OBJECTIVE Although chronic irritability in childhood is prevalent, impairing, and predictive of later maladjustment, its pathophysiology is largely unknown. Deficits in reward processing are hypothesized to play a role in irritability. The current study aimed to identify how the developmental timing of irritability during preschool- and school-age relates to reward-related brain function during school-age. METHOD Children's irritability was assessed during the preschool period (wave 1; ages 3.0-5.9 years) and 3 years later (wave 2; ages 5.9-9.6 years) using a clinical interview. At wave 2, children (N = 46; 28 female and 18 male) performed a monetary incentive delay task in which they received rewards, if they successfully hit a target, or no reward regardless of performance, during functional magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS Children with more versus less severe preschool irritability, controlling for concurrent irritability, exhibited altered reward-related connectivity: right amygdala with insula and inferior parietal lobe as well as left ventral striatum with lingual gyrus, postcentral gyrus, superior parietal lobe, and culmen. Children with more versus less severe concurrent irritability, controlling for preschool irritability, exhibited a similar pattern of altered connectivity between left and right amygdalae and superior frontal gyrus and between left ventral striatum and precuneus and culmen. Neural differences associated with irritability were most evident between reward and no-reward conditions when participants missed the target. CONCLUSION Preschool-age irritability and concurrent irritability were uniquely associated with aberrant patterns of reward-related connectivity, highlighting the importance of developmental timing of irritability for brain function.

中文翻译：

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学龄前和学校年龄的易怒性预测与奖励有关的脑功能。

目的尽管儿童期的慢性烦躁情绪普遍存在，损害并预测以后会出现适应不良，但其病理生理机制尚不清楚。奖励处理的缺陷被认为在易怒中起作用。当前的研究旨在确定学龄前和学龄期易怒的发展时间与学龄期与奖励相关的脑功能如何相关。方法使用临床访谈法评估学龄前儿童（第1浪；年龄3.0-5.9岁）和3年后（第2浪；年龄5.9-9.6岁）的易怒性。在第2波中，儿童（N = 46； 28名女性和18名男性）执行了金钱激励延迟任务，如果他们成功地击中了目标，则他们将获得奖励，或者在功能磁共振成像过程中无论表现如何都不会获得奖励。结果学龄前儿童易怒程度较轻但控制了并发性烦躁的儿童表现出与奖赏相关的连通性改变：右杏仁核伴有岛上和顶叶下叶以及左腹纹状体与舌状回，中央后回，顶叶和丘脑。控制学龄前烦躁的并发性烦躁程度较高的儿童表现出相似的模式，即左右杏仁核和上额回之间以及左腹纹状体与前胎和阴囊之间的连通性发生了改变。当参与者错过目标时，与易怒相关的神经差异在奖励和无奖励条件之间最为明显。