-taking tendency (Behavior Inhibition System/Behavior Activation System questionnaire) were collected at both time points. The longitudinal analyses confirmed the quadratic age pattern for nucleus accumbens activity to rewards (peaking in adolescence), and the same quadratic pattern was found for laboratory risk-taking (BART). Nucleus accumbens activity change was further related to change in testosterone and self-reported reward-sensitivity (BAS Drive). Thus, this longitudinal analysis provides new insight in risk-taking and reward sensitivity in adolescence: (1) confirming an adolescent peak in nucleus accumbens activity, and (2) underlining a critical role for pubertal hormones and individual differences in risk-taking tendency.
An important task for adolescents is to form and maintain friendships. In this three-wave biannual study, we used a longitudinal neuroscience perspective to examine the dynamics of friendship ...stability. Relative to childhood and adulthood, adolescence is marked by elevated ventral striatum activity when gaining self-serving rewards. Using a sample of participants between the ages of eight and twenty-eight, we tested age-related changes in ventral striatum response to gaining for stable (n = 48) versus unstable best friends (n = 75) (and self). In participants with stable friendships, we observed a quadratic developmental trajectory of ventral striatum responses to winning versus losing rewards for friends, whereas participants with unstable best friends showed no age-related changes. Ventral striatum activity in response to winning versus losing for friends further varied with friendship closeness for participants with unstable friendships. We suggest that these findings may reflect changing social motivations related to formation and maintenance of friendships across adolescence.
It was examined how ventral striatum responses to rewards develop across adolescence and early adulthood and how individual différences in state- and trait-level reward sensitivity are related to ...these changes. Participants (aged 8-29 years) were tested across three waves separated by 2 years (693 functional MRI scans) in an accelerated longitudinal design. The results confirmed an adolescent peak in reward-related ventral striatum, specifically nucleus accumbens, activity. In early to mid-adolescence, increases in reward activation were related to trait-level reward drive. In mid-adolescence to early adulthood decreases in reward activation were related to decreases in state-level hedonic reward pleasure. This study demonstrates that state- and trait-level reward sensitivity account for reward-related ventral striatum activity in different phases of adolescence and early adulthood.
Over the past two decades, there has been a tremendous increase in our understanding of structural and functional brain development in adolescence. However, understanding the role of puberty in this ...process has received much less attention. This review examines this relationship by summarizing recent research studies where the role of puberty was investigated in relation to brain structure, connectivity, and task‐related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The studies together suggest that puberty may contribute to adolescent neural reorganization and maturational advancement, and sex differences also emerge in puberty. The current body of work shows some mixed results regarding impact and exact direction of pubertal influence. We discuss several limitations of current studies and propose future directions on how to move the field forward.
Adolescence is a time of increasing emotional arousal, sensation-seeking and risk-taking, especially in the context of peers. Recent neuroscientific studies have pinpointed to the role of the ventral ...striatum as a brain region which is particularly sensitive to reward, and to ‘social brain’ regions, such as the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the precuneus, and the temporal parietal junction, as being particularly responsive to social contexts. However, no study to date has examined adolescents' sensitivity to reward across different social contexts. In this study we examined 249 participants between the ages 8 and 25, on a monetary reward-processing task. Participants could win or lose money for themselves, their best friend and a disliked peer. Winning for self resulted in a mid- to late adolescent specific peak in neural activation in the ventral striatum, whereas winning for a disliked peer resulted in a mid- to late adolescent specific peak in the mPFC. Our findings reveal that ventral striatum and mPFC hypersensitivity in adolescence is dependent on social context. Taken together, these results suggest that increased risk-taking and sensation seeking observed in adolescence might not be purely related to hyperactivity of the ventral striatum, but that these behaviors are probably strongly related to the social context in which they occur.
•Ventral striatum hyperactivity in adolescence is dependent on social context.•Medial PFC activation peaks in mid to late adolescence.•Neural sensitivity to the social context modulates risk-taking behavior.
•More central network positions are related to higher levels of initial trust.•No evidence for an association between network position and the adaptation of trust.•Adolescents with more central ...network positions show increased caudate activity.•Friendships within the classroom relate to trust behavior and neural activity.
Our social interactions take place within numerous social networks, in which our relationships with others define our position within these networks. In this study, we examined how the centrality of positions within social networks was associated with trust behavior and neural activity in 49 adolescents (Mage = 12.8 years, SDage = 0.4 years). The participants played a trust game with a cartoon animation as a partner, which showed adaptive behavior in response to the participant and was generally untrustworthy. Social network positions were obtained in secondary school classrooms where the participants and their classmates reported on who their friends were. Using social network analysis, a score was calculated that indicated the centrality of everyone's position within the friendship network. The results showed that more central social network positions were associated with higher levels of initial trust behavior, although no evidence was found for a relationship between network position and the adaptation of trust behavior. The results of the functional MRI analyses showed that the centrality of the network positions was positively associated with caudate activity when making trust decisions. Furthermore, the adolescents with more central network positions also showed stronger increases of caudate activity when the partner's return was processed compared to the adolescents with less central network positions. The current study provides initial evidence that social network positions in friendship networks relate to socio-cognitive behavior and neural activity in adolescents.
Adolescence is an important time for social development during which friendships become more intimate and complex. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we tested how outcomes ...for friends are processed on the neural level across adolescence. Participants between 8 and 27 years of age were tested twice with a 2-year difference between the first (N = 299) and second (N = 254) time points. Participants performed a task in which they could win and lose money for themselves and their best friend. Mixed linear models revealed a linear decrease in activity in social brain regions for friend > self over development. These results confirm changes in the social brain network across adolescent development, we further show that individual differences are related to these neural changes.
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