Abstract

Adolescence is a time of engagement in risky, reward-driven behaviors, with concurrent developmental changes within reward-related neural systems. As previous research has recruited mostly higher socioeconomic, European and European American participants, therefore limiting generalizability to the US population, especially for populations of color or low-income populations. The current study provided one of the first opportunities to examine the neural correlates of reward and loss functioning in a population-based sample of adolescents at increased risk for poverty-related adversities. The study investigated neural reward and loss processing and whether age, pubertal status and the social constructs of gender and race predicted individual differences in reward- and loss-related brain function. One hundred and twenty-eight primarily low-income adolescents (mean age: 15.9 years, 75% African American) from urban environments completed a modified monetary incentive delay task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Consistent with the previous research, reward and loss anticipation recruited similar motivational circuitry including striatal, insular, thalamic and supplementary motor areas. Race and gender were not associated with reward- or loss-related neural reactivity. Age and pubertal development were associated with differences in neural reactivity to reward and loss, suggesting that older and more mature adolescents had increased activity in sensory and motivational circuits, but decreased activity in regions responsible for error detection and behavior modification.

中文翻译：

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低收入高危青少年样本中奖励和损失处理的神经机制

 抽象的

青春期是一个从事冒险、奖励驱动行为的时期，与奖励相关的神经系统同时发生发育变化。由于之前的研究主要招募了社会经济地位较高的欧洲人和欧洲裔美国人的参与者，因此限制了对美国人口的普遍适用性，特别是对于有色人种或低收入人群。目前的研究提供了第一个机会来检查基于人口的青少年样本中奖赏和损失功能的神经相关性，这些青少年面临与贫困相关的逆境风险增加。该研究调查了神经奖励和损失处理，以及年龄、青春期状态以及性别和种族的社会结构是否可以预测与奖励和损失相关的大脑功能的个体差异。来自城市环境的 128 名主要低收入青少年（平均年龄：15.9 岁，75% 非裔美国人）在功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 过程中完成了修改后的货币激励延迟任务。与之前的研究一致，奖励和损失预期招募了类似的动机回路，包括纹状体、岛叶、丘脑和辅助运动区。种族和性别与奖励或损失相关的神经反应无关。年龄和青春期发育与奖励和损失的神经反应差异相关，这表明年龄较大和更成熟的青少年的感觉和动机回路活动增加，但负责错误检测和行为矫正的区域活动减少。