Although many neuroimaging studies on adolescent risk taking have focused on brain activation during outcome valuation, less attention has been paid to the neural correlates of choice valuation. Subjective choice valuation may be particularly influenced by whether a choice presents risk (known probabilities) or ambiguity (unknown probabilities), which has rarely been studied in developmental samples. Therefore, we examined the neural tracking of subjective value during choice under risk and ambiguity in a large sample of adolescents (N = 188, 12-22 years). Specifically, we investigated which brain regions tracked subjective value coding under risk and ambiguity. A model-based approach to estimate individuals' risk and ambiguity attitudes showed prominent variation in individuals' aversions to risk and ambiguity. Furthermore, participants subjectively experienced the ambiguous options as being riskier than the risky options. Subjective value tracking under risk was coded by activation in ventral striatum and superior parietal cortex. Subjective value tracking under ambiguity was coded by dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and superior temporal gyrus activation. Finally, overlapping activation in the dorsomedial PFC was observed for subjective value under both conditions. Overall, this is the first study to chart brain activation patterns for subjective choice valuation under risk and ambiguity in an adolescent sample, which shows that the building blocks for risk and ambiguity processing are already present in early adolescence. Finally, we highlight the potential of combining behavioral modeling with fMRI for investigating choice valuation in adolescence, which may ultimately aid in understanding who takes risks and why.

中文翻译：

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在风险和模棱两可的情况下对青少年的主观价值进行神经跟踪。

尽管许多关于青少年冒险的神经影像学研究都集中在结果评估期间的大脑激活，但是对选择评估的神经相关性的关注却较少。主观选择评估可能会特别受选择是呈现风险（已知概率）还是歧义性（未知概率）的影响，而在发展样本中很少对此进行研究。因此，我们在大量青少年样本（N = 188，12-22岁）中检查了在风险和歧义下选择过程中主观价值的神经跟踪。具体来说，我们调查了在风险和歧义下哪个大脑区域跟踪了主观价值编码。一种基于模型的方法来估计个人的风险和歧义态度，表明个人对风险和歧义的厌恶程度存在显着差异。此外，参与者主观地体验到歧义选择比风险选择更具风险。通过激活腹侧纹状体和上顶叶皮层来编码处于危险中的主观价值追踪。歧义下的主观价值追踪由背外侧前额叶皮层（PFC）和上颞颞回激活编码。最后，在两种情况下观察到背膜PFC的重叠激活具有主观价值。总体而言，这是第一项针对青少年样本中在风险和歧义下进行主观选择评估的大脑激活模式图表的研究，这表明风险和歧义处理的基础已经在青春期早期出现。最后，我们强调了将行为建模与功能磁共振成像相结合来研究青春期选择价值的潜力，